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April Fools, November's Fools, and Just Plain Fools

© Ken Goldstein

Term limits got rid of Willie. He's now the King - excuse me, I mean, the Mayor of San Francisco. They also got rid of a lot of other experienced law makers in Sacramento. What they left behind was the lobbyists.

After term limits kicked in we had a new phenomenon in California: legislation written by lobbyists. Lobbyists had always played a part. They asked favorite legislators for certain additions to bills. They asked for certain items to be left out. They asked folks to vote one way or another. But never had it been so obvious or open that the actual legislation was written by lobbyists.

You see, after term limits, when we had an entire legislature of amateurs. We had no institutional memory, nobody who'd dealt with these issues from a legislative point-of-view, and nobody to stand up and say from experience what works and what doesn't. Somebody had to fill that void. Nature abhors a vacuum, and the lobbyists were standing by, ready to "help out." After all, they were now the ones with all the experience.

The only problem with this set of events is that nobody elected the lobbyists. They're not accountable to anybody except their clients. And most people outside of Sacramento have no idea who they are.

One of the first things that all these new, freshman legislators, right out of the private sector, thought to do was to de-regulate the electric power industry. They thought that would be a pretty neat idea to stimulate competition. Of course, they arranged a very nice golden parachute for the old power companies to cover for their "sunk costs" in infrastructure.

The power companies transferred those funds (in the tens of billions) to their parent companies out of state. Then they cut back production, and eventually decided to claim bankruptcy. Now they need a hand-out to turn the lights back on.

And we've got a fresh, new group of legislators dealing with the problem. You see, the folks who got us into this situation have already been termed out. No institutional memory. Nobody to stand up and take responsibility. Nope, it wasn't them.

And when these idiots' failures become apparent, and the lights go off again, where will these legislators be? In their private sector offices, with their term in public office just a dim memory, thanks to term limits.

But I'm not bitter. No, not at all. Lobbyists write swell legislation. It's for the good of the people, you know?