IT APPEARS QUICK DECISIONS from legislative bodies are difficult to come by these days. After scheduling a special meeting last night and receiving testimony from dozens of city employees questioning the mid-year cuts on the table, the Ventura City Council delayed until March 2 a decision on which city services would fall under the budget axe. Council members said they needed more time to study new information.
Building inspector Kevin Quinn was among many who asked the council to think carefully before making the cuts, despite warnings from City Manager Rick Cole that excessive delays would cost the city an extra half a million dollars. "It's almost like a late-night commercial where if you act now, we'll include an extra set of knives," Quinn said.
THE COUNCIL ALSO PUT OFF a decision to place a sales tax measure on the ballot. On a recommendation from Mayor Christy Weir and a motion made by Council member Bill Fulton, a 15-member citizen's panel will be convened to weigh the city's options and solicit feedback. Their report would be due in April with an eye toward the November ballot.
The motion further recommended the city begin polling to supplement work done in December which solicited feedback on a possible tax measure. Polling indicated a clear majority of Ventura residents are in favor of the idea. The last survey did not question respondents on their reaction to a sales tax measure in conjunction with similar efforts by the state.
Despite a well-publicized agenda for the evening, no anti-tax speakers emerged with comments. The city is looking to make up an estimated $12 million revenue shortfall by the end of the next fiscal year. A second round of cuts to services, estimated to be four times as deep as the mid-year cuts, will be announced in March after the Budgeting for Outcomes teams make their recommendations.
"The easy reductions have long since been done," Cole said.
Nearly all employees have agreed to 5 percent reductions in take-home pay or, in the case of firefighters, the equivalent in pension boost delays. Cole has accepted a 10 percent cut in pay. These cuts were approved by the council in addition to a severance package for employees.
While Weir called the citizen committee "information gathering," Council member Neal Andrews questioned the need for yet another decision-making body.
ON THE STATE FRONT: A late-night coup ousted Sen. Dave Cogdill from power and replaced him with fervent anti-tax crusader Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth. This move signaled the apparent dissatisfaction with Cogdill's closed-door budget negotiations.
Cogdill has been quoted as saying the package was the best deal he could negotiate. While it does include $14.3 billion in tax increases, it also includes $15.1 billion in spending cuts plus a spending cap, tax credits for multinational corporations and the film industry, and other things designed to sweeten the pot for Republicans. The package also includes $11.4 billion in borrowing.
Spurred on by extremist groups like the Americans for Tax Reform, and radio shock jocks John and Ken, the minority party has refused to compromise its no-new-taxes stance even though it would seem to be mathematically impossible to whittle down the $42 billion gap through service cuts alone.
In the mean time, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued layoff notices to 20,000 workers and is scheduled to stop construction on state infrastructure projects. And Standard & Poor's downgraded the state's bond rating to the lowest of the 50 states.
Note at 4:36 p.m. Wednesday: I will continue to provide updates on this entry as the evening progresses. Right now the Senate Democrats are holding a big press conference. They have firefighters, construction workers and senior citizens lined up chanting "One more vote." Great theater!
6 p.m. The Sacramento Bee is reporting that the Democrats may be caving in to Sen. Abel Maldonado's request for ballot measures to create an open primary system, prohibit legislative pay raises in deficit years and stop legislators from receiving salaries if they do not pass a budget on time. This may give them the vote they need.
9:52 p.m. Senate session moved back to 11 p.m. Assembly called for 10 p.m.
12:47 a.m.: Floor vote for Senate now moved back to 1:30 a.m. Gas tax may be on its way out of the budget.
Why did Correa abstain from the vote this morning?
I don't know, Kara. There were a lot of late-night abstentions. Maybe he was just feeling obtuse.
The Senate just voted again and still no changes (23-12). Maldonado is still in bargaining mode.
