The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association announced today that we are launching a radio ad blitz to urge Californians to tell the Sacramento politicians to reform government instead of raising taxes.

In the radio spot, I warn the public that, “State spending is out of control and Sacramento politicians want to send YOU the bill!”

The spot highlights the fact that California’s State budget relies on gimmicks and that instead of balancing the budget, politicians are threatening cuts to public safety and our schools unless the bureaucrats get more tax dollars.

California already has the highest State sales tax in the nation, the second-highest gas tax, and the third-highest income tax in the nation. Even with Prop. 13, taxes are way above the national average.

HJTA calls upon Californians to stand together to demand education reform, pension reform and spending reform now. The organization is asking citizens to sign a petition to send a message to the politicians in Sacramento that higher taxes are not the answer. The timing is significant because lawmakers are preparing to vote on next year’s spending plan.

HJTA has made a significant… Read More

A recent editorial in the Sacramento Bee by former Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg’s concluded that AB 109 “prisoner realignment” has worked – a clear demonstration of just how far out of touch Capital politicians have become.

It’s a fairly typical response from the State: duck problems until they reach catastrophic levels, then use gimmicks to hide from the problem for a few more years, then shift the problem to future generations or local government to solve. This is usually followed by legislation on appropriate jail attire and creation of a new regulatory bureaucracy on how to prepare hotdogs.

Guess what Jackie? Realignment not a solution – it’s disgraceful. It’s no wonder the public holds the Legislature in such low esteem.

First, let’s be honest about what AB 109 was: it was not “an attempt to overhaul and redirect the prison system.” It was an admission that the state failed in its responsibility to manage prisons, and lacking the political guts to make… Read More

Just in from FlashReport friend Jennifer Jacobs… Jacobs is heading up an independent expenditure committee that has put up a new television spot that is very critical of the decision by Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher to miss a lot (most) of the votes up in the legislature in order to campaign locally for Mayor of San Diego. You can see the ad below…

… Read More

Here’s a LIBERAL biased summary of CA vs. the other states on taxes, from the California Budget Project – one of many “nonpartisan” front groups the Democrats set up, trying to con us into raising our taxes.

What is interesting is that even this slick left wing “think tank” can’t hide the fact that we Californians pay taxes well above the national average – even property taxes. It’s always nice to use THEIR stats for OUR side. It’s also fun to add a few cogent clarifications where necessary – I could have added MANY more! See below.

http://www.budgetchallenge.org/pages/ca_vs_other_states

BUDGET BASICS California vs. Other States

How does California’s budget compare to other states? California represents the ninth-largest economy in the world [RIDER NOTE: Down from fifth largest a decade earlier] and its 38 million residents give it the largest population in the United States. California is not alone in its fiscal challenges.

It was reported that for the 2012 fiscal… Read More

Episode VII – Education: In 1979, President Jimmy Carter created the Federal Department of Education. He did it to make the quality of education in this country better. This year, that department will have an administrative budget of $69 billion. That does not include the roughly $19 billion in federal dollars we will spend on education entitlements like Pell Grants and student loans.

The question is simple: Is American education better now than it was in 1979? Has spending trillions of federal dollars over the last 33 years led to America’s students consistently receiving a superior level of education?

The answer is painfully obvious. NO! So, why are we still trying to do what has failed for over 30 years expecting to achieve positive results?!

Sorry. I’ll calm down now. I have included education in this “Fix It” series on how to jump start two new decades of American hegemony, growth and prosperity because, like infrastructure, a strong education system is a prerequisite to growth and prosperity. So then, what is the state of education in America? In order to analyze our system, we have to break education into two… Read More

A “Memorable” Weekend for Some Candidates

byBarry Jantz

While readying its public system in advance of primary election night, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters released test election “results” on its website this past weekend for every race in San Diego County, although in actuality no such real data can be released until the polls close at 8:00 p.m. on June 5.

The Registar’s office confirmed this is standard procedure prior to each election. The resulting test report clearly indicates the information as being updated 07-04-76, a mock reference to the famous 1776 date.

However, one candidate, David Secor, reacted to the bogus results by churning out a press release, believing he was leading incumbent Duncan Hunter for Congress in “early voting” results. In turn,East County Magazinepublished the release andsubsequently corrected the information.

Another candidate, Rudy Reyes, running against incumbent Dianne Jacob for County Supervisor, said he was on the Registrar of Voters website Friday… Read More

Please note that these are my remarks as I prepared them for a recent speech.

I understand why people ask me to speak at events like this. I’m an elected official in Woodland that some people identify with the time I spent in Iraq with the Marine Corps.

Yet, these sorts of things are the hardest things that I do as an elected official.

My worst days as Mayor involved the deaths of SSGT Jimmy Arroyave and Highway Patrol Officer Andy Stevens. Giving condolences to family members is not something I am good at…. But all you can do is try.

I was at a Veterans event in Davis when Vince asked me to speak today. Clearly Vince has a memory problem. Two years ago when I was the Veteran’s Day speaker at the Court House I completely lost my composure as I spoke in front of the family of PFC Casillas.

PFC Casillas was a soldier from Arbuckle that was killed in Afghanistan. A hero. Watching his family mourn his loss was not the sort of thing I would wish on anyone. It got me. It got all of those around them.

These things are hard for me. Very hard. I know they are hard for many… Read More

While I’m not adding this electricity cost analysis to my dreary “Breaking Bad: CA vs. the Other States” fact sheet (this analysis is a hard item to condense into one sentence), it’s a situation my California readers need to understand. Our state’s residential electricity rates often are outrageous compared to the rest of the nation. And under AB32, these rates are predicted to go up as much as 30% or more — while the other states didn’t chose to commit such “cap and trade” economic suicide.

BTW, our state’s industrial electricity rates are even higher compared to other states — 59.8% higher than the national average as of December, 2011.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html . But this article will dwell on the cost of electricity for our homes.

For comparison purposes, I’m ranking homes with an average monthly usage of 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) — a common utility industry benchmark. I suspect that this usage level may be above average for a California home (we… Read More