Where I Stand 1967 — Hank Greenspun: Reagan’s efforts in California could lead to bigger things

Friday, Nov. 3, 2000 | 9:54 a.m.

Note to readers: This column by Sun founder Hank Greenspun appeared on March 24, 1967.

The news of his death is slightly premature.

After the election of Ronald Reagan in California, the story went around that if "Death Valley Days" didn't kill Ronnie off, the governorship of California surely would.

Educators deplored Reagan's first moves in cutting the university budgets, all departments of government cried in alarm at decreased allotments and it appeared the state was headed fast down the road to ruin.

Things appeared to be so bad that all polls on possible Republican presidential candidates showed Reagan way down on the totem pole. Even Richard Nixon had him beat and Dick lost to Pat Brown for the governorship of California while Reagan "whupped" Brown bad.

I can't say I was a Reagan admirer in the last election, although we did support a Republican for governor of Nevada and we were elated with his victory. And I was appalled by the dire news of Reagan's drastic cuts in the field of education that almost bore out my original estimate of the man.

But it does begin to appear that perhaps all my information on Reagan's bad preliminary showing might have come from Democrats, because he has been in office three months and the state of California doesn't appear even close to collapse.

In fact, there seems to be some improvement in the financial picture of the state and much of it due to Reagan's efforts.

In Wednesday's Los Angeles Times, a story credited Gov. Reagan with lopping 1,224 more jobs from the Public Works payroll. These are not direct firings but the cutback will be achieved in the next six months through attrition which includes deaths, retirements and transfers to departments short in help.

In addition, close to 2,892 surplus jobs were eliminated previously, including 2,632 in the State Mental Hygiene Department.

Reagan attributes the layoffs to improved techniques that lowered costs for mental patients without impairing the efficiency of the program.

The estimate for the Public Works layoffs show that over $15 million saved will now be available for the building of roads.

With the savings of millions of dollars from surplus jobs, it appears the state of California might soon approach an area of fiscal responsibility.

Reagan puts it another way:

"It would be dishonest to the people of California to ask them to keep a $20 million payroll for workers no longer needed."

What a surprising statement for any public official to make! And how incredible it is to find an elected official who actually shows concern for the taxpayers' dollars. And how unbelievable it is to find a governor who, despite widespread criticism, stands firm and inflexible in his pre-election pledges to cut all the fat out of government.

How does all this contrast with our state?

At the girl's school in Caliente, there are almost as many staff as there are girls. What is the per-patient cost under such a setup?

We know that our former governor, Grant Sawyer, had far too many people on the state payrolls, many doing public relations work for the executive branch. Not that they weren't good and capable people, but where are many of them now that a new administration has come to office?

Have they been lopped off the public's back to make room for replacements which the Republican governor has now appointed? It doesn't appear so. If anything, the cost of government has gone up by the additional employees chosen by Gov. Paul Laxalt. The state expenses stay the same but most of Sawyer's old appointments have moved up to the federal level with their salaries coming out of the same pockets of the same old taxpayers.

If Sawyer had won the election, his appointments would have stayed on and new jobs would not have been created for them at the federal level. So the question arises whether they are really needed.

There should be a constitutional provision that makes it mandatory to change parties every four years at every level of government.

This means that with such election of Democratic governors, a Democratic president comes into office. Naturally all the Republicans will be swept out, which would create jobs for the Democrats.

And when the Republicans come into office, all Democrats go.

But when a Republican is elected on the state level and a Democratic administration is in power on the national level, all ousted state employes must be absorbed at the national level or the Democratic Party will lose some strength.

Political parties are as strong as their patronage and the less jobs they control, the less effectiveness they can exhibit at the polls.

This is the pattern of encroaching bureaucracy that will someday strangle the nation. Jobs mean votes, and the tendency to place people on public payrolls is increasing so alarmingly that soon everyone will be on the public payroll with the government running all industry formerly in private domain.

At present, private industry cannot compete with public salaries in the higher echelons.

Perhaps the time will come for another constitutional amendment, making it mandatory that with the addition of a new department or branch of government, one has to be eliminated. Otherwise, the expansion of old bureaus and the addition of new ones will so burden the backs of the taxpayers that the nation's prime source of revenue will be choked off.

If the people of California believe that Reagan is heading for a fall because he is decreasing the cost of state government, they have to be mistaken. Because no matter what the allegiance of the voter -- be he Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, white, black, orange or yellow -- no one admires a person more than one who respects another person's money, especially when he is charged with the responsibility of spending it.

If Reagan can remain inflexible to the persuasiveness of those who want to expand services in all areas of government without regard to need or cost, and if he can reduce the expenses of state government without limiting quality, which shouldn't be difficult considering the overstaffing and needless positions in all phases of government, he will be fulfilling a public trust which is unusual for any public official.

He might even wind up higher in the Republican polls as a presidential contender -- higher than Nixon, that is.

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