Public-private partnerships are poisoning California

California’s landscape has become synonymous with devastation. Each wildfire season brings heartbreaking destruction and massive loss. But here’s the question: Why does this keep happening in California, and why does its leadership continue to fail its citizens?

Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent reaction to the L.A. wildfires encapsulates the problem. When asked why fire hydrants ran dry as firefighters battled the flames, his response was an infuriating deflection: “Local folks will have to figure that out. That will be determined by local authorities.” The same governor who meddles in every aspect of Californians’ lives suddenly shrugs when it’s time to take responsibility for a literal life-and-death crisis.

Public-private partnerships perpetuate dysfunction by eliminating any accountability from those who are actually in charge.

Newsom’s words reveal a deeper problem: California’s water crisis and the role of public-private partnerships in exacerbating it. These partnerships, celebrated as innovative governance, have proven to be little more than cronyism disguised as progress. They’ve created a labyrinth of unaccountable bureaucracies that prioritize profits over people — and the results are devastating.

The roots of the problem

California’s water crisis didn’t emerge overnight. In 1994, a secretive meeting in Monterey between state water officials, contractors, and agricultural landowners rewrote the state’s water rules without voter input. The “Monterey Plus Amendment” prioritized agricultural conglomerates over urban areas during shortages. Today, one billionaire couple, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, control an astounding share of California’s water supply, using over 150 billion gallons.

The Resnicks didn’t gain this control despite California’s government but through the system California’s progressive leaders designed. These public-private partnerships allow politicians to claim clean hands while bureaucrats cut deals benefiting their donors. The Resnicks’ influence extends to funding politicians and pushing projects like the Delta Tunnel, a taxpayer-funded scheme that funnels water to their Central Valley farms.

Their favorite politician? The late Dianne Feinstein, who used her position in the U.S. Senate to direct funds and policies in their favor.

Wildfires fueled by corruption

Public-private partnerships perpetuate dysfunction by eliminating any accountability from those who are actually in charge. During a wildfire, electric companies shut down power to avoid liability, which in turn disables water pumps essential for firefighting. The result? No water in fire hydrants.

Governor Newsom’s excuse that generators are being shipped to pumping stations “as fast as we can get them” is laughable. How could the state not foresee the need for backup power in critical infrastructure?

In the meantime, elites in Sacramento can point their fingers at electric companies as the immediate cause of wildfires while turning a blind eye to their self-interested negligence that deprived the state of critical infrastructure and preventive measures to stop wildfires in their tracks.

A warning to America

What’s happening in California isn’t unique. It’s a warning for the rest of the country. Public-private partnerships — the brainchild of libertarian and progressive policies — are poisoning our systems nationwide. Health care, food production, pharmaceuticals, and even border policies are riddled with these crony arrangements. Politicians create unaccountable bureaucracies, rake in corporate donations, and then deflect blame when crises occur.

When Donald Trump said during the 2016 debates that he played by the tax code politicians created, he highlighted this very issue. Corporations and billionaires operate within the systems lawmakers design, yet they’re demonized while those lawmakers skate free. The same dynamic plays out in California’s water crisis: The Resnicks may exploit the system, but the system was built by politicians who profit from it.

Californians face a choice: Continue down this path of corruption and destruction or demand accountability. Replacing Gavin Newsom with another progressive clone won’t fix the problem. Californians must reject the public-private partnership model and dismantle the bureaucracies that shield politicians from responsibility.

The wildfires consuming Southern California’s landscape are a symptom of the deeper fire burning through its governance. If Californians don’t demand change, the state’s future will go up in smoke.

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