By Gloria Romero

During my time in the California State Senate as the first woman to serve as Democratic Majority Leader, I had a front row seat to the inner workings of how “the sausage is made”: how legislation and budget is crafted, lobbied, and becomes law. Over the years—both while in Sacramento and after my term ended--I have seen the California Dream become compromised by tremendous financial influence from special interest groups, exacerbated by partisanship which has become more important than competence.

We live in an amazing state with great diversity of food, culture, and people, but the Californian Dream has become an illusion for too many. Leadership at our state and local levels goes unquestioned and unchecked.

During the pandemic, California’s unemployment department sent unemployment checks to people sitting behind bars. They sent unemployment checks to Scott Peterson, on Death Row in San Quentin. 

How is it that in the very state which boasts the birth of Silicon Valley and must-have technology we all need, California’s computer system and state employees were unable to put in place safeguards so that prison inmates wouldn’t cheat the system—even as millions of Californians who needed the money were delayed for months?  

How much more money are we going to spend on homelessness projects which never succeed in providing relief to those for whom the programs are intended? Before our elected leaders ask, does spending $600,000 - $800,000 on a 200-square-foot homeless unit make sense? When will we get a full accounting audit of the billions of dollars spent on homeless projects to see what is working and who actually pockets those billions?

In ten years, the State of California has increased our K-14 education budget from $47.3 billion to $128 billion. Current K-12 per-pupil spending is $22,850. How much money is reaching the classroom and why does increased investment in education fail to correlate with closing stark achievement gaps for too many of our students?

Year after year, our teachers send notes to parents asking for essential supplies. Many have given up on funding and just dig deeper into their purses to pay for them. Where is all that education money going?

Because of these questions and frustrations that many families are feeling, I — a Democrat — have chosen to walk across the aisle to support Lanhee Chen—a Republican — for California State Controller. 

The State Controller is the people’s fiscal watchdog. This office acts as the accountant for the State. They make sure that the money is spent where promised and they have the audit powers to see which programs are working and which are not. The Controller is empowered to follow the money to ensure that the taxes we pay are used for lawful purposes, and are effectively spent.

When media outlets requested a copy of the State’s spending records, California’s current Controller said she couldn’t “locate” them. In 2018, the Controller’s Office paid 49 million bills totaling $320 billion. With a hub of worldwide innovation like Silicon Valley in our state, why doesn’t California have the ability to produce a program that tracks line-by-line spending and is accessible online?

Lanhee has served in both the Democratic and Republican Presidential administrations. Under the Obama Administration, he was on to the Social Securities Advisory Committee - he was part of the team to help protect and fund social security for the next generation.

We deserve transparency, accountability, and an independent Controller, not more excuses or partisan politics. For California to move forward, we need to park party labels and choose the best candidate.  

Without question, I choose Lanhee.

Gloria Romero is an education reformer and former Majority Leader of the California State Senate; Co-founder of Explore Academy Charter School-Orange County, and author of “Just Not that Likable: The Price All Women Pay for Gender Bias.