Today’s the day. THE DAY? What, you don’t know which day today is? Well, it’s transition day, of course. Speaker Bass is making way for Speaker Perez.
John Perez officially takes over today as assembly speaker, a position considered the second-most powerful job in California politics.
In a ceremony being compared to an inauguration, Perez will outline his priorities – jobs, jobs, jobs and perhaps a bit on education and, oh yeah, that multibillion-dollar budget problem. He is expected to be speaking to a full house, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Gov. Gray Davis and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa – Perez’s cousin. (LA Daily News)
These are all important goals, but what role does a Speaker really have in today’s broken government? Let’s face it, the past two years, the past 6 years, really, have been something of a disaster. The reckoning that we had feared came to pass. And given the 2/3 supermajority rules, we were unable to really fight back. The best we could get was apparently the February deal, which we can all agree was something of a disaster. See May 19.
And into this disaster walks John A. Perez. While both are pretty staunch progressives, it’s hard not to notice the differences between he and Speaker Bass. He’s an operator of political levers in a way that Speaker Bass never mastered. Perhaps given more time, Bass would have gotten there, but Perez lives and breathes this stuff.
But is that helpful? It’s a defining question for the Assembly Democratic Caucus, but perhaps it should be reframed for general purposes. Can Perez be the guy who brings in not only the day to day of operating the Assembly, but also brings forward a grand vision for California that the Legislature has been lacking. It’s a big burden to put on anybody.
In California’s governmental climate, the role of Speaker must be as much of a media figure as a legislative figure. You must be able to legislate, of course. But given that much of the legislative power now resides in the wishy-washy electorate, the Speaker must be able to go directly to the people.
And that’s the question that must be resolved. Perez can never do it on his own, but he must lead the Caucus and the Party into a drive for real communication with all Californians.
We need more than the “best effort” we have received in the past. We need a startegy.
We have seem to go into negotiations with the intent to get the best deal we can. And not surprisingly, we wound up with whatever we’re given.
We know that the other side will game every opportunity.
We need to have a plan and a response for every one of their ploys.
It pleases me to hear that there will be less bills submitted with more focus on our true problems.
But that is not enough. We need strategy, and willpower.