Conservative Victories, Conservative Budgets. California again leads the way
Simon, Bill
BY BILL SIMON Conservative Victories, Conservative Budgets YEARS AGO, commentator Pat Buchanan wrote an insightful book called Conservative Votes, Liberal Victories. Its thesis was...
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...State government owns between 61,000 and 73,000 vehicles but is not sure of the exact number...
...No one else comes up with the big stories, week after week...
...it is his explaining what the news means that is so impressive...
...I'm going to tell you where true insiders turn when they need to understand what just happened in politics...
...Facing a structural deficit of at least $6 billion in each of the next two years, California would clearly benefit from the implementation of all or most of this plan...
...From his early days covering Capitol Hill for the Wall Street Journal to the pinnacle of success he now enjoys, Bob has fostered inside sources in every government department, and office—from top politicians, to presidential advisors, to staff aides, to secretaries...
...SO WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN NEXT...
...We must also rally a statewide and national constituency for these important government reforms...
...He has a chance to go down in history not only as a courageous leader who led our nation to victory in the war on terror, but as a visionary of government reform who proved once and for all that we can indeed rebuild our national defense, cut taxes, and maintain fiscal stability all at once...
...Once we all finish exclaiming and proclaiming at these and many other outrages, we must then acknowledge the hard part—turning these excellent recommendations into policy...
...the 17 highest paid boards cost the state During his successful campaign in the 2003 recall election, Schwarzenegger pledged to "blow up the boxes" of state government...
...Recent Forums have featured Vice President Cheney, Al Gore, Steve Forbes, Speaker Dennis Hastert, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, presidential advisors Karl Rove, Condoleeza Rice, and Ken Mehiman, Majority Leader Bill Frist, CIA Director George Tenet and many, many other top officials...
...After full implementation, the state workforce could be reduced by 10,000 employees and California taxpayers could save $32 billion over five years...
...While not the most scintillating book ever written, it is must reading for any conservative who wants to move beyond sound bite rhetoric to genuine, substantive ideas for turning conservative principles into action...
...Think about how hard it would be to develop your own impeccable sources of useful information...
...Davis and the legislature made the egregious error of spending all of the one-time tax revenues generated during the dot-com bubble on ongoing programs—building huge new obligations into the budget base rather than the more prudent course of socking funds away in a reserve or devoting them to one-time infrastructure improvements...
...Together, Governor Schwarzenegger and President Bush can be the spear-carriers in a new national movement to modernize government and restore it to fiscal prudence...
...Sincerely, R. Emmett Tyrrell Founder and Editor-in-Chief The American Spectator P.S...
...He memorably called state government a "mastodon frozen in time...
...Interestingly, the outlines of an encouraging answer are emerging from a state that in recent years has lurched to the left and from a Governor who is viewed with some suspicion in conservative circles...
...He has shown that when he puts his charisma and clout on the line, he can defy political gravity...
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...Their mission was to dig deeply into state government and root out waste while identifying opportunities to improve performance...
...The CPR movement gives us a great opportunity to turn cost-cutting rhetoric into action in California...
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...And, if California, currently one of the "bluest" of the "blue" states, could accomplish such a systematic overhaul of government, that would spread the movement across America to the banks of the Potomac...
...Having known the Governor for a number of years and watching his involvement in and reaction to this effort, I believe he is deadly serious about following through—but he must hear this messagefrom concerned citizens and committed conservatives again and again...
...Exploding federal deficits and government budgets are certainly not part of the legacy the President wants to leave the nation...
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...Quite simply, this effort was the most ambitious review of state government ever conducted in California, both in sheer size and breadth of focus...
...Indeed, fresh from his tremendous re-election victory, President Bush, as he draws up plans for a second term, should be encouraged to embrace the CPR model...
...And if so, what is the plan to reduce government waste, restore fiscal sanity, and re-establish the core conservative belief that the unbridled, uninterrupted growth of government represents a fundamental threat to liberty...
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...He inherited responsibility for a state rapidly racing towards a fiscal precipice...
...There are innovative proposals for expanding privatization and public-private partnerships and streamlining regulations...
