God, I remember how I used to cringe when one of the nuns at St.
Timothy’s threatened to put some mistake I had made
”
on my permanent record.
”
I always had the image of someone actually writing down every
indiscretion I had ever made in some giant book somewhere.
God, I remember how I used to cringe when one of the nuns at St. Timothy’s threatened to put some mistake I had made “on my permanent record.” I always had the image of someone actually writing down every indiscretion I had ever made in some giant book somewhere.
I don’t know about you, but the threat of having something put on my permanent record was one helluva motivator for me when I was in school.
But somehow, I don’t think California’s Gov. Gray Davis went to school with the threat of things being put on his permanent record. Here’s a guy who doesn’t think he should pay any political price for being the governor who, in 18 short months, turned the state’s $12-billion surplus into a $35-billion deficit. That’s $35 billion that taxpayers, mostly taxpayers without tax shelters, are going to have to make up. He figures it’s not his fault because most of the deficit will be made up long after he leaves the governor’s office.
Let me tell you, if I started out with $12 and ended up owing someone $35, Sister Mary Margaret would have, sure as the devil, put it on my “permanent record” back in 1959!
So now you tell me, does Gray Davis deserve to have his $47 billion “mistake” go on his permanent record? If you agree with me and Sister Mary Margaret, put “recall” next to Gray Davis’ name in the history books.
But wait, Davis and his people say that a recall will only add to the taxpayer’s burden – it’ll cost upwards of $30 million to hold a special election. Now there’s a scare tactic for you. Thirty million dollars – as a taxpayer, am I that mad?
Lord knows, I am not a financial wizard, but I can balance my checkbook, so let’s do the math: There are more or less 8 million voters in California. If 8 million people get cheated out of $47 million, that’s about $587.50 each; $30 million for a special election – that’s about $3.75 each.
Would I spend $3.75 to have it go on Davis’ permanent record that he screwed me out of $587.50? As Sister Mary Margaret would say, you betcha, gross mismanagement is going on your permanent record!
Without this asterisk next to Davis’ name in history books, 20 years down the road, people aren’t going to remember that Davis shorted every voter in California out of at least $587.50.
Money I would rather have spent on something else, like my daughter’s wedding. And when I think that $3.75 is not much more than the price of a double shot latte today, I’m voting for recall. Besides, Jim thinks that I drink too much coffee anyway.
Linda Lee King is a staff writer with the Free Lance. She finally has a laptop and an Internet connection, and will be working from the Last Chance Ranch for the next few weeks keeping her chickens company.
