As anyone with a TV, radio, or computer in the State of California knows, Meg Whitman is running for Governor. Having spent over 100 million dollars of her own money on the campaign everyone should also know that she was once CEO of eBay. Her experience at eBay is her primary qualification for office. This ad is a good representative of her pitch:
However, watching the ad for the billionth time on TV I finally decided to ask the question the ad assumes is true: Does experience as a CEO qualify you for the Governor's mansion?
Now, certainly there are some similarities between the two positions. Both are at the top of a large organization chart. Both call upon executive leadership to make decisions. Let's grant that Meg Whitman had to make tough decisions on the path to take eBay to growth and prosperity. At each of those decision points other CEO made poor decisions. Whether it's on hiring, managing, or budgeting, Meg Whitman grew eBay - although her final years may cast a shadow on that initial growth. Yet - let's spot her that she's a good CEO for purposes of argument.
However, why that experience makes her qualified to be a Governor of the State of California is up for debate. It does not directly translate - if she was applying for a position as CEO of an internet company then it would be more straightforward. However, the Governorship is not the same as a CEO.
Independent Legislature
A CEO of a private or public company operates in a certain way: he or she makes decisions that are carried out by subordinates. Or, he or she delegates decision making power to subordinates whose work he or she then oversees. Further, the goal is not service but profits for shareholders. Answering to taxpayers is different than answering to shareholders. Further, a CEO does not have to interact with anything like a legislature.
The genesis of the argument with Meg Whitman's qualifications is the idea that as Governor she would have to work with the legislature to accomplish her goals. As CEO she would not have had this experience.
At eBay if she wanted to embrace a new policy she could have it drafted and implemented across the company. For example, this article discusses how she tried to expand into China and the decision to make a global eBay ruined the Chinese potential. It was her call as CEO and she made it - no need to negogiate or create coalitions. In this comment another user discusses how Skype illustrates how a CEO makes decisions.
However, one of the reasons the State of CA is in such a mess today is that the Democrats dominate our State Legislature which does not work well with our Republican Governor. The experience of the last 8 years with Governor Schwarzenegger has taught us that a Governor must be able to work with the legislature not against it.
Meg Whitman can not just balance a budget in CA like she could at eBay. Her office is unable to function without a solid working relationship with the legislature. Her experience as a CEO does not demonstrate her ability to work with a co-equal branch of government.
Special Election Failure in 2005
November of 2005 is a good case in point for why the Governor is not like a CEO. Prior to the election the Governor had proposed many ideas to transform our state - the legislature balked. As such, the Governor decided to go straight to the voters and call for a special election. Four of the Governor's initiatives were proposed (Prop 74, 75, 76, and 77) and all four failed.
The Governor is unable to implement changes without first getting the independent legislature on board or convincing voters to agree with him or her. The experience of 2005 tells me that our focus should be on electing a Governor who can work with an independent legislature to get things done.
Gridlock
A truly debilitating problem in our state is the gridlock (no, not just the traffic kind!) in getting a budget passed. Because our Governor and Legislature can not work to pass a budget, even a horrible one, our state suffers. Community Colleges and other educational institutions are denied payments from the state and are forced to borrow money:
One college system feeling the effects of the budget delay – caused because parties can’t agree on how to close a $19 billion budget shortfall, according to the Associated Press – is California Community Colleges (CCC).
The 112-campus system isn’t receiving its monthly payments – one in the amount of $116 million that was due in July and a $277 million payment due in August, the AP reported. That is affecting each of its campuses, which include Siskiyou County’s College of the Siskiyous (COS).
The delayed payments have resulted in fewer classes, longer waits, increased students fees, furloughed employees, colleges borrowing money to cover expenses and more around the state.
Ultimately, our state would benefit from a budget - yet, our politicians can not come to agreement. Under Meg Whitman this trend would likely continue. How does being an eBay CEO qualify her to pass a budget on time?
The Alternative
Which brings me to the conclusion of my argument: if, as a CEO, Meg Whitman is not qualified to be a Governor, who should we elect instead? Luckily, for the State of California this year, Democrats advanced a qualified and experienced Governor for their side of the ticket: Jerry Brown.
Jerry Brown does not have to rely on an analogous situation to prove his qualifications for Governor. From 1974-1982 Jerry Brown served our state in that position. Jerry Brown understands how to work with an independent legislature. Indeed, in his years of service to our State Jerry Brown has served as Community College Trustee (1969), Secretary of State (1970), Governor (1974-1982), Mayor of Oakland (1998) and most recently as our Attorney General (2006).
Further, from this chart (PDF) from the CA Department of Finance which has data from 1977 on Jerry Brown's budget's were signed on 6/30/77, 7/6/78, 7/13/79, 7/16/80, 6/28/81, 6/30/82. Currently, (I'm not sure about back then) the budget is supposed to be due by June 15 for a fiscal year starting 7/1. If those dates were the same it means Jerry Brown met the fiscal year starting date 3/6 years and was late 6 days, 13 days, and 16 days - an average of 12 days.
Compare this to the our more recent experience under our current Republican Governor: 7/31/04, 7/11/05, 6/30/06, 8/24/07, 9/23/08, 7/24/09, and we're still waiting for this year's budget as of 9/5/10... but let's exclude this year since we now have 6 data points. This means that our current governor met the fiscal year starting date 1/6 years and was late 31, 11, 45, 75, and 24 days - an average of 37 days.
California can not function with such a broken government. We need a candidate that understands how to get budgets passed through a legislative process not a boardroom process.
All policy disagreements aside, on this fundamental premise of Meg Whitman's campaign, Jerry Brown has the proven advantage. While some may say that incumbents and those with political experience are on the wrong side of public opinion our experience the last 8 years demonstrates that our state needs qualified individuals running the show.
Meg Whitman does not fit the bill - Jerry Brown does.
(hat tip to Meteor Blades for pushing me to do more than just read at Daily Kos and Vyasa for the inspiration).