Can't Help: Part II

Yesterday’s posting noted the scandal of undetected state park funds and the negative impact that affair could have on the likelihood that the governor’s tax initiative on the November ballot will be approved by voters.  In fact, any news item that suggests misspending of state funds is likely to have a negative effect.  Today’s Sacramento Bee carries a story related to the rebuilding of the Bay Bridge.  It was found that a Caltrans employee – since departed – had faked certain safety test data.  There were assurances that everything was OK nonetheless and it was just one bad apple. Turns out there is evidence of other faking on the Bay Bridge and other bridges.  While the funding involved does not immediately involve the general fund, that is a distinction voters are unlikely to make.

The story is at:

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/04/4693812/caltrans-records-show-problems.html

But not to worry:

Prior to the latest Bee story, there was this from the governor:

Gov. Jerry Brown defended the state's construction and oversight of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Thursday, saying he's been told that a Bee investigation raising questions about the bridge's structural integrity "borders on malpractice."

"From all the reports the Bee investigation is not very credible, and all our engineers that work with Caltrans, all the people that I've asked to look into it, they feel that the Bee story is baseless, it borders on malpractice," the Democratic governor told reporters at a press conference in Oakland.

Asked if he shared his advisers' view, Brown said, "Look, I'm not an engineer. I'm just communicating what I've heard. So, we've got The Bee, and they're kind of amateurs, and then we have seismic engineers. If I thought there was a problem, I'd let you know."  The remarks were Brown's first about a Bee investigation into state oversight of the bridge's construction. His administration previously criticized the reporting and called publicly for a retraction, which the newspaper denied...

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/03/4688094/gov-jerry-brown-says-hes-not-an.html

So let's hear it from another non-engineer: