MY DAD AND KAREN BASS
Yesterday was one of the Jewish High Holidays – Yom Kippur. My mom and dad, who are members of Temple Akiba in Culver City, attended the Temple’s Yom Kippur services at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Who should be there but the local member of the California State Assembly, Speaker Karen Bass. My dad took the opportunity to introduce himself to Speaker Bass, identifying himself as a Republican. When the Speaker asked for dad’s name, which he gave her, she asked if he was any relation to me! She proceeded to tell my father that the FlashReport is a "must read" for her every day! Maybe it is, or maybe it isn’t — but it was very cool of her to say that to dad! And polite to leave it at that ;-)
CONSIDERING THE TAX COMMISSION REPORT AS A PACKAGE
Today the California Tax Commission will release a six-point plan for a major overhaul of California’s method of taxation. I spoke yesterday at length with Commission Chairman Gerry Parsky and Member Curt Pringle. Clearly this is a complex proposal coming forward — and they were very hopeful that FlashReport readers would consider all of the components of the report not individually, but as a whole. There is a lot to like in the proposal, but the creation of a "Business Net Receipts Tax" will be a tough pill for conservatives to swallow. We’ll be thoroughly reviewing their proposals, and we’ll bring plenty of analysis your way.
COMING SOON: CRP CONVENTION WINNERS & LOSERS
Our traditional post-convention assessment of the semi-annual confab will arrive soon. If you attended the convention, and want to suggest a person, candidate, group or cause that had a particularly great weekend, or a lousy one — drop us an e-mail, or if you are shy an anonymous tip.
THE TOP-TWO "CLOSED GENERAL" MEASURE – LIMITING VOTER CHOICE
It was clear from last weekend’s State GOP Convention that many people are confused about how the Abel Maldonado "blackmail measure" really screws up elections in California. If passed, this measure would ensure that in about 1/3 of the state, there are two Democrats on the ballot every November — and in another 1/3 of the state only two Republicans appear on the ballot. It will ensure that no third parties — Libertarian, Green, Peace & Freedom and others — will ever be on the general election ballot again. In otherwords, this measure will severely limit voter choice in General Elections (read more).
**There is more – click the link**
September 29th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Ramblings.
Karen Bass: If you read Flash Report each day…..it is time to resign for incompetence!!
Ah….Flash Report….what a gem….pushing Whitman’s swap meet junk…..it is time for forget this loser once and for all….
September 29th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Jon:
I appreciate your concerns about the Parsky Commission’s recommendations, but assuming they’re revenue neutral, what is the problem with taxing consumption?
Essentially, the “Business Net Receipts” (NBR) tax is a VAT, which would to a substantial extent replace the sales/use tax and local add-ons. The fact that the current sales tax is riddled with exemptions and contradictions that result in a narrow base is a key argument in favor of a broad-based tax with a low rate.
I also question the arguments being used by some Republicans who profess opposition to the NBR because it’s “unfair to lower and middle income taxpayers”. These are precisely the persons who SHOULD be paying more for the services they seem to want. The tax burden has shifted overwhelmingly to a small percentage of high income earners who are mobile, but more importantly, have incomes which are highly volatile. Hence, the huge swings in CA’s revenue stream.
Bottom line, there are strong equity and economic arguments in favor of what Parsky’s team will propose. Let’s give it a fair hearing, and if it’s revenue neutral, embrace it for it’s economic fairness and efficiency. Just about anything would be better than what we have now!
September 29th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Your comments about the open primary are misleading. First, among the very few times a third party has been successful in California have been in special elections which are somewhat similar to the open primaries. In places like San Francisco or Newport Beach it is very possible that a third party candidate could build a coalition to make a runoff election and then win in the general election. This measure is probably their only chance of doing so.
But of course what it also does is introduce competition into every electoral district in California. The way the system is set up now, elected officials don’t even have to pay attention to members of the other party. I know of a legislator that when he was in office, had his staff mark every constituent complaint by the persons party so he could deal with his own parties problems first. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be and the Open Primary will stop it from happening.
September 29th, 2009 at 12:00 am
my understanding is that there was no quorum at the crp convention this last weekend. so how did a vote come out supporting or not supporting any issues via the body of delegates? or was it just a recommendation of the board?
September 30th, 2009 at 12:00 am
How about hosting the next convention in a more affordable locale. Ontario, California. We have an airport, we have a convention center and a hotel row filled with hotels.
Maybe a quorum could be done next fall in Ontario.