☆ Khamis: “I haven’t seen a wolf”
In an Opportunity Now exclusive series, local leaders weigh in on what this election cycle reveals about the bigger issues shaping Silicon Valley’s direction. We caught up with former SJ Councilmember and SVBA President Johnny Khamis, who marvels at voters’ trust in government no matter how dubious a tax hike may be:
Voters have an unhealthy, unquestioning trust in their government when, in fact, government has not really earned that trust.
It comes out of a need to solve problems by throwing more money at the problems. But we haven't learned to keep government accountable. They have not shown fiscal responsibility.
You can use last November’s Measure A 5/8-cent sales tax increase as a case in point. Proponents said, ‘if you don't give us this money, people will die.’ They literally used that language.
They told us they were missing a billion dollars, but Measure A only provided $300 million. So how did they fund enough tax dollars to open a brand-new hospital, and expand services in Regional Medical? What’s the truth?
I'm afraid we didn't learn our lesson because we keep giving government more taxes expecting results without any accountability.
And now we've got another ballot measure, and it's going to be the end of the world if we don't get this new regional transportation tax. Nobody's going to be able to hop on anything and ride anything. It's the same type of argument. It's do or die. For me, it's the cry-wolf scenario: how many times are you going to cry wolf? I haven't seen a wolf.
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