An exclusive commentary from State Senate Republican Caucus Chairman George Runner:
Governor’s Lottery plan is a bad bet for CaliforniansBy Senator George Runner
As I have stated in the past, I am not a fan of the California State Lottery. Quite simply, I don’t believe California government should be in the business of gambling and state employees should not earn a living off the backs of the poor, who tend to be the majority of Lottery players.
However, the voters spoke loud and clear in 1984 when they passed Proposition 37, which created our current state-operated Lottery system.
That’s why I thought the Governor’s proposal last year to lease or sell the lottery was worthwhile and deserved serious debate. The Governor’s goal was to rid California of its structural debt (for those of us who oppose the Lottery, a positive side effect would have been the removal of the state as operator of a gambling enterprise).
However, the Governor has dropped his Lottery lease plan of 2007 and instead has proffered a new idea to sell $15 billion worth of bonds against future Lottery profits.
The Governor’s idea is a bad bet for Californians.
Hedging bets on future profits is an inappropriate use of taxpayers’ money that has the potential to further harm the state’s financial health.
Constituents did not send the Legislature or the Governor to Sacramento to balance the budget on shaky ideas and accounting trickery. Yet, Enron-type of accounting has become the standard operating procedure for this generation of leaders.
This time the Governor has gone too far – even for a state accustomed to far-out ideas.
The good news is Senate and Assembly Republicans will not vote for the Governor’s Bonds-for-Future-Lottery-Profit proposal. Legislative Democrats haven’t exactly applauded the idea either. Therefore, the Governor’s bad idea will never make it to the ballot. And that’s fine because voters would reject this idea as well.
The bad news is the Governor’s back-up plan is to raise sales taxes, and that’s an idea Democrat Legislators will undoubtedly embrace and one that Republicans will staunchly oppose.
We believe that Californians have been taxed to the max and therefore, neither the Legislature nor the Governor has the right to ask for more money from hard-working taxpayers.
Instead, it’s time to return to the basics of budgeting: Spending within our means and saving for rainy days. It’s a practice embraced by millions of households across the land and one that the California Legislature and Governor ought to adopt if we are to avoid financial ruin.