Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters loses the rest of his marbles

I used to be a big fan of Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters – but then he endorsed corrupt and perverted OC Sheriff Mike Carona, and now he has endorsed the ill-conceived Prop. 82, the socialist measure backed by T.V’s “meathead,” Rob Reiner, that increases taxes to pay for universal preschool. There are many problems with Prop. 82, but the bottom line, per today’s OC Register column, is that “66 percent of all children eligible are already in preschool. So the biggest impact of Prop. 82, which has an attendance target of 70 percent, would be to shift the funding to public dollars from private, as well as oversight.”

What is Walters thinking? Here is one of his ridiculous arguments: “only one in five California 4-year-olds attends a high-quality preschool taught by well-trained teachers.” Hey Paul – you think maybe that might be due to the fact that many families choose to keep their kids home until kindergarten? He doesn’t even stop to consider the alternative.

What about the fact that Prop. 82 would grant “free” preschool to rich families? That’s right – the measure does not exclude the wealthy. So how can anyone argue that this is about helping the poor? Here’s the truth you won’t hear from Walters – this measure is all about increasing the power of California’s teacher’s unions. That’s it. The universal preschool mandate will result in more public teacher positions and more power for the unions. It is not about the kids after all.

The other concept that Walters overlooks is parental responsibility. He does not address that in his column at all. If kids are not ready for kindergarten, shouldn’t we ask ourselves why their parents are not doing their job? Not in Walters’ world. Not to mention the fact that our K-12 schools have major issues that need to be resolved before we create another public school bureacracy.

Prop. 82 is so bad that even leading Democrats like State Senator Don Perata and former State Senator John Burton are opposing it. The measure is also opposed by hundreds of significant organizations in California, including the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. If you want to find out why they are opposing this ridiculous measure, you need to read the Reason Foundation’s report, “The Case Against Universal Preschool.” I wish Chief Walters had read it before he bought into Reiner’s baloney.

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"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.