...Yet if you were to ask people in the know who has "the best" sources in Washington, 9 out of 10 would respond Bob Novak...
...These Forums are strictly off the record—no working journalists are allowed to attend—so these important political and business leaders feel free to tell you things they'd never say for attribution...
...Nowhere is this truer than when it comes to controlling government spending and bureaucracy...
...Imagine how many years—decades really—it would take to develop unshakeable trust with key contacts in the Defense Department, the White House, the Justice Department, on Wall Street and in State Houses across the country...
...In a second term, President Bush has a unique opportunity to erase what could otherwise be seen as a historical black-eye...
...As George Passantino, director of government affairs for the Reason Foundation, and a director of the Schwarzenegger review, reminds us, "Every line-item in the budget has a constituency...
...Governor Schwarzenegger promised a new fiscal course and began delivering it in his first State of the State Address in January 2004...
...At each Forum, you will come in direct contact with key political and business leaders...
...Frankly, we were honored when Bob's publisher agreed to make it available to you as a subscriber to The American Spectator...
...SURPRISINGLY, THE PLAN WAS NOT the creation of outside efficiency experts whose prescripts are geared to profit-driven companies rather than politically sensitive government agencies...
...While understanding the necessities of rebuilding a military left weakened after eight years of Bill Clinton, not to mention pursuing an effective war on terror at home and abroad, many conservatives are nonetheless asking some penetrating questions: Does the Republican Party still stand forlimited government...
...At the state and federal level, citizens have repeatedly voted for candidates who espoused fiscal prudence and leaner, more efficient government—only to see such promises forgotten once the candidates become officeholders...
...And those opposed to change join forces to form a bloc that defends the status quo—one for all, and all for one, as it were...
...16 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR DECEMBER 2004/JANUARY 2005 BILL SIMON Whether you consider Richard Nixon's "management by objective," Jimmy Carter's "zero-based budgeting," or even George W. Bush's "President's Management Agenda," business-as-usual in government has prevailed...
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...Instead, while the free-market Reason Foundation of Los Angeles greatly influenced the plan, it was a team of 275 state employees with a combined 3,700 years of experience and an individual average of 18 years of experience in government who did most of the work...
...Once you do, I know you'll be glad you did...
...At the national level, the two most ambitious reform efforts, Ronald Reagan's "President's Private Sector Survey" (the Grace Commission) and the Clinton administration's "Reinventing Government" initiative did little to curtail government waste or spending...
...The report's 2,500 pages measuring seven inches thick is a treasure trove of ideas for reorganizing the massive California bureaucracy, consolidating 79 departments and 11 agencies into a dozen tightly defined organizations, and abolishing more than 100 boards and commissions...
...The state employs more than 3,300 lawyers—more than all the lawyers at the 20 biggest law firms in Los Angeles County combined...
...After 30 years in the business, I'm proud of the sources of information I've developed...
...We should begin by praising the Governor for a solid effort but also hold him accountable for implementation...
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...Having known the Governor for a number of years and watching his involvement in and reaction to this effort, I believe he is deadly serious about following through...
...Well it ain't just by watching him on TV, that's for sure...
...And at a significant saving, too...
...During my own campaign for Governor against Davis in 2002, I warned that with the dot-com bubble gone and businesses fleeing an overtaxed and overregulated state, we simply could not sustain a wasteful government whose annual budget grew to $100 billion with a bloated state payroll of more than 215,000 DECEMBER 2004/JANUARY 2005 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 17 CONSERVATIVE VICTORIES, CONSERVATIVE BUDGETS employees...
...Because today I'm going to share with you a little-known, but vital source of the world's most valuable commodity—useful information...
...From all corners of the state, special interest groups, including environmentalists, unions, and consumer protection activists, are lobbying to defend their piece of government...
...Yet if the Governor's rhetoric sizzled, his specific proposal for a California Performance Review (CPR) was greeted with knowing, cynical glances from Sacramento's entrenched political and media pundits...
