This morning the “Big 5” will gather to put the finishing touches on a budget deal – so we’re told. Of course, from all accounts, the deal that has been put together is a mixed bag. First and foremost, the fact that there are no tax increases on the table demonstrates how budget negotiations can go differently when Governor Schwarzenegger stands tall for taxpayers, as he pledged to do in both of his elections – and it is also a significant feather in the cap of Republican Leaders Dennis Hollingsworth and Sam Blakeslee, both of whom took on the leadership of their respective legislative caucuses after their predecessors rather notoriously used their positions to become architects of over $16 billion in higher income, sales and car taxes – “in return” for faux reforms and selective tax breaks for major corporations.

So while the wallets of taxpayers appear to have been protected from direct assault by state government this go-around, there are some aspects of this budget deal that are extremely troubling – and frankly show that liberal Democrats Darrell Steinberg and Karen Bass worked very hard to maintain what we believe are unsustainable levels of… Read More

While Speaker Bass may be upbeat about a tentative Big 5 budget deal today, sanity still says that a long-term solution — over the next few years if not part of this budget — must include addressing the inherent inefficiencies in a bureaucracy gone mad. You know, what the Governor once called blowing up boxes.

As an example, FR friend Janelle Riella contacts us with this story…

My family is in the trucking business. When we receive renewal notices from the DMV, they are usually sent back to the DMV in bundles with one check for all of the vehicles. Just today, my mother received a note from the DMV that is was TOO EARLY to be paying the registration (the due date is September 2009), so they will be sending her a check back in the mail. The DMV sent her the renewal notice in the first place!! Now, they are going to reimburse her (which on average is $25 plusto get a check cut in the private sector) and she will have to turn around and pay the bill in August? They can’t just send her the new tags?

What is wrong with this state???? OK, for those thinkingthat… Read More

The state budget will be voted on this week in Sacramento. There are unlimited options available to figure out how the state can spend the billions of dollars available to provide state services in California.

As a local government official I have strong feelings about the ways that make the most sense. People certainly disagree with me on some of these things and that is fine.

I am not going to argue about how stupid it is to raid Highway User Tax Act (HUTA) funds on the basis of what these funds do. That could be the subject of a whole blog by itself.

What I will argue is that a budget based on this transfer is not wise because it may not be legal.

Voting for this budget suggests confidence that it will be used as a document of proposed spending that will last for the next fiscal year. However, that just isn’t going to happen.

Prop 5 (1974) provided cities and counties greater control over these funds. This is money that can be used to pay off local bonds but not state bonds. See Section 19 of the State Constitution.

Whatever you think about HUTA funds and the… Read More

Word from all sources is that the confidential meetings of Governor Schwarzenegger, Senate President Darrell Steinberg, Senate GOP Leader Dennis Hollingsworth, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, and Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee – with only their most senior staff members present – has resulted in the framework for a deal to balance the state’s current budget, which currently is projected to spend $26.2 billion more than the tax revenues coming into fund it.

The last time the so-named “Big 5” came to a budget deal, it was February and it was a raw deal for California taxpayers. Not only did the secret meetings results in well over $16 billion in higher sales, income and car taxes, as well as a families with children losing a key tax exemption – but that deal also produced the ill-fated Proposition 1A, which required “adult supervision” from California voters to reject any more tax increases to deal with the state’s fiscal woes.

As I look back at the terrible big budget/big taxes/open primary deal of February – one of the biggest problems with the deal was not even the terrible public policy within it, but the flawed “secret” process,… Read More

Word from all sources is that the confidential meetings of Governor Schwarzenegger, Senate President Darrell Steinberg, Senate GOP Leader Dennis Hollingsworth, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, and Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee – with only their most senior staff members present – has resulted in the framework for a deal to balance the state’s current budget, which currently is projected to spend $26.2 billion more than the tax revenues coming into fund it.

The last time the so-named “Big 5” came to a budget deal, it was February and it was a raw deal for California taxpayers. Not only did the secret meetings results in well over $16 billion in higher sales, income and car taxes, as well as a families with children losing a key tax exemption – but that deal also produced the ill-fated Proposition 1A, which required “adult supervision” from California voters to reject any more tax increases to deal with the state’s fiscal woes.

As I look back at the terrible big budget/big taxes/open primary deal of February – one of the biggest problems with the deal was not even the terrible public policy within it, but the flawed “secret” process,… Read More

Let me state that it was — and is — not my intent to make this blog a ‘he said-she said’ sort of thing.

However, last night candidate Steve Danon commented to me that he is "100 percent in" the race in 2012, whether incumbent 3rd District San Diego County Supervisor Pam Slater-Price runs for a sixth term or not, and that he was misunderstood if the Slater-Price folks believed him to say otherwise. (You may want to read that post and the couple of linked prior ones as a primer.)

In fairness to John Weil, chief of staff to Slater-Price, he attempted to post the following comment as a response to last night’s blog entry, but to no avail, so here it is…

Mr. Jantz:

I did not ‘misunderstand’ Steve Danon. He told me twice that he will not run against Vice Chairwoman Pam Slater-Price. He made it very clear. He can assert otherwise all he wants. However, I have a witness.

If Danon wants to manipulate the English language to break a… Read More

Today, I am particularly proud of the candidate that I support for Governor – Steve Poizner. Steve was the only candidate running for Governor, from either party, who attended the meeting of Commission on the 21st Century Economy in San Francisco. The commission is responsible for reforming California’s tax system. After the meeting, Steve released a statement saying, “…there is one thing that is already very clear to me: we need to cut taxes in California. There is no better way to create jobs and grow the economy than through a tax cut and this will be a cornerstone of my campaign for governor.” I could not agree more. Increased taxes will not stimulate economic growth and they will not solve the budget crisis created by the irresponsible spending by the state. Steve spent years creating jobs as an entrepreneur in the Silicon Valley and he is the only candidate running for governor who has actually cut waste from the state budget — almost 15% at the Department of Insurance. I know that he is prepared to use his unique experience to tackle the tough issues and I cannot wait to … Read More

In November 2008 television personality Marti "Troubleshooter" Emerald was narrowly elected to the San Diego City Council. The campaign had largely been waged over Emerald’s propensity to tell voters one thing, then get herself recorded telling her supporters the opposite.

This morning the San Diego Union Tribune broke the story that Emerald (1) is under investigation by the San Diego City Ethics Commission; (2) nominated a paid campaign worker to the Ethics Commission – a nominee that in fact might have been able to influence the investigation against Emerald. Under media scrutiny, and open pressure from her shocked Democrat and Republican peers, she withdrew the nomination Thursday. Emerald has yet to inform the public about the details of the ethics investigation.

The article speaks for itself: Emerald Pulls Ethics Panel Pick.… Read More