Are Voters Schizophrenic or Sane?

Maybe Californians are fantasizing. Maybe they sense reality. Either way, they are buying the traditional Republican argument that government is wasting too many of their tax dollars.

Ironically, Republican politicians have not been benefiting. “People are not shaking their heads and saying: ‘Yeah, that Gov. Wilson, he makes a lot of sense,’ ” said Times poll director John Brennan.

Indeed, twice as many people disapprove of Wilson’s job performance as approve of it, a statewide Times poll found last week.

One reason the GOP generally has not been cashing in on the voters’ unhappiness with government taxes and spending--historically a Republican issue--is that the party has been running the executive branch in Sacramento for the past 10 years and, until two months ago, had controlled the White House for 12 years. Another explanation is that the GOP last year emphasized social issues-- family values --more than the things voters care most about, such as the recession and wise use of tax dollars.

Be that as it may, The Times poll findings seem to indicate that voters either are schizophrenic in their views of government services and taxes or are exceptionally sound-minded.

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Is it confusion or clarity when 44% of the people say that state government services are inadequate, but within this same group, tax increases are considered a greater danger than spending cuts by a 2-to-1 margin?

Other examples of apparent conflict from the poll:

* Taxes on business are too high, according to nearly six in 10 people. But about seven in 10 favor extending a temporary half-cent sales tax increase scheduled to expire July 1. “That’s a contradiction; it’s bizarre,” Brennan said.

* A large plurality says the best solution for the state budget deficit is to cut spending and services, rather than to raise taxes and keep the same services. But when people are asked to specify which programs should be cut, they are hard-pressed to name any except welfare, which already has been pared substantially.

* A majority says it is willing to pay higher taxes to restore cuts in school programs. But when asked whether education can be improved simply by using present tax dollars more wisely or if additional money will be needed, people say by 2 to 1 that present funding is sufficient.

All this sends conflicting messages to legislators trying to represent the views of voters.

“The public has to get involved and let us know what it wants; we need some cooperation,” said freshman Assemblywoman Grace M. Napolitano (D-Norwalk).

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I called a veteran of the Legislature, Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg (D-Sacramento), who has spent his adult life interpreting voters. Regarded as a pragmatic moderate and skilled politician, as well as a policy wonk, Isenberg has been an influential Assembly staffer, a city councilman, a mayor and, for the past 10 years, a legislator. Thus, he represents both the best of the state Capitol--knowledge, energy, integrity--and the worst, in the opinion of many voters: He’s a career politician.

“Look, voters aren’t stupid,” he said. “Voters are willing to pay higher taxes if they feel they’re going to get something for it. They’re miles smarter than we are, and they reject the characterization of inconsistency. They’ve heard this stuff from us for years. Sure, you can push anybody into an inconsistency. But they want us to do better with what we’ve got now. . . . All we ever try to do is maintain the status quo. We never ask ourselves how can we do anything differently.”

The Democratic lawmaker credits Wilson for trying to move toward “performance-based” budgeting, which involves assessing programs primarily on whether they produce results.

Wilson, Isenberg and many politicians of both parties have become disciples of “Reinventing Government,” an almost cult book by consultants David Osborne and Ted Gaebler. At the Capitol, legislative analyst Elizabeth C. Hill has taken up the call with a recent treatise on “Restructuring Government in California.” She contends that it is needed to restore public confidence in the political system.

Jim Moore, a Democratic pollster, said his “eyes were opened” last year when he surveyed a liberal Senate district in the San Francisco Bay Area. He found that 53% of the Democratic voters believe that at least half their tax dollars were being wasted.

“The voters are sober, realistic and they have a mind-set that there’s waste,” he said. “That view is dominating every issue.”

So regardless of whether Californians are kidding themselves or possess keen insight, the important message is they’re demanding a better deal for their money. And they are entrusting Democrats to follow what Republicans have been preaching.