Gary Horton (commentary, Oct. 14) makes a good point when he says voters should treat candidates like job applicants. I agree with him on that.
Before we hire someone, or rehire someone, we should look at results. Not just slogans, party labels, or who sounds good in a mailer. Results.
But that test should not stop with candidates. It should also apply to the propositions and local measures we keep passing.
All politics is local. For most people, politics is not theory. It is the taxes we pay, the fees we get hit with, the cost of housing, the condition of the roads, the homeless camps we drive by, and whether government seems to use our money carefully.
California has asked voters for a lot over the years. More taxes. More bonds. More special funds. More programs. More promises. Locally, we see the same thing. Every election seems to come with another measure telling us that if we approve this one more thing, the problem will finally get better.
At some point, voters have to ask a basic question: What happened to the money we already gave them?
California had huge budget surpluses in 2021 and 2022. Gov. Gavin Newsom was in office then. The same governor and legislative majority are still in charge now, and California has since gone back to repeated budget shortfalls. That does not happen only because of bad luck. It also happens when government spends like good times will never end.
If this were a business, we would not keep rehiring the same management team forever just because they meant well. We would ask what they actually fixed. We would ask why the budget got worse. We would ask why the same problems keep showing up on the ballot with a new name and a new price tag.
I also agree with Horton that voters should not vote only by party. But that cuts both ways. It means not excusing failure just because it comes from our own side. It also means not calling every new tax, bond, or spending plan an “investment” without asking whether the last investment worked.
People we hire are supposed to produce results. Leaders are supposed to take responsibility. They should not always be blaming the last guy, the other party, the courts, the voters, or some vague system that nobody seems able to control.
So yes, before we vote, we should think like we are hiring someone.
But we should also remember that we are the ones paying the bills.
Arthur Tom
Santa Clarita
