Do Californians realize that some senior members of the Governor's finance team were examining whether the state could become a federal territory as a reaction to the ongoing fiscal crisis? David Dayen found what he justifiably calls the "quote of the year" in a recent Wall Street Journal story about the fiscal problems facing the states:
"I looked as hard as I could at how states could declare bankruptcy," said Michael Genest, director of the California Department of Finance who is stepping down at the end of the year. "I literally looked at the federal constitution to see if there was a way for states to return to territory status."
But, but, I thought the Governor could solve all of our fiscal problems by blowing up the boxes and fighting the fraud, waste, and abuse through the use of his all-powerful blue pencil line-item veto pen?
The next time the Governor or one of his supporters argue that fraud, waste, and abuse or overspending the cause of our fiscal crisis, perhaps we could ask why the governor's team is looking at ending our statehood when he has had five years of state budgets he could blue-pencil without real fear the state legislature would override him.
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