Golden State primary voters have a chance to turn the page on an era of dysfunction.
This article was originally published in the Wall Street Journal.
By: James Freeman
There’s an old saying that a problem well-stated is a problem half-solved. In California this observation may have particular resonance because the Democrats who run Sacramento bitterly resist even acknowledging the Golden State’s problems—often because they have been so busy creating them. So it is refreshing indeed to encounter an elected Democrat who will at least reckon with the failures and entertain a discussion of solutions.
San Jose’s mayor, Democrat Matt Mahan, is now a candidate for governor. He will stake out liberal positions and this column makes no guarantee that he will not be a big spender if elected. But what a healthy turn it would be for our politics if a California governor was interested in something more than the expensive, performative partisanship that has characterized the tenure of current Gov. Gavin Newsom (D.).
Mr. Mahan is making a pitch to lead all of California, not just his ideological tribe. His new campaign website strikes a tone that is anything but Newsomian:
We can address our needs for improved health, housing and public education without asking our people to pay more in taxes. Instead, let’s require government to spend the money they have now better before they ask us to pay more.
California is one of the highest taxed states in the nation and independent analysts have clearly identified billions in fraud and waste. Let’s make government accountable to results, root out the fraud, and require state, county, and local governments to do better by working together before we ask hard-pressed taxpayers to pay even more in taxes…
Let’s remember that a better future that lifts more Californians into the middle class starts with lifting up our public schools. Matt Mahan is a former school teacher who understands the problem isn’t our kids – it is adults who won’t hold our kids, our schools, and our state to the highest academic standards.
Let’s bring back the SAT, bring back the science of reading, and bring back the best public schools, colleges and universities in the nation.
This column would prefer that Mr. Mahan would help families escape the state’s public schools rather than trying to lift up a failing system, but his call for higher standards and objective performance measurements represents an improvement in Democratic discourse.
Regular readers may recall Mr. Mahan as one of the California mayors pushing Mr. Newsom to move in the direction of reform of his disastrous policies on homelessness. Mr. Mahan’s signature contribution to civic sanity was to insist that homeless people who refuse multiple offers of shelter should be subject to arrest.
Sooji Nam of CBS News quoted the mayor:
“Not about criminalizing homelessness, it’s about intervening when we’re offering a solution to homelessness that is repeatedly being refused,” Mahan said.
Believing that no one has an unalienable right to take over a section of a public park may seem like basic common sense, but remember it’s California. Grading on the curve, let’s give Mr. Mahan some credit and hope to hear more good sense from him during his gubernatorial campaign.
Here’s an excerpt from the initial case he makes on X today:
… I’m running for Governor of California — because we can do better.
I know we can, because we’re proving it in San Jose.
We’ve reduced unsheltered homelessness by nearly 1/3rd after a decade of growth. We were rated the safest big city in America last year for the first time in over 20 years. We’re the only city to have solved 100% of homicides nearly 4 years running. And we’re taking on affordability with urgency and honesty — unlocking thousands of housing units in the past couple years.
We need to stand up for our rights, for our freedoms and for our neighbors. We need to use the tools we have at hand to protect our democracy.
One tool is the law. The other tool is our results. We have to use both.
That’s how we fix California.
We don’t just need to be against something. We need to be for something — a government that proves it can solve problems for working people again.
And before we ask Californians to give more, we owe them proof that their government can do better.
So I’m running to bring focus back to government. To give cities the tools they need to succeed. To show that the best resistance to division is results.
Like many readers, this column figures that government has generally proved it cannot solve problems and ought to try tackling fewer of them. Still, we seem to have here a Democratic gubernatorial campaign without vitriol that acknowledges California residents are paying a lot for government and not getting enough in return.
Sounds like a promising start.
