This morning a press conference was held, conducted by a group of taxpayer advocacy organizations and pro-taxpayer state legislators. They included Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Tom Hudson, the executive director of the California Taxpayer Protection Committee, Ted Costa, president of The People’s Advocate, Chris Hunt, executive director of the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, and Assemblymembers Ted Gaines, Curt Hagman and Roger Niello.

The commentary below was penned by Assemblyman Gaines, who is pictured speaking at the conference at the State Capitol… (Also in this particular photo, from left to right are Jon Coupal, Curt Hagman, Roger Niello, and Tom Hudson)

It’s interesting to follow the budget crisis from afar. It’s starting to hit home with regular folks, as I witnessed in a conversation last week at my kid’s school. One parent was stressed because she runs homes for disabled children and she is looking at losing state funding this week. She was upset not only because she didn’t know what that would mean for her clients, but because she carries a monthly payroll of $100,000 and she wasn’t sure how she was going to continue to pay her employees. Not to mention that the business is her only means of income.

At the same time,there are lots of frantic e-mails going out from the public schools begging parents to call the Legislature and Gov. Schwarzenegger and tell them to spare the schools from any cuts. I tried to tell a parent who was handing out a form letter that the schools have one of the most monied and powerful lobby in Sacramento and the letters wouldn’t have any real effect on the process. I think she thought I was the devil.

As I… Read More

The California State Lottery Commission approved a $185 million design contract for a new building. $185 million. The Legislature has already approved going asking voters to chnage management of the Lottery.

Why do we need this huge new building now. The cost per office is aorund a half a million pieces. I just put in Legislation to stop the contract and divert the money to education.

The money saved will be diverted to help our public schools.

During this budget crisis, the last thing we should be doing is wasting money and time on a building we don’t need.

How can we justify this spending, while schools are sending layoff notices to our teachers? Children in classrooms need the money more than the lottery bureaucrats need a new building.

Taxpayers should feel insulted when they pick up the newspaper in the morning and read stories about stuff like this.

It’s unconscionable and this bill will stop it.… Read More

Last week Americans United for Life (AUL) released its sixth annual ranking of the most pro-life states in America. Unsurprisingly, California ranked dead last. This ranking is well deserved considering liberal California legislators are notorious for their blind allegiance to the abortion lobby.

A perfect example of this devotion was last session’s SB 850, Senator Abel Maldonado’s bill to give still birth certificates to mothers with still-born children. I recall during a committee hearing on the bill the gut-wrenching testimony of several mothers who described the excitement about their pregnancies, the anticipation of their sons or daughters’ birth and then the devastation at what should have been a joyful moment. No sooner had the mothers finished their testimony than Planned Parenthood, NOW and ACLU lobbyists marched forward to protest the bill’s attack on Roe v. Wade. (It would be unconstitutional to acknowledge the child was alive before it left… Read More

For 2008, former eBay CEO and ersatz Governor Meg Whitman made $634,400 in political contributions reportable to the Fair Political Practices Commission, according to the form she will file today (h/t to her team for sending us a copy).

Who were the recipients of her generosity?

This past Thursday I had the opportunity to welcome High Desert business owners to a “Business Survival” workshop.

I didn’t say, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” – despite the fact that San Bernardino County and the Town of Apple Valley had assembled an impressive array of experts, services and information. It was because these folks know that, next to the national economy and their competitors, government is their biggest problem.

So in part because I have private-sector experience and an education in business and economic development, I explained, I’m one elected official who believes that government should simply get out of the way of business owner/employers as much as possible.

But as my audience was already painfully aware, in California, this has not been the prevailing view of state government for quite some time. And although San Bernardino County, especially the High Desert, has a lot to offer in the way of incentives – from affordable land and labor to business-friendly local governments – the limits of our local discretion are illustrated by the struggles of the City of Needles, which I represent.

A… Read More

The Americans for Tax Reform "no new taxes" pledge is a commitment and a promise that is made between an officeholder and the constituents they represent. No one is forced to take the pledge — signing it is a voluntary act that a candidate takes if they feel strongly enough that the tax burden on their constituents is too high.

The wording of the pledge is very straight forward: "I [candidate name] pledge to the taxpayers of the [#] district of the State of [California] and all of the people of this state that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to raise taxes.

The pledge is much maligned by the political left and the media elite who do not know how to cope with the idea that there can be a principle so critically important to a fiscal conservative that they would sign a pledge.… Read More

The Americans for Tax Reform "no new taxes" pledge is a commitment and a promise that is made between an officeholder and the constituents they represent. No one is forced to take the pledge — signing it is a voluntary act that a candidate takes if they feel strongly enough that the tax burden on their constituents is too high.

The wording of the pledge is very straight forward: "I [candidate name] pledge to the taxpayers of the [#] district of the State of [California] and all of the people of this state that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to raise taxes.

The pledge is much maligned by the political left and the media elite who do not know how to cope with the idea that there can be a principle so critically important to a fiscal conservative that they would sign a pledge.… Read More