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...One specialty team consisted of auditors from across state government, and together they unearthed and exposed the fiscal shenanigans that had become commonplace in Sacramento over many years...
...CALIFORNIA AGAIN LEADS THE WAY...
...Different processes and different standards are used for cleaning up the same contaminants in identical situations...
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...Less ambitious efforts delivered even fewer results...
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...Bill Simon, a successful businessman, philanthropist, and former federal prosecutor, was the 2002 Republican candidate for governor of California...
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...I'm talking about California and our "Governator," Arnold Schwarzenegger...
...Infrastructure development policy is spread across more than 60 state entities and multiple local governments...
...During the tenure of Gray Davis, state population and inflation grew by 21 percent while total state spending ballooned by more than 40 percent...
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...DURING HIS SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN in the 2003 recall election, Governor Schwarzenegger pledged to "blow up the boxes" of state government...
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...California has at least six state departments that have a significant role in regulating hazardous waste and cleaning up toxic contaminants, but despite all this duplication, no one knows how many toxic waste sites there are in the state...
...Its thesis was simple—that despite repeated victories at the polls for conservative ideas, more often than not it is the liberal status quo that prevails in government policy...
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...As veteran Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters noted recently, "Those who work in and around a current system, no matter how illogical and inefficient it may be, instinctively oppose any systemic change because change brings uncertainty...
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...Ho-hum...
...Davis denied that a crisis existed—until just days after his re-election...
...The California Performance Review can be the vehicle but conservatives must be prepared to push it up a steep political hill...
...The picture they paint of a dysfunctional government spinning beyond all bounds of reason and common sense is stunning...
...That level of understanding is possible only because of the behind-the-scenes conversations he has with officials at the highest levels of government and commerce...
...But there is no single inventory of all of these boards and appointees...
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...18 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR DECEMBER 2004/JANUARY 2005 BILL SIMON more than $9 million annually just in board member salaries, and that does not include staff support, travel expenses, rent, and other overhead costs for those boards...
...As a businessman, I always look for the bottom line—and I like this one: In its first year of implementation, the CPR plan would save $4.8 billion, including more than $1.7 billion in the State General Fund...
...The CPR staff was divided into 14 different teams, with each specializing in a different area, including Infrastructure, Budgeting, Environmental Policy, Education, Procurement, and Information Technology...
...California has at least 340 boards and commissions in the executive branch with at least 3,300 political appointees and ex-officio members...
...He is now planning a bid for state treasurer in 2006...
...DECEMBER 2004/JANUARY 2005 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 19 A SPECIAL INVITATION FOR AMERICAN SPECTATOR SUBSCRIBERS FROM THE DESK OF R. EMMETT TYRRELL The Ultimate (Secret) Source Want to know a secret...
...BY BILL SIMON Conservative Victories, Conservative Budgets s OME YEARS AGO, commentator Pat Buchanan wrote an insightful book called Conservative Votes, Liberal Victories...
...Sadly, it does not appear to matter whether the winning candidates are Republican or Democrat...
...You'll also qualify for FREE fast-breaking reports When critical events warrant, as w ill likely happen often in the upcoming election season, Bob and his staff of ace reporters work overtime for you...
...Combine this management status quo with the bipartisan addiction to pork barrel spending and the avaricious appetite of an entrenched welfare state, and you can understand why, even with a Republican in the Oval Office, we face record deficits and a level of federal spending per household that rivals that of World War II...
...For example: • Two departments, the State Personnel Board and the Department of Personnel Administration, have spent thousands of legal hours suing one another in the courts over who has responsibility for merit issues in the state personnel system...
...Perhaps more importantly, I'm going to tell you about my "crystal ball" for knowing what is about to happen...
...An estimated 100,000 hours of state lawyers' and senior-level managers' time every year goes into writing 2,000 formal agreements—so one state agency can call upon the expertise of employees that work in another state agency...
...Yet the detail and depth of the CPR report, released to the public on August 3, has commanded respect from even some of his most hardened critics...
...Either way, I urge you to subscribe today...
...The former action hero was proposing another commission to study waste in government...
Vol. 37 • December 2004 • No. 10
