PD Editorial: Drastic times

The primary purpose of this editorial is to make our endorsements in four state legislative races on the Nov. 4 ballot -- the 1st, 6th and 7th Assembly districts and the 3rd state Senate district.

But the danger in supporting individual legislators this year is endorsing a system that is failing.

California's system of government is in crisis. It is broken, and the greatest risk these days is assuming that the situation will improve with time and a new election.

It won't. The shortcomings of our state government were on full display this summer as lawmakers set new records for incompetence, adopting a budget 85 days into the new fiscal year and doing so with so many gimmicks -- such as borrowing $5 billion against future lottery revenue -- as to render the process comical.

Moreover, California's failure to honestly bridge a $15 billion deficit left the state locked out of credit markets in the fall and scrambling to pay its bills. The governor was forced to make a preliminary appeal to the U.S. Treasury for a $7 billion emergency loan, far in excess of the $2.5 billion in federal loan guarantees used to bail out New York City more than 30 years ago.

If not for the success of a direct appeal to individual investors to buy short-term bonds, the state might still be begging for money.

In short, lawmakers have long been pushing California to the brink of disaster -- and it's time that Californians pushed back.

State residents should pursue to an idea that was put forward by the Bay Area Council and is growing in popularity -- calling a constitutional convention to rethink state government.

As it is, the state government's system of spending, its array of commissions and panels and its Byzantine system of taxation are accidents of history. No reasonable assemblage of people would create such a system of self-governance. A constitutional convention would allow Californians to take a step back and consider the state's governance structure with a fresh, sane perspective. It also would allow them to analyze intractable and taboo subjects such as the state's system of distributing revenues, redistricting, the initiative process and the two-thirds requirement for passing a budget and raising taxes.

The idea has been championed by the Bay Area Council, a public policy group comprising representatives of Google, Hewlett-Packard and 275 of the other largest employers in the region. The council has established a panel of experts, including academics and constitutional scholars from throughout the state, to analyze and recommend how this could be done. We look forward to commenting further when those recommendations come back.

But as Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, said in a San Francisco Chronicle opinion piece that started this discussion in August, "Drastic times call for drastic measures."

That said, these changes won't happen overnight, and voters must still decide on members of the state Legislature on Nov. 4.

To that end, we recommend the re-election of Assembly members Jared Huffman of San Rafael and Noreen Evans of Santa Rosa and the election of Wes Chesbro of Arcata in the 1st Assembly District and Mark Leno of San Francisco in the 3rd Senate District.

Huffman and Evans are both smart, pragmatic lawmakers who have proven their leadership skills in Sacramento. As hoped, Huffman, who is completing his first term in office, proved to be a leader on such environmental concerns as sensible methods of combatting the Light Brown Apple Moth. He also laid the ground for a pay-as-you-go insurance system that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging people to drive less.

Meanwhile Evans, who is seeking her third and final term under the state's term limits law, has emerged as a real leader on government transparency. She also is in line to be the next chairwoman of the Assembly Budget Committee, offering the potential for a greater local voice on state spending matters.

Leno won a hard-fought primary battle with incumbent state Sen. Carole Migden and former North Bay Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael. Although we supported Nation in the primary, we described Leno as a "bright and articulate progressive who knows his way around Sacramento." We're confident that Leno's experience and levelheadedness will serve the interests of 3rd Senate District voters well.

Former state Sen. Wes Chesbro also is familiar with Sacramento and is seeking to succeed Patty Berg, who is being termed out, in the Assembly. He wants to continue to work on his central concerns: public education, solid waste management, the environment and health care -- particularly mental health.

The Republican candidates running in these legislative races are Sashi McEntee of Mill Valley (3rd Senate District), Jim Pell of Eureka (1st Assembly), Paul Lavery of Novato (6th Assembly) and Doris Gentry of Napa (7th District). All are clear-thinking, sensible individuals with no elected experience challenged with running without much GOP support in heavily Democratic districts.

They all raise important issues such as the need for more attention to economic development in their respective districts. But none has shown that they would be more effective in Sacramento, operating within a dysfunctional system.

The Press Democrat recommends Mark Leno, Jared Huffman, Noreen Evans and Wes Chesbro. The change we recommend is in overhauling the system itself, with the help of a constitutional convention.