Election June 8th

In two weeks we have the opportunity to once again exercise the most most important right we have as American citizens: voting. With a lot on the ballot I will run through my two cents for the races on the Democratic and Republican primary ballots.

Note that I am a registered Republican so the recommendations below indicate that barring some unforeseen circumstance this is how I will be completing my ballot. For the Democratic candidates I am using my wife's sample ballot and will provide my thoughts on why if I were a registered Democrat for my choice.

Governor: It seems the Democrats have only one selection: Jerry Brown. While he has six opponents none of them have a chance. With Jerry you will be getting an old fashioned liberal. For the Republican side I am voting for Meg Whitman, I feel she has the stronger backbone to stand up to the Democratic majority that is guaranteed to hold in the Legislature against further tax increases and expansion of our state government.

Lt. Governor: This is an anyone but vote and I need to do a little more research but it seems tough to beat the ones with name recognition. For Republicans anyone by Abel Maldonado who sold out on his personal vow to not raise taxes as a member of the California Senate and cast the vote needed to give us the highest tax increase in history last year. He did it so he could be appointed Lt. Governor by Schwarzenegger, thankfully the Democrats in the Legislature have not confirmed him. On the Democratic side anyone but serial law breaker Gavin Newsom. As Mayor he has encouraged law breaking by making San Francisco a sanctuary city, performing gay marriages and even cheating on his wife. The guy seems to have no moral compass for right or wrong, for law or lawlessness, it is what ever makes him happy.

Attorney General: Republicans need to vote for John Eastman, who I wrote about in March and am endorsing. For the Democrats I know that Kamala Harris has support locally, but as DA in San Francisco she has aided and abetted the law-breaking of Mayor Newsom, while I am in favor of gay marriages it is not the law in California, he job as DA and as AG if elected is to enforce the law not allow politicians to break the laws. For Democrats I would take Chris Kelly, like Eastman a non-politician with no favors to pay-back. We need a strong AG to enforce the laws and Constitution of this State, not go off on their own agenda as we have seen with current AG Jerry Brown.

Insurance Commissioner: I can't believe we vote for this position. On the Republican side we have one member of the Legislature who like Maldonado broke a no tax pledge to his constituents (Villines) who I cannot vote for, therefore I am voting for Brian Fitzgerald who is in the Insurance Department's enforcement division. On the Democrats side two members of the Legislature are running, Hector De La Torre who annually tries to pass a law to give illegal immigrants drivers' licenses and Dave Jones. I hold my nose and vote for Jones.

U.S. Senate: I doubt any Democrat will beat incumbent Barbara Boxer, ma'am, though I think it is funny that uber-liberal Mickey Kaus is running against her because she is not liberal enough. On the Republican ballot I stick with my endorsement of Carly Fiorina from February. Acknowledging that Tom Campbell and Chuck Devore are very good candidates and would do a very good job, I think Fiorina has the best chance of unseating Boxer.

U.S. Representative (37th): Yeah! I actually have a candidate on the GOP primary for the 37th District! And it is a great candidate with a solid chance to win the general election in November: Star Parker. On the Democrats side we have incumbent Laura Richardson who is under ethics investigations and has a well chronicled history of personal financial mismanagement versus two always-runs and a new comer. The new comer deserves support and votes from local Democrats, Terry Ponchak. He is from the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach, local attorney, involved in the community and is not Richardson. I wish him well in unseating an incumbent in the primary--it has happened in other parts of the country will local voters see it happen here?

Member of the Assembly (55th): For Republicans there is one name on the ballot, Christopher Salabaj. For Democrats incumbent and organized labor's best friend Warren Furutani who has never met an anti-business/pro-labor rally he didn't like, he should have an SEIU patch on his suit.

Superintendent of Public Instruction: Not a visible office but an important one, both parties have the same names on their ballots. I have not researched every person, however I do know that Diane Lenning on the bottom of the ballot has been criss-crossing the state listening to parents, teachers and administrators as she campaigns for office. I am voting Lenning.

Propositions: NO on all propositions but Prop 13 which limits the reassessment of property that has undergone seismic retrofitting. My initial instinct would be to vote no on this, however if a building has to undergo state mandated seismic retrofitting, as in a hospital or private school or college, then why should that retrofit further increase costs by raising taxes? Yes on Prop 13.

