The Roundup Staff
California is in a dire fiscal crisis, buckling under the weight of a $19.9 billion deficit. We have a broken education system that continues to suffer from demoralizing budget cuts. The 12.4 percent unemployment rate in California overshadowing the national average. And Politician after politician promising to do something about it.
But with the Nov. 2 election less than a month away, who will actually do it?
The next governor of California will inherit all the problems their predecessors couldn’t fix or made worse, and the two leading candidates couldn’t have less in common. Any election, and especially this gubernatorial election, is about who is the best person for the job. And that candidate is not Meg Whitman.
Whitman, the former eBay CEO, is just that, a CEO. Whitman has served as an executive for Proctor & Gamble, The Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks and Hasbro, but has never been elected to public office.
Her only political experience was when she served on Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s and Arizona Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaigns. McCain mentioned her for Secretary of Treasury if he was elected.
Not only does she have no political experience, she hasn’t voted for 28 years, according to the Sacramento Bee, who went through the California voting records.
Whitman’s campaign has focused heavily on illegal immigration, in which she proposed completing the construction of the border wall, even though she was recently accused of knowingly employing an illegal immigrant.
She’s also taking a stance on education. Whitman proposes reforming the welfare system in order to fund the CSU and UC school systems.
But she also wants to refuse illegal immigrants access to higher education, including community colleges, despite launching a Spanish language campaign saying that, “Latino kids attending public schools in California today will be tomorrow’s doctors, engineers, businessmen and teachers.”
Brown is currently California attorney general and has been in politics for nearly 50 years. Born in San Francisco, he served as governor of California from 1975-1983, after serving as California Secretary of State (1971-1975).
In his time as governor, Brown was identified as a “fiscal conservative,” opposed the Vietnam War, focused on environmental issues during his terms, and refused many of the perks usually afforded to governors such as living in the newly constructed governors mansion and using a limousine.
Under Brown, the state saw one of the largest budget surpluses in history. In the 2008 election, Brown opposed Proposition 8, the proposition that would ban same sex marriage, one of the only attorney generals to oppose an electorate approved proposition.
And while his credentials should speak for themselves, there is one thing on his resume that speaks the loudest: Brown served on the first ever Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) board of trustees.
In 1969, Brown ran for a seat on the newly formed LACCD, placing first in a field of 124 candidates. Brown’s education plan includes a focus on community colleges, and believes that the 110-campus system plays a vital role in student’s education.
California is experiencing one of the greatest economic crisis’ in the states history, with the education system and job markets collapsing around us. We need a politician who knows, loves and cares for the people of this state, not a businesswoman who’s never even tried to improve it.
Brown might not be the perfect candidate, but we could do a hell of a lot worse.
Eli Peun/ Roundup ()
