Fresno Bee Opinion Talk

California Attorney General Jerry Brown ruled Thursday that the California Citizens Compensation Commission can cut the salaries of state lawmakers, setting in motion an 18% pay cut for members of the Assembly and Senate. The salary reduction will take effect Dec. 7, and reduce legislators' pay from $116,208 a year to $95,291.

Lawmakers, who along with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, have apporved pay cuts for state employees, ironically battled against their own pay being reduced. That brought on criticism that the legislators were being hypocritical -- asking everyone but themselves to sacrifice during the state budget crisis.

They even put up front-men to do their anti-pay-cut dirty work. The lawmakers' backers contended that the citizens commission did not have the authority to cut the pay in mid-term. They sought a legal opinion from the attorney general on the legality of the commission's action. Legislators could challenge Brown's opinion in court, but that would really be bad form as they approach the 2010 elections.

Here's part of Brown's opinion:

"In response to your question as to whether the California Citizens Compensation Commission can reduce the salaries of legislators during their terms of office, the short answer is yes."

The news is not good for President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats on the political front. Obama's popularity has dropped below 50% in public opinion polls and independents, who often provide the margin of victory in national elections, aren't backing Democratic policies.

That suggests big problems for Democrats in next year's mid-term elections. Politico.com points out that just 14% of independents approve of the job Congress is doing. That's a referendum on the Democrats because they control the House and the Senate.

Here's more from Politico.com:

Mounting evidence that independent voters have soured on the Democrats is prompting a debate among party officials about what rhetorical and substantive changes are needed to halt the damage.

Following serious setbacks with independents in off-year elections earlier this month, White House officials attributed the defeats to local factors and said President Barack Obama sees no need to reposition his own image or the Democratic message.

Since then, however, a flurry of new polls makes clear that Democrats are facing deeper problems with independents--the swing voters who swung dramatically toward the party in 2006 and 2008 but who now are registering deep unease with the amount of spending and debt called for under Obama's agenda in an era of one-party rule in Washington.

A Gallup Poll released last week offered a disturbing glimpse about the state of play: just 14 percent of independents approve of the job Congress is doing, the lowest figure all year. In just the past few days alone, surveys have shown Democratic incumbents trailing Republicans among independent voters by double-digit margins in competitive statewide contests in places as varied as Connecticut, Ohio and Iowa.

The Amtrak trip to San Diego is about two hours longer than driving, but it's a lot less stressful than maneuvering your car through Southern California traffic. I visited my daughter in San Diego over the weekend to see her new apartment, and took the train down on Saturday and returned on Monday.

The biggest downside to traveling south from Fresno by train is that you must take the bus from Bakersfield to Los Angeles' Union Station. But the trip from L.A. to San Diego is along the coast and you get a great view of the ocean out of your window. The photo above was taken with my cell phone out the train window.

It costs $48 each way so the train is close to what you would pay for gas from Fresno to San Diego. That's a drive I've made many times, and the train was a nice change. You can connect your computer or just enjoy the scenery. Now I'm sounding like an ad for Amtrak. That's OK. I'm a believer in train travel.

I can really relate to this column last week by Paul Silva: Tethered by texts -- new parent/child bond:

"On a typical weekend, I type more words to my younger son than I speak to him."

Yeah, they have phones, but they don't always answer them. But my son in college in Nebraska will almost always text me back within minutes.

I will use any tools at my disposal to try to keep lines of communication open. Over the years, we've progressed through e-mail, Yahoo messenger, texting and Facebook. Whatever works.

With three adults, two teens and an elementary student in our house and a young adult halfway across the country in college, things can get a little crazy. You can't always count on them seeing a note stuck on the refrigerator.

UPDATED

The water bond passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to repair California's water system. Most Californians don't think there's a water crisis because they can turn on their taps and sprinklers and out comes the water. But one break in the crumbling water infrastructure could end the endless water supply for many Californians.

The problem is most water users are in urban neighborhoods and they seldom grasp the gravity of the issue. These are the same folks who don't understand where milk comes from or think their produce magically shows up in the grocery store.

The !11.1 billion water bond isn't perfect (there's $2 billion in pork), but disaster is ahead if we ignore the water crisis. The bond would fix the Sacramento-San Joaqun Delta, an estuary that is crucial to water flowing south to the San Joaquin Valley and into Southern California. We also need dams to store the extra water we get in wet years to be used in dry years, such as the recent drought. There are other water system plumbing fixes.

Yes, there's pork in this bill, but the vast majority of the bill is crucial to California's economic survival. If you think $11.1 billion is costly, wait until the Delta fails, the levees break and we can't move water south. Now that will be costly.

I write about the bond's political problems in my column today. Click here to read the column.

A recent Bee letter writer criticized police officers. Not surprisingly, that brought on a barrage of letters in support of the police. You can read the letters by clicking here.

Here's part of one of the letters:

"In response to V. Diane Corbin's question, "What would you tell your child about police officers?": I tell my children that they are brave and courageous women and men who put their life at risk every day to protect our community."

Click here to read Corbin's letter.

Here are the passages from Corbin's letter that caused the reaction from other letter writers:

"In the good old days, when I was in first and second grades, our books had stories about the nice, helpful policeman, and even had pictures of a small child holding the hand of the policeman. Do any of you remember those pictures and stories? "Our friend, the policeman."

"How life changes. Would we now encourage our children to run up to the policeman and hold his hand? I would tell my child, "Run for your life!" What would you tell yours?"