Presidential Potpourri

By David Yancey, President FA, AFT 6157

Potpourri is defined as a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant material, used to provide a gentle natural scent. It is usually placed in a decorative bowl, or tied in small bags made from sheer fabric. While I am not talking about a plant product, I think you will agree the topics included in this article will give off nothing similar to the fragrance of that spicy aromatic combination.

This article is about a mixture of material, not necessarily plant in nature that can provide a scent that is anything but gentle or fragrant. There are so many important things happening this year that may sting your senses and make it feel like we are in some sort of whirlwind. For example, the upcoming presidential elections and the traumatic impact the wrong choice could have on our country; the impending meltdown of the national economy and the proposed 700 billion dollar bailout from the Bush Administration with the comforting words of “just trust us” to do this right. Add to that the terrible tale of the California state budget crisis and this potpourri starts to give off a bad smell.

New Semester News
However, in the midst of all of this political mess there is some good. We are starting a new semester with more students than last year and trying to negotiate another contract with the hope of gains that could be very important for the majority of our faculty. Our negotiations team under the leadership of our Executive Director Barbara Hanfling has been working very hard all through the summer to construct the most positive collective bargaining agreement possible. Furthermore, our Faculty Union leadership along with the district’s leadership and the leadership of all the constituency groups are working closely together to keep our focus on the great task of educating our students, growing our enrollment and protecting our employee’s jobs.

California State Budget
The California state budget was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger amounting to $143 billion spending plan after the longest budget deadlock in state history, freeing up billions of dollars in payments to education, medical clinics, nursing homes, daycare centers and contract vendors. It gives community colleges 2% growth money and a 0.69% general apportionment COLA and a consistent funding of most of our categorical funds, and this is better news than we all expected.

The compromise was reached in the end by lawmakers agreeing to the governor’s demands for a stronger rainy day fund and authority to make spending cuts during the year, but they did not address the state’s imbalance between revenue and spending.

And of course the hard decisions they leave to us. California voters will have to approve the changes to the rainy day fund dollars by approving the convoluted use of $10 billion from future lottery revenue to help stabilize the next two state budgets. Schwarzenegger said a special election is likely to be scheduled for June. And of course, we will live this year with the threat of more “mid-year” cuts.

Our Economic Mess
The nation’s economy is not so easy. After decades of Republican preaching that government is bad and regulations choke business and cost jobs we see the result. “Wild West” style banking with no one watching or keeping score led us to the brink of economic collapse unseen since the great depression. I can’t help but think that Ronald Regan is spinning in his grave to hear John McCain now claim to be a populist and an advocate of fiscal regulation. 

Hopefully, the Democrats in Congress will finally stand up and demand real reform and regulation to not only stave off economic collapse but to help the average family.  It is critical that we all pay close attention to the issues in this election and to encourage everyone to be engaged in the debate and to turn out in November and vote.