How the California Controller's Race Could Change Everything

Pollsters and pundits alike most often concentrate on the marquee political races. The Florida Senate race garners national attention because of its intrigue and its national implications. In California, there is a battle for Governor that will decide the direction of the Golden State. Just below that surface, however, is a key race that could prove every bit as momentous and which may be key to the future of regaining our limited government heritage – the race for California State Controller.

At first blush, it is a race between a big government, union-supporting incumbent – Democrat John Chiang – and a conservative, limited government reformer, State Senator Tony Strickland. While there are many races that may fit that description, the Controller’s office is not just another political office.

Keep in mind that despite intervals between Republican and Democrat Presidents, Republican and Democrat Governors, Republican and Democrat Legislatures and Congresses, the size of the federal and state governments has exploded since the 1960’s. The quaint, 1960s, pre-Great Society, federal budgets of $130 billion have given way to a $4 trillion dollar monolith. Many state budgets, including California’s have seen similar growth.

That explosive growth, under the watchful eyes of both parties, occurs because more often than not, political discourse is a simple matter of what can government do and how can we fund it. Far less often do meaningful discussions occur about making government accountable for the money it already has. If limited government is to make a comeback, the latter must take precedence over the former and (1) today’s environment is the time to do it and (2) the California Controller’s race is the election on which to make that stand.

In recent weeks, in California alone, we have heard the stories of Bell, California where that small town was paying a city manager nearly twice what the President makes. Less publicized are the stories about how California schools are paying as much as $125 million, each year, too much for roof repairs and how John Chiang’s Controllers office has spent over $70 million dollars and literally can’t update the State’s antiquated payroll system.

In truth, there is an endless supply of such stories to be told everyday – and this is the fine point of the matter: If voters truly knew the extent of such waste, would they succumb to yearly Democrat pleas for them to part with an extra $1500 more each year in taxes? If voters knew that up to $125 million of the education dollars every year were being wasted would they believe that we are under-funding education? The Tea Party movement more than suggests that the answer to those questions would be a resounding NO.

Unfortunately, Republicans have not worked hard enough to expose the Bell California/John Chaing type stories. One reason is that Republicans around the country do not value holding the State Controller offices nearly enough. That office has the power to audit every phase of state government and to expose government waste at every turn. Indeed, John Chiang’s office knew (or should have known) of the Bell, California spending scandal and did nothing about it until the LA Times, of all outfits, made it a story.

All of which brings us to Tony Strickland. He may well be the ideal candidate to start this Republican Controller’s tide. As an Assembly member, he stood alone and sued then Governor Gray Davis because Davis refused to disclose the details of the awful energy deals he signed. Those terrible deals were costing Californians billions and until Strickland stood alone – Davis was getting away with it. Strickland won his lawsuit, forced disclosure of contracts, and with that you can trace not only the end of those rip-off Enron energy contracts but also the end of Gray Davis’ political career. California desperately needs a Controller like that today as opposed to John Chaing who is resisting government reform at every turn.

Simply stated, the key to changing the national dialogue from how to feed government to making government accountable to the money it already has is to open the vault of the Controller’s offices around the Country and especially in California where waste occurs on a grand scale. That effort must start with the election of Tony Strickland for California State Controller.