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Katy Grimes

Gerawan Farmworkers’ Get NADA from Latino Caucus

Gerawan Farming worker Silvia Lopez recently sent a letter to members of the California Legislative Latino Caucus, asking for help in her two-year fight with the Agricultural Labor Relations Boardand the United Farm WorkersUnion.

The ALRB has refused to count the thousands of ballots Lopez collected and her co-workers cast six months ago to decertify the UFWlabor union to end its representation.

But so far, the only sound coming from Latino legislators is the distinctive, quiet sound of nothing. Nada. Crickets.

Lopez, who is leading the effort for the workers, sent Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Los Angeles, Latino Caucus chairman, and each member of the Latino Caucus, a letter in English and Spanish. But Lopez got no response.

“Mr. Chavez once said, that it is ‘never about grapes or lettuce, it is always about people,’” Lopez wrote. “I believe that is true, and that is why I write to you.”

“I am writing on behalf… Read More

Congressman John Campbell

NSA and Veterans Update

I told you in my last missive that I would next write you about income inequality. I pulled an Obama…..and lied. I will get to the income inequality issue in a future edition. But, I’m taking an operational pause in my “Farewell Series” to address a couple of important issues that bubbled up last week in Washington on which I feel compelled to opine. So, here are my thoughts on two current hot topics:

NSA/ FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act): Last Thursday, the USA Freedom Act, a bill to reform some of the now well-known practices the NSA has employed to intercept our personal communications, passed the House by a vote of 303-121. I was one of the 51 Republicans and 70 Democrats voting against this bill. This is one of those times when people on the right and people on the left unite to stop what we believe to be an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. However, in my view, those in the middle have proven to be somewhat less passionate about this duty. Don’t get me wrong, this bill is better than current law. But, it does not stop the practices of the NSA in question and does not limit future action to what I… Read More

SD 28 – Supervisor Jeff Stone Unhinged! In a Fit of Road RAGE, Stone Badges and Orders a Driver to Pull-Over

The Primary fight in SD 28 has been one ugly mess. Candidate Jeff Stone knew he couldn’t win on what he’s done in office (tax increases, repeated FPPC fines and other sordid messes – from enriching his sister to a recent scathing Grand Jury report showing his wasteful use of a “Slush Fund” — their words — to try to enhance his name ID and paying off a family friend with a $100k road to a private artist retreat).

So, to overcome his deficiencies he has waged an almost slanderous, ugly campaign against former Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia – that is, to this longtime political professional, the most over-the-top and outrageous smear I’ve… Read More

A CONSERVATIVE VOLUNTEER’S CASE FOR DONNELLY

Let me explain why I will vote for Tim Donnelly for Governor on June 3.

I’m not a paid campaign worker. I’m not a political consultant. I’m not a member of the Republican establishment. I am a constitutional, conservative volunteer and activist who cares about our communities, our state, our country and our children’s future.

Tim Donnelly, gubernatorial candidate of our great, and yet dysfunctional State of California, earned my vote by his actions and his beliefs.

California’s high unemployment rate worries me. Extreme environmental regulations, heavy taxes and fees that kill California jobs concerns me. Business and entertainment production… Read More

Jon Coupal

MILEAGE TAX WOULD PUT BIG BROTHER IN YOUR BACK SEAT (AND WITHIN ARM’S REACH OF YOUR WALLET)

California is known as the world capital of the car culture. The automobile played a central role in creating the California Dream, giving people the freedom to travel, to live where they choose and to experience the exhilaration of the open road.

Now, if Senator Mark DeSaulnier gets his way, you’ll have to pay a new tax for every mile you drive. His Senate Bill 1077 would begin with a “pilot program” in one unfortunate yet-to-be-determined city where motorists would pay taxes based on… Read More

Katy Grimes

CALIFORNIA CITIIES ARE EMULATING DETROIT

After New York City’s close call with bankruptcy in 1975. the state required the city to balance its budget in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles rather than continuing to use “creative-accounting practices.” According to Richard Ravitch, writing in the Wall Street Journal last week, the city has not had a fiscal crisis since.

The city’s new mayor,Bill de Blasio, released his first budget last week, beginning the slippery slide back into questionable accounting: Many are questioning whether the deferral of payments contractually due city employees was properly accounted for.

Ravitch’s article describesexactly what most California cities are doing: usingdeceptive cash-basisaccounting to hide real costs and… Read More

Katy Grimes

Friday Insanity Wrap Up – Latitudinarian and Far-Fetched News

Should women in the workplace receive paid menstruation leave?

HuffPost Live held a discussion about an actual current topic in employment entitlements: whether women deserve paid “menstrual leave.”

“Do women deserve paid ‘menstrual leave’ for the days when cramps, irritability or more complicated issues like endometriosis distract from the day’s tasks?” HuffPost Live asked. “Menstrual leave is a part of the employee experience in several Asian countries, prompting think pieces on the topic fromRead More

Katy Grimes

Could the oil tax bill be a shill for a ballot initiative?

With the 2012 passage of Proposition 30, voters were assured the significant tax increase would go entirely to education. However, less than 50 percent actually does.

Now, a new bill is moving through the Legislature, claiming to tax oil and gas production for – ahem, you guessed it — education.

SB 1017, an urgency measure, would impose a severance tax on the extraction of oil and natural gas, effective immediately after being signed into law.

Pay attention to the taxman behind the curtain who wants to add more taxes onto oil and gas production.

However, if the California legislature doesn’t pass an oil severance tax this year, billionaire hedge fund manager, Tom Steyer, is preparing a ballot initiative for 2016.

Because Gov. Jerry Brown vowed that all new tax increase proposals would go before the voters, there are reports which say he’s largely rejected the oil tax this year. But NextGenClimate Action, Steyer’s political action committee, can do it for Brown instead, with the… Read More

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