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Nov. 9

The Orange County Register: "Legislators protect their pocketbooks"

By almost any measure the Legislature has done a lousy job. It's overburdened Californians with perhaps the most regulatory-intensive governance in the nation, driving many businesses out of state and creating hardships for those left behind. Legislators saddled taxpayers with about the highest income and sales taxes of any state, and now urge voters to assume another $11 billion debt in a ballot measure next year just to keep the water flowing.

All the while, legislators bestowed huge salaries and outlandish benefits on ever-expanding numbers of government workers, even as costs of their retirement debt threaten to crush state government, and perhaps California's economy with it.

That's why it's unconscionable that the Legislature is "quietly seeking to block a steep cut in lawmakers' salary and perks," as the Los Angeles Times reported. To argue legislators don't deserve a pay cut is absurd. At the least they should recognize it's appropriate to join in the personal sacrifices being made by millions of those they represent during the recession.

Instead, legislators whine that the California Citizens Compensation Commission exceeded its authority in May by imposing the 18-percent pay cuts beginning in December 2010 to reduce legislators' annual pay from $116,208 to $95,291 and legislative leaders' salaries from $133,639 to $109,584. The commission also cut per-diem, car, medical and other benefits 18 percent effective next month.

Legislative leaders asked Attorney General Jerry Brown to assess the legality of the cuts, arguing they were based on budget problems rather than on constitutional criteria. Apart from legislators' lousy track record, we can't imagine a more appropriate reason for cuts than a staggering state budget, expected to end up another $20 billion in the red. Legislative leaders complain the commission abused its discretion. That's an almost comical argument from legislators, who have been a model of discretionary abuse for years.

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Nov. 8

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: "Parents can help in school safety"

The gang rape of a teenage girl outside a Richmond High School dance last month has become a national outrage, as well it should - raising questions about the culpability of bystanders who watched and did nothing for more than two hours.

It has forced the immediate community into deep and overdue introspection and perhaps inevitably has led to finger-pointing.

The West Contra Costa Unified School District knew the campus wasn't safe: It had approved, but not implemented, a plan to install new security cameras and fencing. And while school officials thought the police were responsible for patrolling the grounds during the dance, it appears no one bothered to tell the officers that.

Equally distressing is this news, reported by the Bay Area News Group's Karl Fischer and Todd Perlman last week: There were no parents among the 14 adults at the dance.

Principal Julio Franco says most parents can't volunteer for events because they have other kids to care for at home. Perhaps it took an incident like this to make clear just how badly parents are needed in schools, particularly in light of California's budget cuts.

We all know that active parents can improve achievement. But in this case, they could have provided a check on the administration's obviously inadequate security plans.

A friend of the victim has said she saw a dozen young men sitting outside the school gym during the dance, but that none of the adults there checked their identification.

That's in sharp contrast to other high schools with parent volunteers. Some have an adult stationed at every exit during dances and won't let kids leave without a parent picking them up. In this case, the victim left the gym and was apparently lured away to a group of drinking kids before she could call home for a ride.

Imagine if someone had been at the door to escort her out instead. Or if parents, in planning for the dance, had realized no one was assigned the job of patrolling the poorly lit campus.

There are some encouraging signs that this horrifying case will prompt reforms. The victim's parents released a statement asking the public to turn outrage into action. Hundreds have attended rallies, vigils and meetings to support the victim and work to make the campus safer. At a meeting after the incident, at least 20 parents signed up to volunteer at the school - a huge breakthrough, given the history.

And in the barren courtyard where a 15-year-old girl leaving her homecoming dance was brutally beaten and raped, floodlights were finally installed.

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Nov. 8

Sacramento Bee: "Valuable answers, troubling questions on Garrido"

Though it contained little new information, the state inspector general's report on Phillip Garrido's parole supervision still is stunning. Incompetence in the oversight of the man accused of kidnapping Jaycee Lee Dugard, and holding her captive for 18 years, defies belief.

We agree with most of the report's recommendations on actions to prevent this kind of outrage from happening again. However, we have problems with the call for more aggressive GPS monitoring. And we think there's one key issue that the report and the corrections system doesn't address.