This is exactly what Im talking about Marie, keep blaming them and give the democrats a pass. Do you know what our state budget currently is? They can only cut $15.1 billion out of $145 billion budget, oh wait that was last years, dont they want to take the budget to $192 billion this year? Come on, you know they need to stop this.
John and Ken are on the peoples side with this, they rip apart everyone that does ridiculous stuff like this to our state. They are just like most of the people in this state, they cant stand any of these politicians who sell us out and Im glad they are getting this on the airwaves. I like to hear when either side is screwing us over and they do that. What the legislature is doing, what Arnold is trying to do is a joke within itself.
We are not going to have a School Budget if they do pass this bill in the future, its going to get gutted. The Dems are willing to make school cuts but they dont want to cut welfare, social spending or the likes, its got to stop. We have 25% of the welfare recipients in the whole country, the whole country! Its time they cut where the cuts are do and leave our school funding in there.
I say keep fighting this until the tax increases are out!
So Able better come to the table or his plans to run statewide will disappear and he can go home to Santa Maria. Seriously,this is not going well for the Republicans who represent less than 35% of California. We really need an opposition party not a do nothing party. Legislators are elected to govern!
JMR,
According to the non-partisan California Budget Project, a significant contributor to the imbalance between revenues and spending over many cycles in the budget (we saw this in 2003-4 also, just not as bad) is due to multiple tax cuts over the last 15 years, and ballot measures that have restricted legislators' ability to bridge the gap. Any comments?
And could you provide a source for your 25% of all welfare recipients live in CA statement? I can't confirm that in my internet searches.
JMR, Even our Republican governor said today the obstructionist Republicans can't do math.
"Anyone who runs around and says this can be done without raising taxes, I think, has not really looked at it carefully or has a math problem and has to go back and take Math 101," Schwarzenegger said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget19-2009feb19,0,3423876.story
Of course education will take a big hit, it's about half the budget. No way around it.
There are several billion in cuts proposed to social welfare and programs for the elderly, sick and poor. Not sure where you get all your information, JMR. Ken and John?
JMR,
If your source is John and Ken, boy are you in trouble. They come up with a topic that they want to speak on (it was illegal immigration before the budget), and they take an extreme, dogmatic approach. Take no prisoners. Unfortunately, in the real world, compromise is the word of the day. Dems have compromised, ALOT! I'm a State Worker, so a favorite target of John and Ken, and we are all furloughed. Layoffs, ok. I can deal with it all, but give me an honest, negotiated budget. The Republicans need to start asking themselves why they are such a minority party.
Paul
Kara, go back to the last post about this we have proven what this state is doing is killing business and thats why they have very little revenue and furthermore we have a lack of revenue because they keep increasing the budget. First, this state is taxed by far over any other state in this country, when did we receive tax cuts in California? Our taxes go up yearly, I know this because my wife is Human Resources and Payroll at her company and brings the new taxes, regulations and fees home every year when they change them and shows me. No tax cuts other than the auto registration and that was the right thing to do. We pay sales taxes on our car when we buy them, they should not be taxing the value of our cars every year we should be paying a fee of $35 per vehicle regardless of its value. They were supposed to use gas taxes for the DMV and Roadwork, and what do they do?? They use it for other things as well. Its out of control. Im sorry, but Id rather live in a mess and get out of it the right way, not be in a mess and make more of a mess.
Marie, I dont like Arnold, I think he was the wrong person to be Governor, so that game doesnt go with me. If he was smart, he would have cut the budget 2 years ago. Sorry, but the cuts they are proposing are not cuts, they are cuts to increases that they already proposed, typical twisting of the facts by the media. They should not cut school funding when they have other areas to cut from.
Marie and Paul, I rarely listen to John and Ken, I dont get my information from them, I get it from the budget office, proposals on budgets and from sites that specifically watch the budgets of our government and states. I do tune in to them between 3 to 3:15 every once in a while and get a kick out of them dropping all the names of the politicians who are doing some pretty stupid things. Its entertainment and I would never source anything from some talk show. You however have a link to the LA Times which is probably just as bad as a talk show, so why the assumption??
