“Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.”

– William Pitt, British Prime Minister, 1770

The alleged corrupt behavior of State Senator Ron Calderon has been at the center of California politics since the release by Al Jayzeera America last week of a sealed FBI agent’s affidavit detailing how Calderon supposedly pushed legislation that would benefit a particular business interest, in this case, a movie production company, in return for them “buying off” the Senator with payoffs.

“How could this happen?” — people will ask.

Obviously legislators are human beings, eh? We are all imperfect. So it makes sense that some will be morally lacking. That’s really no different than any other profession.

In the ideal world, everyone would be an upstanding citizen, a Boy Scout, and always do the right thing, even when nobody is looking.

I guess one might argue that politics, as a field, has the potential to attract a higher percentage of people with questionable ethics. What other professions are centered around… Read More

Ouch! That’s the cry of someone trying to sign up for the Affordable Care Act, usually called Obamacare.

Health insurance cancellation notices have gone out to millions of Americans. Many cannot get insurance at all. And for many who can, “premium shock” strikes those seeing their health plans canceled and renewed at higher rates.

Insurance industry experts are warning that two-thirds of already insured Americans will see their current insurance dumped into the hospital waste bin.

Obamacare is supposed to take care of people with pre-existing health conditions. But the actual “preexisting health condition” turns out to be already having private insurance. Obamacare means you have to sign up to find out whether that “condition” still exists — or has been canceled.

Another Obamacare bombshell about to… Read More

Here are some random thoughts for your intellectual consumption…

IDIOTS OF THE WEEK: San Francisco Supervisors Scott Wiener and Eric Mar. These two radical left-wingers have each introduced separate measures before their board that, if passed, would place before voters a two-cent per ounce tax on soda pop sold in San Francisco. Unfortunately, in a city that has embraced nanny-statism as much as Ess Eff has, one can no longer be surprised at these sorts of outrageous proposals. Wiener is the former Chairman of the San Francisco Democrat Party — and Mar was the principle advocate of already-passed big government regulation that prevents fast food restaurants from putting toys in meals unless those meals meet a certain level of nutritious value as defined by the city. It must be very comforting to be one of the shrinking number of parents in The City, knowing that you have your local government making so many parenting… Read More

Last week, a group called Free California announced its intentions to begin recall efforts against five Democratic legislators who voted in favor of stricter gun controls. Widely reported, the groups leader, Jennifer Kerns*, noted that they must listen to the voters and would use the recent recalls of two Colorado legislators as their roadmap.

*Authors Note: I emailed Jennifer for her take on the effort and as of this writing have received no response.

According to Josh Richman’s article in the San Jose Mercury-News, Kerns and her group are targeting ‘swing districts’ in an effort to punish those members for their gun votes.

This strategy is either fatally flawed or a thinly-veiled attempt to push Assemblyman Tim Donnelly’s nascent gubernatorial campaign, for which Kerns also serves as spokesperson.

This is not an objection to holding politicians accountable for their votes while in office. This is not an objection to being upset with a legislator for voting a certain way on an issue – especially one deeply held as guns and the 2nd Amendment.

My objection is that these recall efforts are poorly timed and highly unlikely to… Read More

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We all know from the general media that the Republican Party is split between moderates and the far right as embodied in the Tea Party. What is not well known is that the Tea Party itself is not unified, either ideologically or politically.

We can start with the identification of the Tea Party as Republican. As far as the media is concerned, Republican identification is a given, but when I attended the Tea Party California Caucus (TPCC) meeting/rally at the state GOP convention in early October, I found there is no consensus at all on Tea Party affiliation. Speaker after speaker told how he or she had once been a Republican but left the party when it “lost its way.” Even the TPCC backed candidate for governor, Tim Donnelly, spoke of the party as if he were not in it. One might well ask what this group was doing at the state Republican convention.

In contrast, in Tea Party groups outside the convention I have found no such disaffection from the party. I’ve been communicating with Tea Party members in Southern California, and last night I attended a local Tea Party meeting in the L.A. mid-city area. It was well attended by about 45 people. While there was… Read More

Sacramento is a scary place for taxpayers and not just on Halloween. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Association2013 Legislative Report Card shows the number of legislators who failed was more than three times the number who received A’s.

The grades confirm that the majority in the Legislature continue to be “hunters,” while already beleaguered taxpayers are their “prey.”

Inordinate pressure is being placed on all lawmakers by legislative leaders, lobbyists and government employee unions to go along with every conceivable scheme to raise revenue and it takes a special breed of courageous and principled legislator to resist and continue to stand up for the interests of average Californians.

We at the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association want to thank the following legislators who earned a perfect Report Card score for standing with taxpayers through thick and thin.

• State Senator Joel Anderson (second consecutive perfect score)

• State Senator Ted Gaines (second consecutive perfect… Read More

Whenever anyone suggests that public sector unions are forcing their members to make political contributions, the unions retort that the contributions are strictly voluntary. Technically speaking, this is true, but the tedious process of opting out of making political contributions is a powerful deterrent.

The California Teachers Association, for example, allow their members to become “agency fee payers,” which means they no longer belong to the CTA, do not have to make political contributions, and merely need to pay their “fair share” of the collecting bargaining expenses from which they still presumably benefit. But even if a CTA member has served written notice and been given agency fee payer status, they still will have 100% of the regular union dues withheld from their paycheck as full members; about $1,200 per year. They then have to request, in writing, between Sept. 1st and Nov. 15thevery year, that the CTA issue them a check for the portion of their dues that was used for political spending.

This amounts to a rigged system that ensures that very few CTA members bother to opt-out, and even fewer manage to consistently… Read More

On 25 October I posted the following item on my blog:

Ten years after disastrous San Diego County “Cedar” brush fire, major reforms STILL not implemented

RICHARD RIDER COMMENT: Shortly after the disastrous 2007 “Witch” brush fire in (primarily) San Diego County, the LOS ANGELES TIMES paid me to debate fire issues with a local UCSD professor in print. What followed was a civil five day written exchange where good points were raised – mostly by me, of course. In essence, it’s ten linked, point-counterpoint op-eds — included below.

The issues, shortcomings and solutions discussed are still germane today. I suppose this exchange/debate won’t interest many until AFTER the next major Southern California blaze. Such is life.

Given that the San Diego press is memorializing/celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Cedar Fire which destroyed 2,200 homes and cost 15 lives, now seems to be a good time to bring this up again. Most of the important fire fighting reforms I suggested here and elsewhere have… Read More