Garrido was supervised by federal and Nevada parole agents from 1988 to 1999, after he was released from prison for a kidnapping and rape in Nevada. We still know very little about that time. The California corrections system entered the picture only in 1999, when Garrido's parole was taken over by California through an interstate compact.

Inspector General David R. Shaw's report does an excellent job of recounting the surreal succession of opportunities parole agents missed to discover that Dugard was being held captive.

It found that parole agents properly supervised Garrido in just 12 of 123 months in the last decade. ...

Parole agents were not alone in failing to observe clues. In 2006, a neighbor told the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department that people were living in the backyard. An officer talked with Garrido, concluded there was no problem, and left.

In light of this history, it's hard to argue with many of the report's recommendations, including improving the training of parole agents, ensuring that the risks offenders pose are correctly assessed, and establishing better means to share information with local public safety agencies.

Questionable recommendations focus on the use of global positioning devices. While there's nothing wrong with efficiency, this page is on record as doubting whether these devices truly deter the people forced to wear them. Little in the Garrido case leads us to change that view.

The report doesn't address a larger issue: whether the parole population is now so huge it's beyond effective supervision. ... A new law seeks to reduce agent caseloads, but it's too early to know how soon that will happen.

The system failed miserably with Garrido. The inspector general's report offered valuable ideas on where agents fell short. We also have to take a hard look at the system in which they work.

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Nov. 9

Stockton Record: "Salt in the wound"

Real classy, governor.

It showed class, sensitivity even, to come to Stockton the day lawmakers pass water legislation and brag that the peripheral canal he holds so dear will be built. Not it could be built. Or should be built. But will be built.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was in town to celebrate the opening of Electric Vehicles International, a new company here that builds electric trucks. Locals were on hand to hear a few words about EVI.

Instead, the governor, ebullient from his water victory, came to the heart of the Delta - where feelings about a peripheral canal run deeper than the ditch he wants to dig - to rub salt in our wounds.

It was bad enough that lawmakers representing counties surrounding the Delta were cut out of negotiations on the water bills. It was bad enough blurry-eyed lawmakers pushed through the five water bills, passing them in the middle of the night. It was bad enough the lawmakers, with the governor's support, shifted a decision on the canal to an unelected body. But did he have to come here to crow about it?

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Nov. 9

Marin Independent Journal: "Park closures a sign of state's failed leadership"

Our state's budget crisis means yet more public services are being reduced. This time, it's our access to our state parks that has been reduced.

We've already dealt with state worker furloughs and weekdays when state offices are closed for business. Tuition and fees for state colleges have jumped. All of us are paying more in sales tax. ...

The closing of state parks on weekdays and the elimination of park programs may be less significant than increased taxes or closed state offices in terms of the number of people directly affected. But the closing of closing parks - even on weekdays - undermines the concept of preserving and providing parkland for everyone. ...

Charging for parking would be a better choice than locking people out of their parks.

But the weekday closures may be preferable to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's earlier plan to close nearly half of the state's parks. Backers of the state's parks have launched a campaign for an $18-per-year tax on registered vehicles to generate money to keep parks fully open and accessible.

The proposal, which could be on next November's ballot, also would let Californians park for free at their parks, which could save visitors when compared to the increased fees they are paying for parking - if they can get it - today.

The tax, backers say, would generate enough money to reverse the cutbacks and also help the state parks system catch up with a backlog of repairs and improvements that have been stalled by a series of budget cuts.

The measure will let Californians decide whether they want to pay to keep their parks open, accessible and well-maintained. Passage also would make it clear to lawmakers that this is an important public priority.

California's $26 billion budget hole has created a political war over priorities. Lawmakers however, have had trouble setting those priorities. The closing of our state parks, even on weekdays, is yet another sign of the Legislature and governor's longstanding problems in coming to grips with chronic budget problems.

Yes, this is ballot-box budgeting, but until our elected leaders in Sacramento can demonstrate that they can run this state without bankrupting it or making baffling decisions, it may be the best choice in certain circumstances.