Recalling Mike Feuer

Do you recall Mike Feuer, a dynamic young pol now comfortably, if ambitiously, ensconced in Sacramento as the Assemblyman for (or against) the 42nd district? At one time he had ambitions to be our mayor. Today he may long for even higher things. I have some bad news for his ambition. In the words of my New York relatives I say "Fuggitaboutit."

Assemblyman Feuer has proposed a bill in Sacramento to put on our Los Angeles ballot an increase of either the tax on gas up to 9 cents a gallon or increase our automobile registration fee by up to $90. (AB 2558, if you think I’m making this up) Now all of these monies would doubtlessly go to good and worthy causes. Increased revenue I’m sure would be very efficiently and well used for wonderful public purposes. The idea of this is not to punish Angelinos for, well, being Angelinos, but to raise money for public transportation. This is to help our buses and subways. A noble idea. Truly.

A reasoned argument against Feuer’s seemingly serious proposal would be: ARE YOU KIDDING ME? HAVE YOU COMPLETELY TAKEN LEAVE OF YOUR SENSES?

Okay, I’ll stop shouting. It isn’t the money he’s trying to extract from us. He is, after all, trying to put this on our local ballot. But that is the rub and the reason that I’m not simply questioning his political judgment but his sanity. How out of touch with reality does an elected official have to be before being adjudicated as incompetent to represent us, either by dint of isolation in a bubble or delusional madness?

Notice, if you will, the price of gasoline. As we hit and surpass the $4 per gallon mark, guess the results of asking the public to raise it another 9 cents. Yes, I know the legislation says “up to 9 cents.” That’s the ceiling—in theory. How crushingly overwhelming the defeat of such a measure would be is beyond calculation.

Okay, then let’s look at the alternative. Raise the registration fees, again “up to,” $90 per vehicle. Yes, surely another big winner at the polls. We will vote to make driving more expensive as gas prices skyrocket, as insurance premiums cost more and cover less. We will vote to give more money to the Transit Authority that has used it so well so far, that spends huge amounts defending law suits from the Bus Riders Union, who built a marble mausoleum that rivals the Taj Mahoney Cathedral, that fights its users and rolls over on cost overruns from its contractors.

The question is not if we need better public transportation. We do. The issue is if anything is the record of the MTA encourages us to reach deep into our pockets in the present economy and turn our bucks over to them.

Seeing no chance of this proposition passing, my concern is not that we will vote to increase our own fees (they shy away from using the word “tax”—the sin that dares not speak its name). This dead pre-arrival measure raises several interesting questions—beside the sanity of Assemblyman Feuer. How much time will our solons waste debating this silliness? How much money will it cost the public to have this on the ballot? How will special interests be involved in raising money to pay for the TV ads, flyers and robocalls for and against the measure should it reach our ballot? Last questions: Do you recall when Mike Feuer had a political future or should his district just recall Mike Feuer?