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Who's on First?: District One Board of Equalization member Betty T. Yee serves the North Bay and beyond. She's running for office again. But you already knew that--right?
What Do They Do?
Elected officials' duties not always crystal clear
Another election season is here, and citizens must attempt to make sense of the voters pamphlet and sample ballot. Candidates provide lofty statements of their aspirations, but few voters remember enough from high school civics class to know the actual duties of a particular office.
Quick: What does California's controller do? How about the treasurer, secretary of state, members of the Board of Equalization, the lieutenant governor or even the governor? Worry not. The Bohemian offers this handy-dandy guide to who is supposed to do what and what they get paid for many of the statewide offices listed on the June 6 ballot. Extra points for knowing who currently holds these offices.
Follow the Money
California voters elect both a controller and a treasurer (same salary for each position: $140,000). What's the dif? The controller pays the state's bills to the tune of about $100 billion annually, while the treasurer handles its multibillion-dollar investments. If the state were a corporation, the controller would be its chief financial officer and the treasurer its chief investment officer.
"We have the checkbook," says Garin Casaleggio, a spokesman for the controller's office. "Not only do we write the checks, we analyze claims [for reimbursement], write the paychecks for the state employees and perform fiscal audits--did they get the money, did they spend the money correctly." The controller serves on 62 boards and commissions, including the State Board of Equalization.
California's treasurer keeps equally busy, managing roughly $60 billion in cash-on-hand in what is known as the pooled investment account, a mixture of state funds and money kicked in by local governments who want to take advantage of the state's financial expertise. The treasurer also serves on the boards of the public-employee and teacher retirement systems, which together have assets of more than $300 billion. That's a fair amount of money. And, of course, the treasurer chairs a long list of highly technical financing boards and commissions.
One can't run a government without collecting taxes. A great deal of money is funneled in through the Board of Equalization (salary: $131,250 per member), which collects all taxes other than income or employment. That means sales and property taxes, as well as special assessments. This department was created in 1879 to ensure that property tax assessments were done uniformly and equally statewide, hence the word "equalization" in this agency's name. The board is governed by five members; the controller and four others, all elected. There are approximately 3,800 employees and an annual budget of $378.6 million.
At the Top
California's governor (salary: $175,000) has both more and less power than a corporate CEO. The governor can propose legislation or veto laws created by the legislature, but can't simply decree something to be a law. The governor proposes a state budget each year, but has to negotiate with the state legislators to get an actual fiscal plan approved. It's that pesky "balance of power" thing, where the authority of the state's top executive office is tempered against the legislative and judicial branches.
Few CEOs have quite so many restrictions on their power; just ask Kenneth Lay. However, the governor has the ability to grant pardons and commute sentences, and is commander-in-chief of the state militia, duties well beyond those of most CEOs. In essence, the governor's job is less like that of a CEO and more like that of a scaled-down president. He represents California at formal occasions, welcoming visiting dignitaries and all that, but has to work with the Legislature and within the law (we hope) to get things done.
Now, one would expect that the lieutenant governor (salary: $131,250) would be the governor's personally selected right-hand man (or woman), but that couldn't be more wrong. The governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately, and voters, in their infinite wisdom, often choose candidates for these offices who adhere to opposing political platforms, as with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.
This can lead to interesting situations, because when the governor goes out of state, the lieutenant governor is in charge. There's a tacit agreement that the lieutenant governor won't do anything more than perfunctory activities while the governor's gone. However, Lt. Gov. Mike Curb signed several executive orders in 1979 that were at odds with the goals of then-governor Jerry Brown's administration while Brown was away stumping for loftier positions out of state. Given that Brown was gone for almost a year, the courts upheld Curb's legal right to do this.
The lieutenant governor is also president of the state senate. Other official duties include sitting on the money-heavy board of regents for the University of California and California State University systems; serving as a member of the State Land Commission; and chairing the Committee for Economic Development, which promotes business and trade in California. Bottom line: lots of long meetings to attend.
The Rest of Them
Class adjourned. Now get out there and vote.
Current office-holders: controller (Steve Westly); treasurer (Phil Angelides); secretary of state (Bruce McPherson); attorney general (Bill Lockyer); superintendent of public instruction (Jack O'Connell); insurance commissioner (John Garamendi); Board of Equalization (John Chiang, Bill Leonard, Claudia Parrish, Steve Westly, Betty T. Yee)
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