I was intrigued by this comment in your blog, Marie: "Despite a well-publicized agenda for the evening, no anti-tax speakers emerged with comments."
Is it my imagination or do most of the anti-tax speakers hide at home behind anonymous screen names? Why are they content to take potshots at public officials and promulgate propaganda via blog comments rather than take responsibility for their comments by showing their faces or at least using their real identities? Their opinions would carry a lot more weight if they would man up (or woman up).
Sometimes I think they are all the same person!
Kara,
Tax cuts counter intuitively increase revenue to the treasury. That's why Ireland and Russia slashed their rate to the 13% range, as did much of New Europe.
JFK cut the marginal tax rates from 90% (incredibly) to about 35 % I think. Up went the economy. They have bounced around since then while total tax revenue has marched higher.
Reagan cut taxes. Total revenue went from $500 Billion to $1 trillion. (The stimulus is about that size but in DEVALUED dollars. Yikes)
Clinton raised taxes, a little, AND cut spending (really he just reduced the rate of growth which in Democratic speak is "cut spending"). Clinton did not take the tax rates back to the Carter Nixon era. He was a moderate and gave a tip of the hat to the Supply side. Let the people keep their money. Cut spending (as he did) and let the economy grow and fill the coffers. And it did.
If SPENDING grows an economy then CA should be a Democratic paradise. Spending went from $104 billion to $140 billion in 4 years. Did everyone in CA get a 40% pay raise in the last 4 years? Didn't you just increase spending?
Melissa, Im the stepfather of a student of yours! My name is Jason, I do not post my complete name on the internet at all, but Marie may check my email address and its in there if you need to find out from her. I am a Graphic Artist, I do tons of work on the internet and I know better than to go and give all my information on sites like this without it being protected.
I check these facts and I also check in on the PTA meetings and propaganda paperwork that has been passed to my 9 year old son. If anyone is making a political viewpoint about this it is the special interest groups and Unions. Reporters and People are twisting the facts to push an agenda.
I do not want you to lose school funding, they need to go cut things elsewhere, did you not see that? Do I have an axe to grind? Yes I do because I pay taxes and my taxes and my wifes taxes are killing us! We cant afford to do this and Im looking to move now. This state is out of control and I want them to fix it and not make it worse. I want my children to have a future and its looking like it will not be in this state. What does that mean, this state will be losing mine and my wifes taxes. They are going to make things worse if they pass this budget the way it is.
JMR,
You certainly make some good points. California is a heavily taxed State, and taxes need to come down, but not in a recession, at least at the State level (we can't print our own money after all!). Republicans are famous for espousing that Government should be run more like business (in some ways plausible, in others certainly not). Well, a business, in time of trouble, seeks more revenue. Thus the bailouts of all the big wigs in Wall Street. The State is seeking more revenue.
The State is cutting services. With Government offices closed two days a month, that is a direct cut, not a cut of an increase. Grover Norquist of American Tax Reform should not be the go to person of the Republicans. I seriously feel blindsided by Tony Strickland, who positioned himself as someone willing to work the middle, and not be an extremist.
More than tax reform, what is truly needed are more competitive districts, so moderates can get in (this will be done through the recently passed ballot measure), and a simple majority vote, like 47 out of 50 States.
Glad to hear John and Ken are peripheral to your info gathering though.
Im not talking about cutting a bunch of taxes honestly, Im talking about all of the added taxes that have been placed into the system that is now hurting us. Our gas taxes are the highest in the nation, corporate Fees and Taxes are the highest in the nation. If they would mellow at least the Corporate fees and taxes down, people might actually expand business here. Do you know what a lot of companies like Sony and Apple are doing?? They are moving some operations to other areas. It looks like sony is moving its Video game department to Colorado, Apple has offices in Ireland, do you think they would keep it all centralized if the taxes werent so high here? I know they would, its chepaer to be in one building that way. But as of now a lot of corporations in California pay up to 65-70% in taxes because of the way California uses fees, taxes and the national rate is no more than 38% so thats telling you something there. Also, does anyone else know that the taxes you pay, your employer has to match those taxes as well and pay them? I rarely here that argument.
