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Los Angeles Times

January 2, 2002

Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times. All rights reserved.

EDITORIAL
Wishes for an Uneasy World

"In Sacramento, we wish Gov. Gray Davis and senators would press
Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) to allow a vote on "Laura's law,"
a sensible bill by Assemblywoman Helen Thomson (D-Davis)
that would give mental health professionals the resources and authority
to compel seriously mentally ill people to receive treatment
when they don't realize they need it."

A year ago, health care and education reform topped our traditional New Year's wish list. Today, the tasks of making Americans smarter and healthier are still critical, but secondary to keeping them safe and stabilizing the international order. Here are our hopes and suggested resolutions for 2002.

A Safer Nation

• We hope U.S. soldiers will be safe and successful in their continued mission in Afghanistan and wherever else the nation sends them to fight terrorists. With that in mind, we wish American leaders wisdom and courage. We hope that Osama bin Laden is found quickly, dead or alive, and that Mullah Mohammed Omar is forced to answer for his destructive theology.
• We hope that the success of domestic law enforcement agencies in protecting the nation from follow-up attacks continues but suggest that Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft resolve to back away from using the terrorist threat as a pretext for dangerous moves against civil rights.
• Congress has authorized more than $3 billion to fight bioterrorism, and we hope it will not be directed too narrowly at such necessary but incomplete fixes as smallpox vaccine production. Health experts also agree that money must go to clinics and hospitals for equipment and to train staffs to recognize and treat the effects of biological and chemical weapons.
• We wish the government would stop dawdling on airline security. Will it take another day like Sept. 11 before lawmakers meet demands that checked-bag safety measures, new screening technology and federalized security staffs be put in place nationwide?

A More Stable World

• We wish the interim government well as it rebuilds a shattered Afghanistan. May music fill the nation's airwaves and may kites fill its sky.
• We hope Pakistan's crackdown on militant groups assuages India, reducing tensions that have become explosive.
• For Russia, we wish President Vladimir V. Putin would hold more town hall--type meetings with his fellow citizens. Topping his resolution list should be: "Jail fewer journalists on trumped-up charges, and ease the grip on the levers of power."
• In the Middle East, we wish for the political will on both sides to resume dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians.
• We hope China's entry into the World Trade Organization will make it less likely to persecute its own citizens and more willing to work with other nations to combat the theft of intellectual property.
• We wish Argentina a democratic, non-demogogic solution to its current crisis, with increased help from Italy and Spain, whose immigrants did the most to shape the nation.

Well-Educated Children

• We wish Washington the strength to hold states accountable for bringing students up to tough testing standards, as prescribed by last year's landmark education law, a smart compromise pushed by President Bush and supported by both Democrats and Republicans.
• We hope the $8-billion increase in federal spending on K-12 education is used wisely and wish for even more money to allow principals in the most challenged schools to hire the best teachers and reduce class sizes.
• Let California resolve to keep a sharp focus on improving the quality of teachers and recruiting more of them. Start by expanding programs such as the state's excellent summer academies for reading and algebra teachers, making it easier for experienced teachers from other states to become certified. We hope too for further improvement of teacher education throughout the California State University system, which produces most of the state's teachers.

Better Health

• We hope that legislators stop turning a blind eye to mental health: Congress should pass a bill by Sens. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) and Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) that would prohibit insurers from discriminating against mental illness--requiring them to offer the same co-payments and deductibles for schizophrenia as for influenza.
• In Sacramento, we wish Gov. Gray Davis and senators would press Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) to allow a vote on "Laura's law," a sensible bill by Assemblywoman Helen Thomson (D-Davis) that would give mental health professionals the resources and authority to compel seriously mentally ill people to receive treatment when they don't realize they need it.
• We hope the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which spent most of 2001 searching for the right person to run its ailing health services department, will step out of the way and allow Dr. Thomas L. Garthwaite to revive the county's system of hospitals and clinics. The supervisors should finally adopt long-standing recommendations to create a health care authority to oversee the department and remove themselves from daily operation.

Stronger Safety Nets

• We hope that Washington, which was right to put time limits on public assistance, will now relax those deadlines in response to economic pressures. A booming economy helped thousands--mostly single mothers--leave welfare, but many of them now face unemployment because of an economic downturn made worse by the terrorist attacks.
• With federal action on an economic stimulus plan stalled, the California Legislature should make the increase in unemployment benefits that it passed last year retroactive to Sept. 11, something the governor backs. The $100 increase, to a maximum of a mere $330 a week, otherwise kicks in after next Sunday.

Better Politics

• When Congress reconvenes, we hope fervently for passage (at long last) of real campaign finance reform. After numerous sudden deaths, Congress has never been closer. Supporters of reform are now only three votes shy of forcing a full floor vote. While the bill would not close every avenue for moneyed interests, it does regulate the flow of so-called soft money into campaign coffers. It's time to tackle this end run around democracy.
• We hope California candidates abide by the spirit as well as the letter of the state campaign reform law and that rather than delay and fudge they will immediately post on Web sites, and with the state, details of their campaign contributions and expenditures.
• We wish the state a crisp, clean, fair 2002 election campaign (sigh) on real issues, free of political attacks and hit pieces. We urge candidates to resolve to tell the truth, even if that means answering a question by saying, "I don't know."

A Better State

• We wish for a serious, straightforward 2002 legislative session. With the effects of the terrorist attack rippling through an economy that already was on shaky ground, the state is left with an estimated $12-billion revenue shortfall. To make hard choices that the shortfall demands, we need cooperation between Gov. Davis and Democratic leaders in the Legislature and between Democrats and Republicans in the Assembly and Senate.
• We hope Davis and Democratic leaders will agree to a compromise that allows bonds to be issued so the state can recoup billions of dollars spent for electricity purchase contracts--expenditures that now deepen the economic crisis.
• We wish Congress and the state Legislature success in implementing California's plan to live within its annual allotment of 4.4 million acre-feet of Colorado River water over the next 15 years. That includes getting farmers and cities to see their mutual needs better.

A Better City

• We hope that Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, already the steady administrator that voters expected, will also become a strong advocate with a clear vision for a great city. With the question of the San Fernando Valley splitting from Los Angeles likely to appear on a ballot in November, the future of Los Angeles is at stake.
• We hope the Los Angeles City Council will stop bickering and plotting and make something substantial happen--and we don't mean sappy proposals to paint the Hollywood sign red, white and blue or to get rid of term limits after half the council members sworn in last July were elected because of them.
• We wish Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and police union President Mitzi Grasso would wolf down some harmony pills. Management and labor rarely get along, but battling between Parks and the Police Protective League impedes necessary reform of the department.

Finally, as a new year dawns, we'd love to see a good deal more humor and an outbreak of self-deprecation among those in public life. Happy 2002.

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