Unfortunate Mixed Message in Sacramento

The governor and a strong Democrat majority in the California state Legislature are rolling the dice. They want the voters to approve higher taxes at the November election. At the same time, they have not dealt effectively with meaningful public employee pension reform and they have given the green light to the expenditure of billions of dollars of bond funds on a highly dubious high-speed rail plan which has been panned by every objective analytical body out there. Their own experts had urged that the tenuous fast-train proposal be shelved, at least for now. But, no. They went ahead anyway. The politicians on the Democrat side of the Sacramento aisle are risking another budgetary calamity with their perplexing behavior. If the new taxes are shot down in four months, draconian cuts, especially in public education, are expected to be forthcoming. The hand-wringing and wailing on the left will be palpable. But they can't say they haven't been warned.