Paul,
There is nobody who tried harder than I did to let voters know the disingenuous nature of Tony Strickland's campaign. He called himself an Independent and an Independent Thinker over and over again. He got Erin Brockovich to say it. He got our DA Greg Totten to say that Tony's "ability to reach across party lines to get the job done would make a difference in the partisan environment of Sacramento."
It was absolute bunk.
Tony Strickland is one of the most extreme Republicans in the state. In July 2004, Strickland became the founding president of California Club for Growth, based off the National Club for Growth, an anti-tax organization that has “championed a civil war against moderate Republicans.� Strickland called the job a “perfect fit.�
(Ventura County Star, “Strickland To Head Club After Term Ends,� July 3, 2004)
This group has made it a mission to destroy the careers of moderate Republicans.
If Hannah-Beth would've won, we would have had a budget by now. Our extreme Republicans helped push the state's credit rating in the toilet and will likely cause state construction projects to stop.
JMR, the budget bill now being rejected by the Senate Republicans has $1 billion of corporate tax breaks written into it.
There is a tax break for small businesses who hire new employees and it would cost the state $200 million a year. It provides a $3,000 tax credit for every full-time employee hired by a company with 20 or fewer workers.
There are are other perks, including a break for the film industry.
A 2006 Public Policy Institute poll did not find CA businesses leaving in droves.
They found that 66.1 percent of job losses in the state stemmed from routine business closures, 32.4 percent from contraction, and only 1.5 percent from establishments leaving the state.
Well, a deal was made, now its in the Democrats court, and I seriously dont know if they will vote on the budget now.
Snippet from your LA Times:
Under the deal, Schwarzenegger would support items that Maldonado has demanded from any budget package. They include constitutional amendments, requiring voter approval, that would allow an open primary election, cut legislators' pay if they miss a budget deadline and prohibit pay raises for lawmakers when there are deficits.
"The governor is on board with my constitutional amendments," Maldonado said. "If everybody is happy with the drafts, we'll have a budget for the state of California."
Democrats, however, are skeptical.
Im still against the Tax Increases, but talk about sticking it back to them!
What do you think about this Marie? Will you support making these amendments to get the budget passed?
A lot of my fellow Democrats have a problem with the open primary idea, but the net result will be that it encourages moderate candidates of both parties.
I don't like extremism, so I guess I'm OK with that. It would require voter approval, though.
Of course candidates who lie about their moderate credentials could still get voted in..... ahem.
Marie, I dont want open Primaries either, it could put a wrench in the system. It might help get rid of career politicians like Nancy Pelosi (which would be nice) but that doesnt justify it, so Im against it. But the reason Democrats do not want them is because they will start losing their seats to more conservative and middle of the road Democrats, they dont want that to happen. Mind you, Socialist Democrats, which we have a lot of here in CA are not very popular among most in the state. They have safe zones in their districts kind of like the Strickland's have a safe zone here. He would have won regardless. I honestly didnt pay much attention to their election this last year because of the stupid ads Tony and Hannah Beth were running, it was annoying to see every 5 minutes! All I want is for them to get responsible and stop the spending, they really need to stop the spending.
Here is the California tax calculator along with an article about the proposed budget.
www.sacbee.com/1098/story/1627728.html
This isn't about Democrats or Republicans anymore...it's about being able to survive here. I am barely in the middle class with 3 young mouths to feed at home. If this passes, my family will be forced to leave. That will be one less PTA mom that has always done whatever she could to help in the schools. I simply cannot afford another dime.
