San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a hopeful candidate for lieutenant governor, said during a stop at Stanford on Thursday that he thinks an oil severance tax could be the solution to the cash-strapped public education system.
Fee hikes and budget cuts at public universities caused widespread strain this year, including at nearby UC-Berkeley, where students marched in protest this spring.
In line with some state Democratic leaders, Newsom told The Daily that he thinks “there are many alternatives that avail ourselves today to avoid the need to increase tuition…including, among many others, an oil severance tax that directly can be advanced.” He estimated that a tax on oil drilling in California could bring in up to $6 billion, “which should substantially address the needs” of a $12 billion higher education system.
California voters rejected a proposed oil severance tax, Proposition 87, in 2006.
During his stop on Thursday, Newsom also spoke about states’ immigration laws in the wake of a newly passed Arizona immigration law, regarded as the strictest in the nation. The city he governs has “sanctuary” ordinances offering some protections to undocumented immigrants.
“What is going to happen in the absence of federal action is, we’re going to have a patchwork of state laws like Arizona and you’re going to see — these other states unquestionably are going to be doing similar things in the next number of months,” Newsom said. “That’s untenable.”
Newsom also spoke about same-sex marriage, the issue that elevated him to national prominence in 2004. He credited President Obama’s opposition to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but said the president has still “fallen very short” on the gay rights agenda.
“That is immeasurably frustrating, and I don’t believe you run the 90-yard dash on equality,” Newsom said. “I still think that our party, the Democratic Party, is willing to accept that some people can be treated differently.”
Newsom was at Stanford to speak privately to the students in Political Science 37, “Justice and the Obama Presidency,” who pitched him questions for 40 minutes on topics including immigration, same-sex marriage and term limits in state government.
Newsom, 42, last spoke at Stanford in November 2008 as students rallied to oppose Proposition 8, the ballot measure that would go on to constitutionally eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California. He is married to alumna Jennifer Siebel Newsom ’96 M.B.A. ’01.
The mayor entered the race in April 2009 to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, but dropped out in October in the face of low poll numbers and fundraising — though not before attracting the support of a group of Stanford students, whose organization today numbers about 100 members, according to its president, mechanical engineering graduate student David Hoffert.
Newsom reentered the race in March as a candidate for lieutenant governor. He faces Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn in the Democratic primary; the winner will run against either Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) or state Senator Sam Aanestad (R-Grass Valley).