By Brendan Huffman Since nobody in Sacramento is accepting responsibility for the state’s fiscal disaster, I will. I am not a state officeholder or government employee. I am just a small business owner, husband, and father of two in the San Fernando Valley. I pay my taxes, and I do my best to support local businesses. So, why should I accept responsibility for the state’s ongoing fiscal problems that resulted in a near meltdown this year? What do I have to do with teachers being laid off and seniors losing in-home support services while our taxes increase? The reason is that, as a voter in every state election since 1988, I have voted for several items that I should have studied more carefully before I bought into the hype and voted with my heart instead of my brain. I have let you down, California, and I apologize. To be clear, I do not apologize for wanting to help people. Most of the programs that have grown or been established under my tenure as a voter are often effective and do more good than harm, at least up to a point. Sometimes, people move into California to take advantage of these services that their home states don’t provide. It’s likely that some of these people don’t contribute their fair share to the economy or to state coffers. As an irresponsible voter, I have cast ballots in favor of dozens of bonds and new spending measures without reading the language carefully and doing my due diligence. The commercials were so well done and the talking points so persuasive that I couldn’t help myself. And now the state is going broke because of it. And I’m not the only one. I know there a lot of you out there who thought universal preschool was such a great idea. How about after-school programs for all? Locking up prisoners forever was another one I voted for without realizing that the healthcare is so much better in prison that many inmates live into their 90s on my dime. Hmm, I guess I didn’t think that one through, because 27,000 inmates are being released due to federal orders and legislative actions [plus inactions]. The state simply lacks the revenues to pay for incarcerations for everyone who should be jail. By the way, anyone who believes the rhetoric that the 27,000 released inmates are “non-violent” offenders has been visiting too many medicinal marijuana dispensaries (another vote I’d like to take back). They may have been convicted of non-violent crimes or pleaded down from more serious offenses, but most of these released inmates were living in violent environments while in prison. I hope I don’t encounter too many. Thanks to me, and people like me, California’s bond rating is now the worst in the nation. Again, I am not a legislator who can vote on the state budget, I’m just a voter, and apparently not the most responsible one either. Not only is our state budget in a seemingly constant state of deficit, our bond payments are in sad shape too. According to Moody’s, California’s leasing debt and other debts amount to $72 billion. Whew, that’s a big number hope my kids start paying taxes to pay those off soon! Legislators, I feel your pain. When the Field Poll was released in May and reported a 14-percent approval rating for the Legislature as a whole, I felt some responsibility for your unpopularity. While too many of your predecessors kicked the budget can into your legislative terms, I didn’t help the situation by voting for so many spending increases and minimum spending thresholds that lack revenue streams. But the pain I feel for legislators is nowhere near the pain I have inflicted on my children. Because of my poor choices at the ballot box, I have all but guaranteed that they will not be able to afford a middle class lifestyle in California unless they beat the odds and earn more money than their parents. Together, lawmakers and voters like me have racked up so much debt for California that my kids are going to have to economize to make ends meet when they enter the workforce. Paying off the state’s debt and paying off out-of- ontrol pension costs will likely haunt them for their entire working lives. As I said, nobody in Sacramento ever apologizes. So, as part of my parental philosophy to man up and accept responsibility when I’m wrong, I apologize to my kids for being an irresponsible voter. Many times I thought I was voting for your future by approving multiple initiatives. Instead, I fear that I unintentionally caused more fiscal harm to the state than we and you, as future taxpayers can bear. Brendan Huffman is a Valley-based consultant specializing in issue advocacy and association management. His web site is www.HuffmanPA.com.