Commentary : Is California in...

In 1980, Ronald Reagan asked one of the most powerful questions in political history: Are you better off today than you were four years ago?

In California today, you don’t even have to ask. Our schools are crumbling, our streets are unsafe, more than 550,000 jobs have vanished, 61,000 businesses have failed, and a record number of people are leaving the state.

The real question is whether California’s decline could have been prevented. The answer is yes. Leadership counts. California’s slide could have been--and should have been--stopped with tougher, smarter fiscal management and innovative leadership that would give California’s middle-class families their fair share.

But that’s not what California’s families have been getting since Pete Wilson was elected governor. Every year since 1991, Wilson has rolled over a chronic $3-billion deficit. In 1992, the state ran out of funds and Wilson issued IOU’s for 64 days. This year, the governor’s proposed state budget actually contained a $2.7-billion accounting mistake. Last month, California was forced to borrow $7 billion to make ends meet--the largest such borrowing in American history. It’s no surprise that Financial World magazine ranks California worst in the nation in state management.

If a family managed its checkbook the way California state government has managed its finances, that family would be bankrupt and its home foreclosed. So it came as no shock earlier this summer when Wall Street’s three credit rating agencies dumped California from the highest credit rating level to nearly the lowest in the nation, costing taxpayers millions in higher interest payments.

California’s fiscal situation is spinning out of control and our middle-class families are paying the price.

In 1991, Wilson raised taxes by $7 billion, the largest state tax increase in American history. This cost middle-class families $1,000 on average. Yet despite paying more taxes, all they have gotten in return is overcrowded schools, college tuition increases and fewer police on our streets.

In Los Angeles County alone this year, $350 million in state dollars were taken from local government, forcing cuts in library hours, after-school programs and crime-fighting measures.

To restore California’s fiscal soundness and to give a fair share to our families, we need to take the following steps.

* Cut government waste and slash bureaucracy. We need to cut the size of state government and run it more efficiently. In tough economic times, families have learned to do more with less. Now it is time for government to do its share. New taxes are out of the question, so we will need to cut state spending. That means fewer bureaucrats, streamlined government activities and substantial cuts in programs.

By conducting a comprehensive review of each and every activity of state government, we can save billions while improving performance. Texas saved $5.2 billion in a similar performance review. In California, that money can go to revitalize our schools, help our colleges, put more police on our streets and provide loans to small businesses.

* Restore California’s fiscal soundness with a tough long-term budget strategy. Restoring our fiscal soundness will not happen until we bring our budget back into balance. And it will certainly never happen if we follow Wilson’s “Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes” approach--hoping and praying for billions from the federal government.

We must eliminate the $3-billion deficit that has piled up over the past three years. I have proposed a five-year strategy to pay off our debt and move California soundly into the black. My plan includes real budget cuts, reductions in welfare and closing tax loopholes for special interests.

The key advantage to this longer-term approach is that it provides a one-time opportunity to get our fiscal house in order without severely threatening our economic recovery or police, fire and library services.

* Move California’s economy into high gear. California’s recession has devastated the state’s coffers. To restore fiscal soundness. California will need at least 1 million new jobs and renewed economic growth. New jobs and growth mean more revenues for state government.

Pete Wilson claims that California’s economy is recovering, but our 1.4 million unemployed workers know better. They understand there’s a big difference between McDonald’s burger-flipping jobs and McDonnell Douglas aerospace jobs--but Wilson doesn’t get it. While the rest of the nation has created 1.9 million new jobs since January, California has actually lost 500 jobs.

California needs a governor who fights for middle-class jobs and helps move our economy into high gear. My economic recovery plan includes tax credits for job-creating businesses, new loans to small businesses and “California First” preferences for state firms in the awarding of state contracts. It also sets forward strategies to build advanced ground transportation, aircraft manufacturing and “green” industries of the future. My economic revival plan--endorsed by business leaders and economists--will create at least 1 million new quality jobs by 1998 and restore the California promise for our families.

* Give California’s middle - class families their fair share. Taxes have risen, services have plummeted and middle-class families have gotten less and less value for their tax dollars. Public schools have been shortchanged, college fees have skyrocketed and local governments--saddled with unfair burdens--have been forced to pull police off our streets and cut health-care services. Yet Pete Wilson doesn’t seem to care.

After four years of neglect, our families need a governor who manages the state’s money for the middle class. That means creating good jobs, investing in education, putting more cops onthe streets, and cutting the size of state government.

In 1994, California’s middle-class families are no better off than they were four years ago. They certainly cannot afford four more years of Wilson’s fiscal mismanagement. It is time for state government to put California’s families first. And it is time California’s families got their fair share.