Regarding Prop 14, aka the open primaries proposition, I am against this. This proposition only helps the majority party and hurts the minority party and minority candidates. A case in point is the race for governor. There is no way that Jerry Brown loses the Democratic nomination. If Prop 14 were law now this guaranteed win allows the Democrats to encourage their party members in key districts to vote for the candidate of the Democrats choice, most likely the candidate least likely to win the November election. The same can happen in strong Republican districts for Assembly and Senate, GOP voters putting votes to the weakest Democratic candidates to ensure wins in November. If we are having open primaries then ban parties and make all statewide offices non-partisan and run like city council elections, unless someone gets 50% plus one of the votes then have a run-off. Open primaries allows more dishonesty into the political process, vote no on Prop 14.

The only major news that can come from this election is the race between Ponchak and Richardson for the Democratic nomination for the House of Representatives, if Ponchak can upset Richardson it will continue the story of an upset electorate across the country. I hope this is the story that is on the top of the fold on June 9th: Ponchak Wins.

DCS05262010

We Need Paul Gann

In 1978 I was not yet of voting age, I was not living in California and my interest in politics was observation from abroad as I was attending high school in Brussels, Belgium. So I was too young and too far away to experience the now labelled "tax payer revolution" of the 1970's in California that began with Proposition 13. I am however old enough and close enough to experience the current tax payer revolt occuring in our state and our nation. Of interest to me, and it should be to you, is how our elected officials and salaried government employees are reacting to the people's wishes and desires for fiscal responsibility.

In the Press-Telegram on Sunday Fifty-Fifth District Assemblyman Warren T. Furutani (D) had a letter published (letter here 3rd and final letter). Reading the letter I was stunned that this was an elected official earning a salary in excess of $125,000 per year and not a high school junior writing a letter for the school newspaper. Furutani submits a very whiny and defensive letter to the residents of his district, he "finds (himself) a part of one of the most maligned, discredited and unpopular political institutions in California's history." And he says he needs some help and understanding. Furutani then begins to assert the biggest canard put forth by Governor Schwarzenegger and members of the California Legislature: our state's fiscal problems are part of the bigger economic crisis enveloping the globe.

To which I say, "Bovine Feces." This state's fiscal problems started more than a decade ago when spending outpaced revenue year after year after year and the state payrolls bloated to the current 235,000 individuals. Salaries, benefits and perks have eaten up our budget and the largesse can be found in the paychecks of those who have contributed to the campaign coffers of Furutani and his fellow Democrats through the public employee unions. The budgets passed year after year for the past decade have outpaced inflation, population growth and a huge growth in tax revenue during the same period--but it is an economic crisis that is a mere eight months old that caused the problem?

What our state needs is a few more politicians like Paul Gann and a few less like Warren Furutani. Gann co-authored Proposition 13 with Howard Jarvis limiting the tax increases imposed on California homeowners. While many in government who want to continue to increase spending even in our current fiscal climate point to Prop 13 as the basis of our problems, Prop 13 has allowed millions of Californians to keep their houses and not lose them to the tax increases that would have forced them out of their homes.

As importantly as the authoring of Prop 13, was Gann's authoring of the Gann Limit which was passed in 1979. Because Sacramento is Sacramento and has always had an insatiable appetite for residents' tax dollars and a glutonous desire to pass on higher salaries to its state employee supporters, Prop 13 saw the probability to more taxes would be raised in the state to enable more spending by the government. The Gann Limit capped the amount spending could increase in California.

Using a formula that included inflation and population growth, the Gann Limit based spending increases allowed by the Legislature not on revenue collection but rather by needs in the state. From 1979 until it was gutted by propositions in 1991 the Gann Limit served the state very well. So well in fact that in 1987 California taxpayers received over $1 billion in rebates--imagine that rebates that were funded by budget surplus. Current calculations show that had the Gann Limit remained in effect, today the state would have over $1 billion in surplus collected and retained during the growth revenue years from 2002 through 2007; a $1 billion cushion to help maintain government services during the current economic cycle.

Instead of a surplus we have threats from Sacramento that child health care and education will be cut, state parks closed and public safety slashed. No comments about Furutani's salary, or that of his staff, or the commissioners who earn over $100,000 per year for not meeting but two or three times, or the renegotiation of salaries and benefit for state employees. Instead of whining about being part of the problem and asking me for help maybe Furutani should look at history and find help was already here and perhaps he can have the courage to resurect it.

We do not need elected officials writing whiny missives to local publications about how hard their jobs are, we need strong leadership from individuals willing to stand apart from their party positions and supporters who have led us to where we are today.

We need someone with the foresight and courage of Paul Gann.

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