GOP gubernatorial candidate Campbell visits Yuba City

GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Campbell dropped into Yuba City for a luncheon appearance Friday, emphasizing his plan for overhauling the budget in Sacramento amid the backdrop of a fiscally dysfunctional state.

Befitting his background as former director of the state's Department of Finance and his more current role as an economics and legislation professor, Campbell laid out a budget plan with details, a document he gently noted makes him unique among GOP candidates at the moment.

"If you're going to run for office, you'd better be specific," said Campbell, a former congressman from San Jose who now lives in Irvine. "I think I win because I'm direct and I put forward what works."

Speaking at the Lincoln Club of Sutter County's luncheon to a crowd of less than 20, Campbell said he'd push the state to spend within its means, let expenditures lag a year behind revenues, and leave local governments and teachers alone. His presentation included a handout with several charts, graphs and spreadsheets showing the state and country's economic picture. He warned of inflation returning within a year, as the economy improves and people begin spending in a situation where the market is less fluid.

One chart pointed out the state's expenditures rose by nearly $10 billion between 2005-06 and 2006-07, even though revenue only rose by about $2 billion. If the state didn't spend money until a year after it collected it, he said, such a problem could be avoided.

"You never budget more than you have, because Democrat or Republican, you can't spend it if the numbers aren't there," he said.

Campbell also took questions on such issues as water, education and tax policy from the audience, which included two Sutter County supervisors and a Yuba City council member.

The state needs to consider both waiving the Endangered Species Act in the short term to meet water needs, and in the long term to create more storage, he said. Such an approach should include the proposed Sites Reservoir near Colusa, he said.

And on higher taxes — while he acknowledged his plan included a temporary increase on gas taxes — California already has too many of them to consider more, he said.

"The answer in the long term is not to take in more money by taxes, because people have other places to go," he said.

Sutter County Supervisor Stan Cleveland said after the luncheon he was glad Campbell spoke against taking more money from local governments to solve state budget deficits.

"They are penalizing us for doing a good job," he said, making note of the county's surplus for 2009-10. "They're making it very difficult on the cities and counties to maintain our level of service."

More moderate on social issues than his two Republican gubernatorial rivals, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, Campbell has led some polls of the GOP primary race, which won't be decided until next June.

Mary Parke, a 68-year-old retired bookkeeper from Yuba City, said she was impressed by Campbell's background in economics, adding she didn't know much about him before.

"I appreciate the fact he did come over and talk to me, and he wanted to hear my questions and answers," she said.

Speaking after the luncheon, Campbell said he would sell Yuba-Sutter voters by discussing the need to reduce regulation on business and reforming lawsuits.

"When you consider a new regulation, you need to have a cost-benefit analysis, and you need to have it sunset in five years," Campbell said, noting how a similar approach worked to boost the economy when he worked in Ronald Reagan's presidential administration.

As to the luncheon's low turnout, he said, "Folks don't know me yet."

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com.