All through the 1990s I voted for tax increases in the name of better education & school funding along with better law enforcement and firefighters, only to be asked for more increases. Where did the last increases go? I will not ever vote for another tax increase because of this. I was just a young teen in VHS back when the California lottery was going to save our schools. What happened there?
I am outraged by this and so are many others. Because of my work, I am hearing people in many other cities in Southern California and they are fit to be tied. Citizens in this state have had it with being lied to about what is really going on and who is doing what as well as being bent over backwards for every social program that comes along. I would give anyone the shirt off my back if I thought it would help them but this situation makes my blood boil.
In my opinion, it's time to clean house and kick everyone that is in politics out and start over. I only wish there was a way to realistically do so. Frankly, I am tired of the finger pointing in all directions and I speak for a number of people on that.
Time for my weekly budget tutorial again:
In the last 10 years, (1998-2008) general fund annual spending has increased by about $46 billion. Inflation and population growth accounts for $31 billion of that. That leaves $15 billion. Of that we spend $6 billion a year reimbursing local governments for the loss of vehicle license fee revenues.
Then we increased prison spending by $3.5 billion. Some of that arguably could be attributed to increased pension benefits for prison guards. But most is due to our three strikes law which was approved by voters. More prisoners are in there for life and they are aging and requiring expensive care.
OK, so now we have $5.5 billion left. Of that, $2 million is payments on budget-related debt for the Economic Recovery Bonds approved by voters. Another $2 billion is debt service on the infrastructure bonds approved by voters.
Then Californians approved Prop. 42, which sends $1.5 billion of gas tax revenue to local and state transportation projects.
Spending on the things Democrats champion like education and social programs was FLAT.
In Ventura, we have only managed to pass a school bond measure. That was in 1997. It helped build Foothill High School, which has the highest API scores in the county. Our sales tax is at the state minimum. Eighty percent of California cities have a higher sales tax than we do.
Marie, Ill bite on your inflation tutorial even though its been proven to be skewed. Population is growing in schools due to illegal immigration at an alarming rate. Why we as US citizens, do we have to pay for those services? Can you answer that? Spending has increased and its increased because of Social Programs, more people being on Welfare, Food stamps and government run health care. As Ive said, we have 25% of the welfare recipients in the whole country, why does that not alarm you? Why do we as hard working Americans have to be forced to pay taxes for something that is Unconstitutional and against the law? Why are people still collecting these social benefits even after the allowed time frame has come and gone, in some cases more than 20 years on Welfare. Spending has gone up Marie, its not Flat, they skew it as being Flat because more people are on it!
Marie,
I have been following your blogs for a while. Therefore, I have seen your figures posted. I decided to post because I finally got irritated enough to say something.
If you go and read the blog that is currently off of the home page on this site regarding budget debate, you can see how many people, even local, are irritated.
I spent a good deal of time reading a previous blog from the last week and a half regarding the protest where many local families with their school kids stood in the rain in protest. I also had friends there. On that particular blog, I was highly impressed with the posts by Bubba Kidd. I'm too tired to bother repeating what Bubba said but I believe the numbers in which Bubba posted are factual. I also feel the unions are making matters worse and they are outdated. This opinion of mine was formed on years of watching their actions. I wonder who's interest they really have at heart. Heck, I have friends that are teachers and they have serious issues with the union.
Having said that, I want to re-iterate that I am not interested in which party does what. At this point, they are all to blame. I am interested in a resolution that works without putting additional burdens on so many who simply cannot afford it.
Are you not concerned with the many young struggling families that are middle class and live in Ventura that have kids in public schools and are leaving because of the burden of cost to live here? To say the least, this does not help the local community with revenue let alone the state.
I for one, have lived her my entire life. I am a 3rd generation Venturan. This is my home. My mother attended the same elementary school my children have all gone through. This is very personal to me and I am insulted by what is going on in my home town.
