Laura Chick, the state inspector general for stimulus spending, is busy solving problems that California is encountering with spending ARRA stimulus funds. Problem: A backlog of approvals at the Office of Historic Preservation, due to furloughs at that office, means ARRA funded projects are having trouble getting started. Her solution: No more furloughs for that department!
Obviously Chick is just a straight shooter with upper management written all over her. I’m sure it took Schwarzenegger a while to respond to this suggestion after he literally (not literally) picked his jaw up off the floor.
Other applications of the Laura Chick approach offer some very interesting possibilities for solving many problems that plague our state. Problem: Congestion on the freeways. Solution: Build more freeways! Problem: Gas is too expensive. Solution: Lower the price of gas! In fact, there are almost no problems that can’t be solved with this approach, including the problem of watchdog groups spending time making recommendations on the proceedings of other watchdog groups: Commission a third watchdog group!
Of course I don’t mean to make light of the situation this state is in with furloughs, and the wider problems that have put us there. It’s a predicament, all right: our one government tells us to stimulate the economy by creating jobs, but our other government says to stimulate the economy by cutting jobs. But we can’t just decide which government we like better, because that might make Daddy cry. I smell a Chick Solution coming on: Commission a third government!
OK, I guess making light of situations is what it is that I do here.
The Sac Rag 