Arnold Schwarzenegger should have had a singing contest for all the different tax and budget proposals. Maybe more people would have shown up at the polls in California.

The only measure to muster a victory was the most obvious one, the limit on pay raises.  That was like putting up a “kick me” sign on the back of public officials.  Yes, for sure. All others, no. Perhaps to the detriment of our state government.  Services were already going to be cut. Now they’ll be cut more.  When there’s little faith in government to begin with, it’s hard to sell the voters on a sense of value.

Still, if politicians know that sending something to the voters is almost always a sure loser, then something else is at work here too.

The governor and the legislators shouldn’t have taken it this far. Putting things up for a  vote is just a massive cop- out that signifies  a real  inability to govern. The politicians shouldn’t be able to use the electorate to dodge their own lack of responsibility.  But now the politicians can say,”We gave the voters a choice and this is what they wanted.”  But do we truly want underfunded public services, inefficient state government, bad schools? I don’t want that.

Tuesday’s vote just gave our elected officials a convenient alibi.

They can now say, “Not our fault; blame the voters, (or lack thereof).”

The tough decisions have been made –not by our elite elected representatives–but by a handful of voters who showed up on Tuesday.

CHU’S VICTORY, PLEITEZ IMPRESSES

Congrats to State Board of Equalization Vice Chairwoman Judy Chu, victorious in the race for the open 32nd Congressional District seat. She won the most votes to beat  fellow Democrat state Sen. Gil Cedillo, but did not gain a majority to avoid a runoff.  Chu survived almost every tactic Cedillo could throw at her.

The real surprise, however, was not the Asian defeating the Latino. The real story is the strong showing of  Emanuel Pleitez,  a Stanford grad from the Eastside of LA, who showed he learned a thing or two from his time on the Obama campaign. The former Goldman Sachs executive used the internet and his personal contacts to run a strong third against the  two veteran Democrat frontrunners.

Clearly, Pleitez is the future.  Not Villaraisgosa. Not Cedillo. Look for Pleitez to resurface again soon somehwere–victoriously.