Can we have our government back?

What Washington could learn from Fairfield

By Kelvin Wade
Fairfield Daily Republic
From page A7 | August 23, 2012 |

There are myriad reasons why our political system is broken. But one of the biggest is Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform “Taxpayer Protection Pledge.” And because of that, Washington and the Republican Party could learn a lot from the Fairfield City Council.

Norquist’s pledge to never raise taxes under any circumstance has been wildly successful. In the Congress, 238 out of 242 Republican representatives and 41 of 47 GOP senators have signed the pledge. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has also signed it.

But the effect has been to throw our government into chaos. Though Republicans haven’t raised taxes, the pledge didn’t stop them from going on a spending spree in the Bush years: passing massive tax cuts, waging two wars, increasing defense spending and adding a Medicare prescription drug benefit with no means to pay for any of it.

And in recent years, the pledge made it impossible for Republicans to negotiate in good faith with Democrats on increasing the debt ceiling. The impasse resulted in us losing our triple A credit rating and leaves us facing massive cuts in defense and domestic programs come next year.

During the GOP primary campaign, every candidate famously stated that they would not vote to increase taxes even if we cut $10 for every $1 increase. Ten to one! That’s crazy.

What if the Democratic Party signed a pledge that they would never, under any circumstance, cut any program? We’d rightly think that would be irresponsible.

So how could Washington learn from Fairfield?

Fairfield, like much of the country, finds itself in fiscal crisis. Over the last five years, $37 million was painfully cut from the budget. And facing a shortfall of $7.75 million means the next round of cuts will go right to the bone. The city manager has given us examples of some of the cuts we could see with the closing of the senior center, aquatics complex at Allan Witt Park, scaling back fire services, cutting gang- and drug-prevention activities and virtually eliminating street maintenance and code enforcement.

A subcommittee consisting of Catherine Moy and John Mraz analyzed the situation and recommended a 1 percent sales tax measure that unanimously passed the council. It’s ironic because outside of the Central Solano Citizen/Taxpayer Group. I couldn’t think of two people who hated taxes more.

But Washington politicians are removed from the impact of budget cuts. However, when local politicians drop that budget ax, they see the people it affects. It’s not just the folks who come to the chamber but it’s people in the mall, on the street and on their block that they hear from.

One could say Norquist’s group has done us a favor in that it’s made us focus on cutting spending. That should always come first. And that’s what we’ve done in Fairfield. We’ve cut spending. But every serious economist believes we must raise revenue nationally in addition to cuts. We at least need representatives who aren’t handcuffed in addressing our fiscal problems.

This is what Washington could learn from Fairfield. We have leaders who abhor tax increases yet they didn’t let that ideological stance prevent them from seeking a balanced approach to Fairfield’s fiscal realities. Peace.

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ADDITIONAL NOTES: I'm not feeling well so this is going to be short. Check it out. I think Republicans closing tax loopholes and raising revenues would be a gutsy move. Republicans, by being so rabidly antitax, would have the credibility to raise revenues when it came down to it. The public knows the GOP blocks tax increases on the wealthy. If they finally were to do it, it would be a major breakthrough. It's a Nixon goes to China opportunity. Likewise, it is Democrats who have to lead the effort on entitlement reform instead of demagoguing the issue. Dems would have the credibility to pull off the restructuring. If both parties could agree to make these moves, it would go a long way to restoring some credibility back into government. Not holding my breath.