Laura Wells For Governor

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Blog: Open Letter to Governor Jerry Brown Scroll down to read the letter. Then subscribe to the blog! A blog-a-day on the budget is the plan this month, and your comments are welcome.

What kind of California do we want?

In this new year of 2012, people are making plans for how we can get the California we want.

We're seeing the links between what we want for our communities and schools, and what we get in the budgets of both Sacramento and Washington, and we're taking action.

California has always been special. The hallmark of our greatness has been the way we care for our next generations. We established an educational system that was without equal in providing opportunities for all. We created rules and regulations that would preserve our environment for beauty, health, and recreation.

We opened our schools and shorelines so that everyone could enjoy them. We developed new ideas in our work, entertainment, government, and our ways of interacting with each other.

California is still special. There is no reason that this wealthy state – wealthy in natural resources and human resources – should be on the verge of bankruptcy. When the politicians say, "There is no money," what they mean, "There is no money for you!"

No one would have guessed that California would accept a situation where  students graduate from college at the age of 22 with debt of $30,000, let alone $90,000!

And who would have guessed that we would accept the pounding proclamations that giving mega-corporations and billionaires tax breaks – both in the tax structure and the tax audits – would increase jobs for everyone? That we would accept a situation where the average CEO takes in salary not seven times the average worker as they did a few decades ago, but 300-400 times the average worker. Earning in a day what their workers earn in a year.

It’s time to change course. We’ve put our faith in the Republicans and Democrats, but the two Titanic Parties are heading straight for the iceberg, and not changing course. Bipartisanship is the game they play to keep the system in place.

There are solutions. California can be a leader once again, in constructive innovations.

We know the Supreme Court got it wrong when they said corporations could give unlimited money to political campaigns. Green Party candidates do not represent corporate persons, and so we do not take their campaign contributions. We represent real people. 

We can start a State Bank for California, that partners with local banks and credit unions, and free our wealthy state from the grip of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve. We can improve old Prop 13 – it’s a case of “Prop 13, I love you, but honey, you’ve got to change!”

There are solutions. We can have the California we want. And we can create it individually and collectively, with politics and spirit. We can use all of our talents, and even have fun along the way.

 

Let's talk about what kind of California we want. Please contact us to schedule public meetings and presentations at schools and colleges, senior centers, homeowner and business associations, congregations, and all other community organizations.

A better California is possible!

— Laura

 

Blog: Open Letter to Governor Jerry Brown

 

I just heard your voice on the radio saying, “That’s where the money is!” The reference was to the oft-quoted answer to the question, “Why do you rob banks?”

That little joke, right there, points to the heart of our budget disasters and to the thinking that keeps the disasters in place.

Where is the money? In cuts to public education? In cuts to welfare and childcare? No, the money is in the hands of the super rich. Not in public schools where California’s spending is near the bottom of all the states.

Every single time that you – and all of your colleagues in the huge majority the Democratic Party holds in Sacramento – speak about the budget you have a chance to improve the system, or not. Every time you speak and do not condemn the two-thirds majority required to increase taxes, you are selling out the 99% and pandering to the 1%.

I cannot wait until representatives in Sacramento – the current batch or new ones we will elect – catch up with the rest of us. The social movements have shifted from the plea of “Stop The Cuts” to demanding the solution, “Tax The Rich.”

Statistics are readily available to explain to people who love old Prop 13 and its two-thirds vote requirement that their love is misplaced.

Explain that California has 85 billionaires with a total wealth of $287 billion. Only 3.5% of that wealth would close a state budget gap of $10 billion. And although it would be a hardship for 7 people since they would no longer be billionaires, and would only have $900 million, they would probably get that 3.5% back within a year. And California would not have to cut welfare, childcare, and schools.

Explain facts the California Budget Project gives us every year: when you look at family income, the poorest 20% pay more in state and local taxes than the richest 1%. Those who average $12,600 pay 11.1% and those who average $2.3 million pay 7.8%. That’s where the money is. Wealth like that used to be taxed at higher rates, and in those times people could still get richer.

Explain that a bipartisan budget agreement in favor of the 99% will never be reached when slightly more than 1/3 of California legislators have signed a pledge that they will never vote to raise taxes. The 2/3 requirement gives that 1/3 minority veto power over taxing the rich. The only bipartisan budget agreement operating right now is the silence about the rotten parts of old Proposition 13.

You were Governor in 1978 when Proposition 13, with all of its damaging unintended consequences (unintended by the voters), was voted into law. It is only fitting that you should undo its damage now.

Sincerely,

Laura Wells

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