Westlands & Prop 30
It will be a lot easier for Westlands to make their case that SoCal should support the water plan if they can say they supported the Governor's tax plan
Oct 25, 2012
It isn't too difficult to figure out why Westlands Water District officials would be donating money to the Prop 30 campaign. After all, Westlands is one of the leading players advocating the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan which is supporting the idea of building a $14B tunnel under the Delta. The tunnel plan would, hopefully, give Westlands and others a more reliable water supply while also benefiting the Delta ecosystem. The tunnel plan is a users-pay project and Westlands is one of the users that will be paying. And, some of the other users paying will be the 20-million-plus people of Southern California. They will be paying it in the form of higher water bills.
It will be a lot easier for Westlands to make their case that SoCal should support the water plan if they can say they supported the Governor's tax plan when he needed it. We should also mention that the Governor has been the leading supporter of the tunnel plan on the government side of things. Of course we should also note that SoCal needs the water plan just as much as does Westlands and should be able to figure this out on their own. But, we also realize that according to a recent poll, 82% of Southern Californians don't have any idea what or where the Delta is or where their water comes from, and probably will need some coaxing to come to their senses.
So, Westlands' donation is probably good politics, but we wonder how the Prop 30 policy will make us a better state. Prop 30 feeds the beast that is the state's unquenchable appetite for more money, but does nothing to solve the state's problem of spending too much on unions, pensions, health care and salaries. There's a reason the state is broke and many think it's the lack of ability legislators have to look in the mirror and tackle our problems head-on. Instead, they always ask for more money and kick the can down the road. In this respect, Westlands is an enabler, but at least we understand why.
Westlands Officials Donate $50,000 to Support Prop 30
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