The fact is, anyone who runs a private business, be it big or small, the way our government is running their budget, they will go under. It is a simple fact. I am lucky enough to be employed by a sub-contractor who happens to be in residential housing and I still have a job. The reason why is because I work for a man who crunches numbers constantly. That is why I have a job and why the other 50 to 100 employees I work with have a job. It's called fiscal responsibility.
Matter of fact, I had a co-worker tell me how disgusted she was with a friend who happened to work for the county. The reason she was mad was because her friend was telling her all about how her dept was spending an exhorbant amount of money on office supplies, ie; $100 on a pen, etc... all this so that they there dept could continue to keep their budget up.
If this is really what is going on then we need a private, outside company to come in and audit the various departments.
I do not want to see school funding cut. I seriously doubt anyone in their right mind does.
Can you enlighten me on how we funded schools in the late 1800s and throughout the 1900s?
Sacramento needs to do a better job. PERIOD
BTW, my oldest goes to FTHS and I am a proud mom.
JMR: School enrollment is actually down in CA. I know it troubles many that we provide education for the children of illegals, but we tried to stop it through Prop. 187 and it was ruled unconstitutional.
There are many, many poor people who are U.S. citizens. Do you want to cut them off, too?
Straight from figures provided by Lockyer's office:
Between 1998-2008, welfare (CalWORKS) declined an average 7.6% in annual cost.
In the same period, benefits for low-income aged, blind and disabled gained less than 1% annually.
Crystal, I put this forum up to let people speak their mind. Bubba makes many good points. But even he agrees that we have to do some raising of revenues to balance this budget.
California finance has been on a roller coaster ever since Prop. 13 passed. We are now dependent on sales tax, income tax and capital gains taxes to stay afloat. In good economic times, this works. In bad economic times, it doesn't.
Thank you for posting. I really do appreciate it.
Marie, what have I been saying about school funding? I dont mind them spending on that, I mind our government giving illegals Welfare, Food Stamps and Health Care and they do! Do you know how many illegals I see getting there children from school on the Avenue every day? Its a problem and they are violating the law, using our resources and our Tax dollars are paying for it. So that post was about the Social Programs, if our legislature were to enforce the law and not allow them to get these social benefits, they would either go to work or leave and save us a lot of whats in that budget, but its a political issue. Did you know Illegal Immigrants are voting? I know for a fact they are. My stepfather was born in Mexico in 1934, came to this country legally in the 50's and busted his butt! He has an issue with it! His family moved from Europe to avoid world war 1 to start a ranch in Mexico. He dreamed of moving to the USA as a teenager. He moved here on a Visa when he was 20 and became a Naturalized Citizen. My stepfather voted for Prop 187 and it was shot down by a leftist court as un-constitutional. Since when do non citizens have constitutional rights? Criminals get those rights taken when they break the law, why are these people getting rights while breaking the law, why is it that we have ballots in Spanish and English now? What a joke, illegals are voting here in California. I know people who actually voted and are not supposed to because they are here on educational visas. The democrats sent them registration in the mail. My father knows people who are voting and cant speak English and just moved here a year ago.
Marie, you've proven yourself to be a partisan to me, you continue to post a non realistic view of the issues and place the blame on the minority. Do you realize that we passed Prop 13 because most of California does not want a tax increase? Look at this stimulus bill Obama signed into law, it had overwhelming opposition across the country, they passed it anyways with only 29% of peoples support! Thats the kind of behavior that got people to vote for Prop 13.. This country is a Democratic Republic, meaning majority does not rule! The only democratic part is the elections, the constitution forbids this kind of thing yet they do it because we allow it. If you want majority rule, tell me how that is good for freedom? This is what you are telling us, Prop 13 is to blame, so you are blaming the majority of California!
