Dan Walters' Capitol Q&A

Question: There will be a measure on the February ballot that changes the way California community colleges are funded and governed. Have you studied this measure? If you have, in your opinion, will the measure, if passed, result in more stable funding and a more effective governance structure?
-- Barbara, Santa Monica

Answer: I have written about the issue, and the measure, on numerous occasions. In fact my columns about the political vulnerability of community college funding may have been the seed from which the measure grew. As I said in a recent column, such a measure may be the only way for the colleges to have a stable and adequate base of financing, given the hardball political atmosphere surrounding the state budget, but it's also another example of the trend toward "ballot box budgeting" that makes it increasingly difficult for the Legislature and the governor to make rational budget choices. I characterized it as having to do the wrong thing to do the right thing.
--Dan Walters

Question: The news is saturated with the story of the fires at South
Lake Tahoe around Meyers. The state budget will likely once again not be passed by the constitutional deadline. And the governor is out of the country at this time. I know that the governor couldn't have anticipated the fire. Is this purely a coincidence, or is there some intentional reason for this odd convergence of events?
-- Warren Bunting, Campbell

Answer: I think it's just an odd convergence, what those in politics call an "x-factor" but the rest of us would say is the luck of the draw. But it is somewhat reminiscent of what happened in 1965, when then-Gov. Pat Brown was out of the country when the Watts riots erupted. It contributed to voter rejection of his bid for a third term a year later.
--Dan Walters