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Lois Henry: Leadership? We don't need no stinkin' leadership!

BY LOIS HENRY, Californian staff writer
lhenry@bakersfield.com | Saturday, Aug 2 2008 12:00 PM

Last Updated: Monday, Aug 4 2008 7:22 AM

Ready, fire, aim!

That’s the feeling I was left with after sifting through the ashes of the proposed one-cent sales tax increase that went down in flames at the Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting last week.

Let's recap:

The proposal, pushed by the Kern County Taxpayers Association, would have had to be rammed through in two meetings to get on the November ballot; there wasn’t a wide coalition of support and several key community members had no clue it was coming; there was no legal guarantee the tax increase would be spent on the goodies listed in the proposal (roads, health care and public safety); and the proponents hadn’t even talked to other Kern cities, including those that had already passed, or are gearing up to pass, their own sales tax increases.

Oh yeah, and it stumbled directly onto the toes of a 1/2-cent sales tax increase that absolutely must come before voters in the next year or two so we can raise matching money to finish the Thomas Roads Improvement Project (TRIP), which is already under way.

Wow. It’s hard to imagine a more ill-conceived plan.

Supervisors tabled the issue until November. They should have killed it outright. It was the wrong tax, wrong time, wrong approach and it will likely muddy the waters for the 1/2-cent transportation tax.

After talking with Michael Turnipseed, executive director of the taxpayers association, I understand his reasons for bringing this proposal now — it was right after budget hearings, so money was top of mind for supervisors, the state is likely to do something drastic to get out of its own budget mess and that’ll probably involve swiping local money. On top of that, the general election will generate a high voter turnout, and with it a stronger possibility for getting a tax increase passed.

I also think he’s absolutely right that we have needs beyond roads in Kern County. The jail expansion alone will be a huge challenge. We have access to $100 million in state money for the expansion, but we need matching money. Not only that, where will the money for increased operations come from?

We definitely need to find a money tree somewhere.

But I disagree that his proposal was the way to go.

We are midstream on fixing our roads and must pass the 1/2-cent sales tax — with the money legally bound to roads — to get all the way across.

This is not a tax-happy county. Because that measure will need a thumbs-up from two-thirds of the voters, it’s going to be an uphill battle even without another stray tax proposal wandering around to confuse people and make them feel squeezed.

“Timing is everything,” I was told about mounting a successful campaign to coax voters into approving the 1/2-cent increase.

There was a very specific plan in place to get that done.

First, the TRIP team would get a few major projects finished, such as Fairfax-Highway 178 interchange and 7th Standard Road expansion. Traffic impact fees would be increased so people would see that developers are paying their fair share. A wide coalition of political and community support would be established. Finally, voters would be asked to increase the tax to make the final push toward finishing TRIP.

I’d heard about this plan and was told by several county folks that former Congressman Bill Thomas had laid it out several times to people involved in TRIP.

Supervisor Michael Rubio, one of only two supervisors who favored the one-cent tax increase, told me he hadn’t heard the 1/2-cent increase was in the offing.

Come on. If I knew about it, it wasn’t exactly a state secret.

So, the 1-cent proposal backers didn’t know about the 1/2-cent plan. And I’ve heard from the 1/2-cent backers that no one from the 1-cent crowd brought them into the tent.

Hmmmm. This left-hand-doesn’t-know-what-the-right-hand-is-doing dance seems a bit contrived. Could it be....I don’t know....politics?

Maybe I’m being unkind to think that different political factions are flinging tax proposals around to try and get the upper hand while jeopardizing the success of roads projects that we, the peon citizenry, desperately need. But maybe I’m right.

Rubio said several times during our conversation that “we have to come together” to move forward. Rubio was the only supervisor to meet with the 1-cent proposal backers prior to the issue coming to the board. Perhaps, in the interest of “coming together” he could have picked up the phone and talked to a few people, such as Thomas or anyone in the TRIP office.

Then he dropped the “L” word.

“We need leadership on this front,” he said with some frustration. (I nearly snorted in disbelief that he would actually say that to me!)

Other than the obvious “Isn’t that why you were elected?,” he’s right. We need unity and leadership on these issues.

The 1-cent initiative, however, clearly lacked both.

Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com.