Mattammal: seeking accountable state spending, a Gov. Mahan would “quickly learn the limits of his power”
Sacramento’s supermajority won’t now all of a sudden “start getting behind accountability and transparency,” says Gus Mattammal, candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction. While he lauds Mahan’s back-to-basics plan for its specificity, he wonders how much is possible if the Mayor couldn’t even get accountability measures through the SJ City Council. An Opportunity Now exclusive reaction.
I think Mahan is sincere. I like the focus on specific accountability measures, notably an independent Inspector General, a requirement that state agencies respond to audit reports, a willingness to use AI tools to help generate efficiencies, and a sunset review commission.
I also like that he draws on the experience of other states, which from a marketing perspective is clever because it makes his ideas seem less risky. I’m a big fan of ZBB as a concept for curriculum design at the high school level. And, he’s correct about the IT situation, which I've complained about at length as it pertains to education in this state. I wish him godspeed trying to clean that up.
Mahan tried to implement accountability measures at the city level, and he is transparent about the fact that he didn't succeed in getting it passed. This initiative is his brand; he's the "I make govt actually work" guy. So it behooves him to at least try to get it passed at the state level. It would get him gobs and gobs of press, which obviously would benefit him.
But, if he couldn't get it passed at the city council level, it's not obvious to me what is going to make it pass at the state level. A legislature that has had zero check on its authority over the last 12 years of its supermajority status is not going to be motivated to start getting behind accountability and transparency now.
Arguably the greatest irony of California politics is that a center-left liberal like Mahan would have more power and influence over the direction of California if Republicans had more power and influence over the direction of California. Faced with a Democratic party supermajority in the legislature, Mahan will quickly learn the limits of his power.
Even if the politics started lining up, the implementation is key. How "dumbed down" would the goals have to get before you could get enough legislators on board? The more Dems lose, the more power Mahan would have to hold a tougher line. The fewer seats the Dems lose, the more Mahan's incentive becomes just getting *something* passed, in which case legislators can hold a tougher line and demand softer goals/performance metrics.
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