Opinion: In today’s pages: The veepstakes, sales taxes and more sales taxes
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Can we go a day without publishing something about Barack Obama and John McCain? I think not. Today it’s Thomas Schwartz’ turn. Schwartz, a polysci professor at UCLA, urges the two presumptive nominees to break with the late-20th-century norm and pick a running mate who won’t be seen as the putative successor. Schwartz’ picks: former Democratic Sen. Bob Graham of Florida (ooh, a swing state!) and Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina (ooh, another swing state!). There’s mention of John Edwards anywhere in the piece, so you’ll have to supply your own wisecracks.
Also on the page, our man Tim Rutten, who likes to write about books and the Bush adminstration, kills two birds with one stone, er, computer keyboard. His column looks into the brouhaha over an explosive allegation in Ron Suskind’s new book, ‘The Way of the World,’ regarding how the White House built support for the war on terror. The buzz generated by the allegation ‘may be great publicity,’ Rutten writes, ‘but it does a disservice to meticulously reported works of serious journalism, like Suskind’s books.’
Over on the editorial page, the board takes a look at two new developments of interest to Los Angeles taxpayers. Although it doesn’t throw its support behind Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reported proposal to increase the sales tax by a penny, it praises him for being willing to change his mind about the issue. It also notes the delicious irony in Schwarzenegger’s position today when compared to his first campaign, which included an all-out attack on the car tax. The cut Schwarzenegger pushed through in the car tax just happened to cost the state as much as it would raise with a 1-cent increase in the sales tax. In a similar vein, the board also blasts the county supervisors for not giving voters the chance to approve a half-cent increase in the sales tax to support mass transit projects, although it stops short of endorsing such an increase.
It would be nice to think that the politicians involved in this fight were acting to protect their constituents, yet it’s impossible to see how preventing voters from making their own decisions is in anybody’s interest.
The board also sides with the San Diego Minutemen in one of their less celebrated fights: their battle to keep a particular stretch of I-5 clean. In particular, it criticizes Caltrans for trying to move the Minutemen’s adopted stretch of roadway (and the accompanying sign) to a less popular route.
We are not fans of Minutemen either plural or singular, or similar vigilante groups. But as long as they pick up trash and don’t make a public spectacle of themselves on I-5, they have a right to their sign.
Finally, readers respond to articles on the city’s regulation of fast-food outlets and a federal judge’s decision allowing a giant cross to remain on San Diego’s Mt. Soledad, our aforementioned man Rutten’s column about Justice Department hiring practices, an editorial opposing lower speed limits and a column urging Obama to do more negative campaigning.
The photo of Bob Graham is courtesy of the website of the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida, and the image of Elizabeth Dole comes from Chris Hondros/Getty Images.