Marie, also on Prop 13, we should never have to have laws on the books like this, we should never have cell phone laws on the books, these laws are invading us as a Free country. Most laws on the books are unconstitutional as it is. We dont need a court to tell us differently, the court has no place trying to figure out or re-translate the meaning of the constitution, its right there in plain English. Its what is wrong with the whole country not just this state. The reason things like this are passing is because of lack of responsibility and common sense. It still doesn't make it right in my eyes, but its what we have. No one seems to have common sense or a sense of responsibility any longer. The Republicans that are opposing this bill are at least thinking about this. Every politician up there that voted for this should be given a pink slip or serve free of charge for the remaining time of their term and leave office, Republican or Democrat!
I share the same view about our budget as our Republican governor, our Republican candidate for governor Tom Campbell, the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times, San Mercury News, Sacramento Bee ... and I could go on here.
I'm not voicing an opinion about Prop. 13. other than to say that California finances are a lot more volatile since it passed.
That federal stimulus package will lessen the blow here all around, even taxwise.
Marie, lets face it, Arnold is no Republican, you know it, I know it. Most Democrats are no longer Democrats here. This is how I see the parties today so you get a better understanding of where I come from. The Democratic Party has moved into a Big Government, Union, Socialist type of Party. The Republicans are now Democrats from back in the day in my eyes willing to spend on Social issues here and there, willing to push debt etc. Most of them seem to be this way now. I am a Constitutional Thinker. I believe the Government has no right to restrict any of our Freedoms laid out in the Constitution such as the First and Second, the Second has been violated for years as a political farce and our First amendment is slowly starting to go as well. They are allowing a law suite against Miley Cirus for making squinted eyes!! Oh what times we are in. So I blame all of them, and that little minority that is in there sticking it to whoever voted for this is a hero at this moment. The future however, Im sure they will disappoint. It looks like our Bakersfield Senator will vote on this by 2AM. I emailed his office in opposition and maybe he will get the guts to hold out. At this point I would rather see the State file Bankruptcy to force a re-write of everything to fix the problem. If you or I were in this sort of mess, we would most definitely have to file for Bankruptcy!
Do you know how Rome fell? Do you know that they were a Republic during their greatest times? Do you know they were a Socialist Democracy at there end? Do some history on what political system folded the Great Roman Empire, it mirrors exactly what is going on in this country today. A great history teacher I had taught us that Empires never last much more than 200 years, we are past due and its showing. If it wasn't so bad, I wouldn't be here on these blogs.
Marie, maybe you should do a topic on the Constitution of The United States so we can have a discussion on that. I think it ties in with all of this, including Prop 8, The 1st, the 2nd amendments and on and on. There is much our people don't know about that, Ive been teaching my kids about it. My 9 year old probably knows more about it than most people my age!
Marie, That Federal Stimulus package is a joke and is going to hurt this country more than you know. Its also unconstitutional Wake up.
Howdy folks! My ears were ringing so I thought I would check back in and see if my name was being used in vain.
After having read through this interesting thread I have just a few points I would like to add.
First, I think that we need to stop this ongoing debate over Prop 13. I know that most liberals like to lay awake at night dreaming about the massive flow of untapped tax revenues that could be realized if they could just repeal that pesky law. But it ain't gonna happen, and the law has been in place for over 30 years. So please, let's stop the debates over Prop 13. We also should remember that there were valid reasons for the passing of that proposition, namely that people were literally being taxed out of their own homes. How many people would have lost their homes during the recent housing bubble had Prop 13 not been in place to protect them? Imagine your property tax bill going from, say, $5,000 per year to $15,000 per year in five or six years, which would have happened to lots of people without the protections of Prop 13. Too many liberals like to pretend that money is free, but any gimmick to increase "revenues" comes straight from the pockets of hardworking families. Back in the 1970s thousands of senior citizens on fixed incomes, who had lived in their homes for decades, lost their homes because they could no longer afford the taxes. Do we really want to go back to that era? Some people seem OK with taxing people out of their homes in the name of education funding or other social programs, but I think those types of policies are morally wrong. There are many options that we can discuss to reform our tax system, but wishing for the good old days before Prop 13 is nothing but an exercise in selective memory.
