California falsehoods on the cost of ballot initiative projects

Nice, but you need "do re mi."

Oh, if you ain't got the do re mi, folks
You ain't got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful
Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi.
Woody Guthrie, "Do Re Mi."

Woody Guthrie wrote that song decades ago. But now it's the state of California itself that "ain't got no dough" now. Part of its problem is that it fibs on how much big projects will cost. Voters in the Tarnished State voted for a high-speed rail project four years ago in a ballot initiative. What it will cost to build it is now nearly double what its promoters promised.

Now the California Cancer Research Act will be placed in front of California voters next summer. Martha Montelongo writes that the California Cancer Research Act will set taxpayers back $1 billion to create a new bureaucracy. She opines that its backers "are making a bunch of promises about the measure's benefits." She adds in regards to such California initiatives, "The promises are almost always too good too be true."

Technorati tags: politics news Democrats trains economy stimulus rail public works infrastructure high speed rail california politics california