People Want Action, Not More Caution

Amid all the preening, posing and posturing at photo ops, Sacramento’s politicians have been taking some distinctive positions on earthquake recovery. Most stands are cautious, but a few are courageous.

Some pols have been provocative; others seemingly passive.

Watching “briefings,” interviews and viewer call-ins on television, for example, it has been difficult to ascertain exactly how Gov. Pete Wilson intends to lead state government’s rebuilding effort. Glum-faced in his green/blue parka, he appeared to be sleepwalking last week from one TV camera to another. He often resembled an uncomfortable man at a funeral, feeling he should be there but not quite sure what to say to the devastated family.

Observed one well-placed Capitol Republican: “He sounds like a Caltrans engineer: ‘You’re going to have to find alternate routes . . .’ I already know that. I want to hear that he’s going to fix it. I don’t even care how he’s going to fix it. He ought to be saying, ‘I’m gonna kick butt and get you back on your feet.’ ”

By week’s end, the governor did declare, unemotionally, that “we simply will not tolerate any bureaucratic delays.” And he announced some immediate relief steps: bridge loan guarantees for small businesses awaiting federal funds, suspension of overtime rules to allow for more flexible workhours and plans for one-stop permitting in the San Fernando Valley.

But he still was waiting to find out “the total magnitude” and “precisely what it is we’re going to be required to do” before deciding whether taxes should be raised temporarily to help finance repairs. “The Legislature will have time to act,” he insisted.

*

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) was seeing it differently. Delaying legislative action, he said, “makes it more difficult because, little by little, you lose the energy that comes from the tragedy.” Ultimately, he warned “you create gridlock.”

Assemblyman Rusty Areias (D-San Jose), chairman of the previously obscure Committee on Earthquake Preparedness and Natural Disasters, predicted from experience: “There’ll be a window of opportunity to get things done. After that, the politicians and the press will move on to other crises.”

Actually, Wilson’s non-position on a tax increase was shared by Treasurer Kathleen Brown, one of his Democratic rivals for reelection. Both the extent of damage and federal aid should be determined before state taxes are considered, she said. “We don’t want to do anything to minimize federal match by moving too precipitously. I’d rather have the feds pick up the tab than our taxpayers.”

It’s fantasy, however, to envision the feds picking up the entire tab--estimated “conservatively” by Wilson at more than $30 billion. Inevitably, state and local governments will have to pony up a few billion of their own.

Treasurer Brown does have some specific ideas involving “tools at our immediate disposal” in her office. She wants to spend $237 million from an old earthquake safety bond issue. The money is still there, she said, because the Wilson Administration has “failed to identify projects.” Additionally, she is prepared to loan school districts up to $1 billion from the state’s investment fund. She also is looking into bridge loans for small businesses.

*

The award for courage goes to Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, the other Democratic candidate for governor. I saw him on C-SPAN at the briefing conducted for President Clinton. After searching wildly for a microphone and finally grabbing one off the head table, he was standing awkwardly with his back to the camera assuring the President that “Californians are prepared to sacrifice . . . whatever it takes.”

Later, I called and asked whether he was alluding to the dreaded “T” word. He was.

“We simply have to rebuild,” Garamendi asserted. “It is imperative for the spirit of California and it is imperative for the economy. A failure in rebuilding will break the back of both the spirit and the economy and lead to the state’s eventual destruction. There exists in California the preliminary signs of that destruction and we simply must intervene.

“In order to do this we have to sacrifice and we have to pay. We need to immediately raise the revenues. If that means going to a higher sales tax, a higher gas tax, we must do it.”

After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, he continued, “we did it on the cheap; nickle-dimed it. Anytime you try to get by on the cheap you’re asking for trouble. We just simply cannot allow a repeat of the five-year wait for repairs that San Francisco has had.”

Garamendi thinks the anonymous Republican has it right: People want it fixed and don’t much care how.