Second, can we please stop reliving the Jackson/Strickland campaign? I received enough junk mail from both candidates to make me never want to discuss the topic again. The voters made their decision and elected Tony Strickland as our representative. As much as some people wanted Hannah Beth Jackson as their representative, the fact is that she lost. It is mind-numbing to keep having this circular debate about what could have or should have been. Move on people. Furthermore, Strickland is just one of forty state senators. He alone is not responsible for our budget problems, and it comes off as tiresome and partisan to heap all of the blame on one person and demonize him, as is done regularly on this blog. He represents a point of view that is held by many people in this state that are opposed to more taxes. You may disagree with that view, but in that respect he is true to his values and to his campaign promises. I don't entirely agree with his political philosophy, but I have less of a problem with him than with many on the other side of the aisle who continually approve new programs that have no identified source of funding. Pick your poison I say, but please don't pretend that there is only one side to these issues.
Third, I want to once again remind Marie that Prop 187 was not found to be unconstitutional. A single federal judge struck down the law. But laws need to go through the full process, and the decision by this judge was being appealed by Governor Pete Wilson to the appellate court. Most likely any ruling would have eventually gone to the California State Supreme Court, and even, perhaps, to the US Supreme Court. However the law never had its day in court because Gray Davis broke a campaign promise and ordered the state to drop its appeal, effectively accepting the ruling of a single lower court judge. It is factually inaccurate for Marie to characterize this law as having been found to be unconstitutional. The legal process was never allowed to be completed, so we don't know if the law would have been eventually held constitutional or not. The will of the people was overturned by a single judge with the assistance of a single politician.
Finally, I want to add my thoughts on your local city council putting off making budget cuts. It seems to me that many of your local political leaders make bold decisions only when it involves spending money they don't have, but when it comes time to make the tough decisions they buckle under the pressure. Time is not on their side, and inaction only makes the problems worse and the solutions more extreme. They need to show real leadership and take action now. Not next week, or next month but now. It won't make them popular, but real leaders aren't in it to win popularity contests. Much of these problems are of their own making (and, in fairness, the making of their predecessors), so they need to own up and come up with real solutions, instead of the typical hand-wringing and pushing off tough decisions until the future. The future is now.
Thanks, Bubba.
The council was handed a lengthy, last-minute list of suggestions that were compiled by city employees. They did not feel they had time to weigh them properly before making a decision. That decision will be made March 2 when, hopefully, our Budgeting for Outcomes teams will be closer to compiling and recommending their own recommendations as well. These mid-year cuts bypassed the BFO process, something that many in our city thought was unwise.
As far as Prop. 187 goes, you and I had this discussion before and it was indeed ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge. Exceeding state authority is a violation of the Supremacy clause.
http://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-14_1c.html
You are correct that it did not make it to the U.S. Supreme Court.
And I'm truly sorry if you don't want to hear me or anyone else talk about Strickland's disingenuous campaign. He apparently fooled a lot of people with his "Independent" talk and I think it is fair to point out how false that truly was. Just not convenient for you or the Stricklands, though.
Why is it that when a democrat wins it was the will of the people, but when a republican wins it was because the people were somehow "fooled"? It is pretty condescending for you to think that voters can't make up their own minds. Every political campaign is filled with misleading information ON BOTH SIDES. Do you really think that the teachers unions present fair and balanced arguments when they oppose cuts to school funding? Please stop feeding us this propaganda that one side is bad and the other is wholesome and pure, as it is an insult to the intelligence of your contributors. I think I'm getting a cavity from constantly listening to you slobber over HBJ. It's over, time to move on.
Would be valid argument if one were dealing with anyone other than Tony Strickland, the king of crooked. Many of us appreciate Marie's updates on 'our' senator's behavior.