Our View: Thumbs up, thumbs down

Thumbs down to Sutter County government for approving recent pay hikes that will give the majority of workers a 5 percent salary increase. One way or another, every dollar the county spends is a dollar that comes from the pocket of a taxpayer.

While the county needs to be a "good boss," it does not mean that employees should be immune to economic realities or enjoy wages and benefits far beyond that expected in the private sector.

We're not saying the county should never spend money on its employees or other needs. What we are saying is that the administration should have to fight hard for every dollar it spends (especially when it amounts to more than $2 million a year) and that board members should be the ones who ask hard questions on behalf of taxpayers rather than simply following the administration's lead.

We expect supervisors to be very skeptical about spending until it's been proven that it makes sense and is really necessary.

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Thumbs up to three local prep teams who took home titles. The biggest story might be Live Oak's first soccer championship, won in dramatic style. The Lions, seeded third in the six-team tournament for the Northern Section Div. II boys soccer championship, went on the road to Orland and shocked the No. 1 Trojans and defending section champions with a 3-2 win in double overtime.

Live Oak had paved its way to the title game with a 1-0 first round victory followed by a semifinals win over the No. 2-ranked Bulldogs in a shootout.

On the girls side, Sutter High netted its fourth consecutive section title by winning a penalty kicks battle, and Wheatland delivered a thrilling 1-0 victory, giving coach Joey Contreras a championship in his first year at the helm of the program.

Taylor Franco was the difference-maker in the Sutter-Lassen showdown. Normally, the junior standout athlete is scoring goals, but she was switched to goalie in the penalty-kicks shootout and stopped two shots to give Sutter the win. The top-seeded Wheatland Pirates' win was particularly sweet because it spoiled opponent Colusa's chance at three consecutive section titles.

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Thumbs down to Assemblywoman Fiona Ma for proposing a "landmark" bill to guarantee paid sick days for all workers in California. AB 2716 is a landmark, all right, a throwback to New Deal government handouts.

The San Francisco Democrat would have us shed tears because 40 percent of workers don't get paid sick days through their employers. Instead, we should celebrate the fact that nearly two-thirds of the workforce does have sick leave, thanks not to lawmakers but to employers who see the bottom-line value in providing employee benefits.

Let's hope AB 2716 soon suffers the same fate as its job-killing cousin, the universal health care bill proposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez.

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Thumbs down to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for yet again equating leadership with dangling money before the masses. On Thursday, his press office issued a statement praising $750 million in funding for stem cell research.

"It's innovative financing like this that our state needs as we renew our focus on developing public-private partnerships to address California's infrastructure needs," the governor said. Innovative, indeed, if you don't mind tacking $262 million in tax funds onto the $495 million pledged by research institutions and private donors.

Sadly, voters endorsed that very concept when they passed Proposition 71 in 2004, creating the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and its "infrastructure" grants. We'd be far more impressed if stem cell research advanced on its own merits in the private sector, which stands to profit handsomely from taxpayers' generosity.