Put up with these clowns part-time
Credit illustrious legislators like Orange County bozo Mike Duvall for reminding us of this excellent idea: Maybe it's time to go back to a part-time legislature.
The great full-time "experiment," started in 1966, just isn't working. Year after year -- in good economic times and bad -- legislators have failed to meet their deadline for passing a state budget. They have spent the state into one budget hole after another. They get all in a frazzle over such things as the docking of cow tails and the neutering of pets, but leave critical problems, such as fixing the state's fragile water system, failing schools and deteriorating roads, begging for years for solutions.
What are taxpayers getting for their money? For their cushy full-time jobs, legislators are paid top dollar salaries and provided lavish perks. They have high-paid staffs and most have multiple offices.
Has that bought Californians "quality leadership?" Hardly. At least with a part-time legislature, Californians will have to put up with these clowns only part of the time.
Returning lawmakers to part-time status should be part of a larger state government reform shake-up that includes having a one-house, or unicameral legislature, ending term limits that create inept legislators and changing the two-thirds vote requirement to pass a budget to 55 percent.
A side bonus: maybe knuckleheads like Duvall, who recently got caught bragging about bedding a lobbyist, will choose to stay in their holes, since they'll have less time for shenanigans in Sacramento.
