Farsighted state employees are realizing that state pension benefits are an illusion. Nowhere in the world does any government match the pension benefits as California state employees. However, many economists are warning that as billions and billions that will become due, those employees will get stiffed.Consider San Diego on steroids.

So what to do? Bring in financial experts in a special commission.

Would you hire a person who publicly opposed the Recall that got this Governor elected, who nearly bankrupted the Republican Party, who personally stiffed RNC funds for the nearly successful McClintock comptroller campaign in 2002, who testified against the GOP pension fix in 2005, presided over the scandalous UC payroll cover-up,was sued by Treasury Secretary William Simonand has a blatant conflict of interest because hemakes millions managing CalPERS money?

The choice of Parsky is laughable throughout California and extending to Washington where Parsky tried but failed to impose himself as Secretary of Treasury.

Goodness knows that this post employment benefits commission is doomed before it starts.… Read More

Anaheim Mayor and former Speaker of the State Assembly Curt Pringle was just appointed by the Governor to the Public Employee Post-Employment Benefits Commission. He will serve with former UC Regents Chairman Gerry Parsky among others to find solutions to unfunded benefits for public employees.

You may recall reading that Mayor Pringle was also recently appointed by the Governor to the CA High Speed Rail Authority.

It’s not hard to figure out why the Governor would tap Mayor Pringle twice in as many weeks to serve on important statewide commissions–Pringle is a natural leader and a dynamic problem solver. I like having Curt on my team no matter what the effort.

But these two appointments are helpful in proving a point of mine, that there is a major lack of leaders in government and politics today. Perhaps it has always been that way, but among the thousands and… Read More

The Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill today released her analysis of the governor’s proposed budget for 2007-08. What’s the bottom line on the budget proposal, from her point of view? Hill says that the budget result in a $726 million deficit as opposed to the Administration’s projection of a $2.1 billion reserve.

Here are a few noteworthy excerpts from the analysis’ highlights. All of the documents can be accessed here.

* Based on our projections, we estimate that the Governor’s budget plan would result in 2007-08 expenditures exceeding revenues by $2.6billion. This would leave the state with a $726million year-end deficit, compared to the Governor’s January 10th estimate of a $2.1billion positive reserve.

* In addition, the… Read More

Bills, bills, bills:

There are 435 members of the House of Representatives. In the 109th Congress, these members introduced 6,438 bills. Only 294 of them passed in the House, the Senate, and were signed into law by the president. That is less the one bill per member of Congress. So, suffice it to say, we do not measure ourselves by how many bills pass with one’s name on them. That would be a small number unless you are a committee chairman

But, we still need to try. Over the next two weeks, I will give you a list of the things I am working on. In some cases, I am the "lead" sponsor of the bill. In other cases, I am a "co-sponsor" of the bill. In all cases, these are issues in which I am engaged.

Some of these bills do not have a snowball’s chance in Hades of becoming law in this Congress for various factors. These range from the fact that Democrats are in control to that the particular measure is a big idea which will take years to cultivate. I often point out the efforts of my predecessor, Christopher Cox, to end the death tax. He began this quest in 1988. Now, 20 years later we have gotten close, but the… Read More

That’s right! Lots of crazy uncle (nephew) jokes are flooding through my head as I read the story in the AV Press about McCarthy’s visit to the Mojave Air and Space Port. (That’s not a joke either, there is one)

McCarthy represents parts of LA County, Kern and San Luis Obispo counties. McCarthy mentioned that basement thing at the end of the visit. Check out the article hereand you will actually see why McCarthy made it to Congress, very articulate and knowledgeable about the issues. Living in Thomas’s basement notwithstanding.… Read More

If you are a Republican, and think you may want to see what it is like to work for a member of the State Legislature in the Capitol Building, then don’t miss today’s lead column from Karen Pank, who, as an alumni of the Capitol Fellowship Program, makes a good case for GOPers to apply! No one that I know believes for a minute that the Fabian Nunez-pushed effort to put a term limits ‘reform’ measure on the ballot this February is about anything other than the Speaker and other term-limited incumbent politicians seeking to extend their own time in political office. There’s a story in the Sacramento Bee about how the measure was ‘tweaked’ when it was discovered that Senate President Pro-Tempore Don Perata would not be able to extend HIS time in office. Any measure that allows politicians to serve in any single chamber of the legislature longer than the current limits is a weakening of the measure. Mr. Speaker, make your case on why term limits are bad. But don’t insult the voters by trying to somehow frame your self-preservation measure as a ‘strengthening’ of term limits. … Read More

Last December I posted about the Democrats zeal in having the state take over health care in California. In an effort to be clever and make the point of how terrible it would be having bureaucrats make decisions about our health care, I titled the post "The Health Care Challenge — or — If You Love The DMV, You’ll Love Government Run Health Care". I concluded it writing "If we let the government take it over, we’ll get the same loving care as we get at the DMV"

I thought I’d made a pretty good point, and I discovered I also hit a nerve at the DMV. Lo and behold, George Valverde – the Director of the DMV – commented immediately:

The debate over a statewide health care system aside, Sen. Jim Battin’s comparison to the DMV is misplaced (The health care challenge – or if you love the DMV, you’ll love government run health care, 12/12/06 blog in FlashReport). Over the past three years, the DMV has achieved remarkable results in creating a customer-friendly atmosphere. We… Read More

When I heard that conservative Assemblyman Todd Spitzer had teamed up on legislation with ultra-liberal State Senator Carol Migden, I had to inquire… And this is what Todd Spitzer had to say:

When a democrat and a republican partner up on a legislative idea it usually turns heads for Capitol watchers. But when a liberal San Francisco Democrat pairs up with an Orange County Republican conservative observers naturally ask the question: how and why? I appreciate the FlashReport asking. How Carol Migden and I came together on SB 177 which we announced last week at a join press conference was actually simple happenstance and quite accidental. SB 177 requires first time driving under the influence (DUI) offenders to have an Interlock Ignition Device (IID) installed in their… Read More