politics trumps progress

2005 proved an unkind year to arnold schwarzenegger's reform movement. aside from the well intentioned but ultimately unsuccessful special election, also lost was the “Million Solar Roofs” plan. LA Weekly's bill bradley descbribes some of the behind-the-scenes politicking

In 2005,...the solar roofs plan became Senate Bill 1, a bipartisan venture.... SB 1 took flight from the Senate on a wave of bipartisan support, environmentalist backing, and acclaim from editorials around the state, only to run afoul of opposition from organized labor and Democrats in the Assembly who were determined to deny Schwarzenegger an image-boosting win as he pushed his ill-fated “Year of Reform” initiatives in the hotly contested special election. [emphasis]

to avoid this unprincipled opposition, arnold went directly to the California Public Utilities Commission to implement the California Solar Initiative.

in a similar vein, the effective florida voucher program was struck down [bugmenot login] with one florida justice remarking

"You would agree, would you not, that whether [voucher schools] have been an overwhelming success or an utter failure, is, really, irrelevant to whether the program is constitutional." The answer was a resounding "yes." In other words, legislators may not consider alternative educational arrangements, no matter how effective they might be.

thus condemning kids to remain in the failing system--even charter schools could be gone according to the ruling

¶ - nitish @ 3:19 PM