Wilson's Revenge

LeftCoaster explains how Californians are blaming the wrong Governor for the energy crisis and vehicle taxes. Snippets:

... Voters are still angry about the energy crisis a few years ago that arose from the badly designed deregulation scheme. As Paul Krugman showed, the scheme, designed and developed under Pete Wilson's watch following the advice of people like Ken Lay, had a "feature" which allowed energy companies to rip off the California ratepayers royally. The energy providers colluded to keep and raise rates by a number of illegal schemes. As long as there was NO ONE (think Bush's FERC) stopping the worst of the collusion, they just kept raising the ante until billions and billions found their way from Californian ratepayer pockets to the pockets of Enron, PGE, etc. So who signed the law and created the regulations that allowed this scam? HINT: it wasn't Davis. ... The second flash point of anger (the one that Arnie is stoking for all his worth) is the car licensing fee. Everyone blames Davis for raising the fees, but was he responsible? In the flush days of 1998, the licensing fee on cars was reduced, with the caveat that if the state budget went badly into deficit, it would automatically revert back to the original fee structure (2% of the vehicle value). The 1998 budget signed by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson phased in a gradual lowering of the license fee, but it included a provision allowing it to be restored if the state has "insufficient moneys." Although Californians are angry at Davis, he had nothing to do with the law. If one person was responsible, then it was the previous governor of California who signed the 1998 bill with the clause that is kicking in now. ... Californians are about to screw themselves by removing the hapless fox and installing a big bad wolf to guard their hen house. It is too bad that Californians can't recall the governor that really was responsible for the decisions that so anger them today.