GOP ROLLED IN SACRAMENTO?

CAPOLITICALNEWS ^ | 5/8/06 | Stephen Franks

[NormsRevenge]

Thursday night the Republican's in the legislature were rolled.  Possibly, when the story of the 2006 election is written, the votes in the legislature Thursday night will be looked at as to why the GOP took a bath in the November elections.  After the Governor had adopted the Democrat agenda for his re-election, he has now imposed a Democrat agenda on the legislative Republicans as well.  Will this agenda inspire Republicans to vote Republican or just stay home?  We will see.

With the Republican Governor taking the lead, all but one GOP member of the Senate rolled over and gave in to Governor Schwarzenegger, Speaker Nunez, Senator Perata and the unions.

From the Sacramento Bee:

ON THE BALLOT

The $37.3 billion public works bond package includes:

* $19.9 billion for transportation projects

* $10.4 billion for university and school construction and remodeling

* $4.1 billion for flood protection

* $2.9 billion for housing and parks

* The plan calls for the bonds to be paid off over 30 years starting in 2007-08
Paid for with General Obligation bonds, not the Revenue bonds that most of the legislative GOP'ers had just weeks before said must be used to get their vote.

Also from the Bee, here are the votes:

Housing: Senate 27-11, Assembly 54-17.
Transportation: Senate 37-1, Assembly 61-9.
Education: Senate 29-8, Assembly 58-12.
Flood protection: Senate 36-1, Assembly 61-9.

This is what the Democrats got:

Billions for schools overcrowded with illegal aliens
Prevailing wages, so the taxpayers pay premium dollar for construction
Billions for affordable housing and rent control.  In Los Angeles and other cities, these go to illegal aliens
The Housing bond also includes tens of millions of dollars for "farmworker" housing--this is the buzz word for illegal aliens in the bond
According to Senator Jim Battin, in his floor remarks, there is $1 billion for a school rehabilitation program that, due to the formula, only one district in the whole state will qualify for, the fiscally corrupt Los Angeles Unified School District.  That means the needs of the kids in Tulare, Mariposa, Del Norte or Marin will not be helped--only the kids in LA will be helped. 
Battin also noted that Los Angeles Unified has a severely declining student population.  This is because over 100,000 kids are opting out of the union controlled district into "charter schools".
 Parents and students are leaving the District as quickly as they can.  It should also be noted that over 100,000 students (in 1990) were illegal aliens.

So, while the taxpayer shells out almost $80 billion in principal and interest, the illegal aliens got a large amount of the benefits.

This is what the GOP got from the deal:

No union reforms
No environmental reforms
Tax dollars to be spent on illegal aliens
Premium wages for union only projects
(So while the Governor is complaining that the Federal government is not securing the borders, he is promoting billions in bonds that will act as a magnet for illegal aliens to come to California.)

Bill Bradley in www.newwestnotes.com wrote this, ?Fabian and I got the Proposition 42 people (advocates of spending the gas tax only on transportation projects) and CTA (California Teachers Association) together on a compromise,? says Perata. That was necessary to head off a ballot measure about to be filed that would have blocked using that money for any other purpose in perpetuity. The compromise allows borrowing from those funds during times of budgetary crisis, but on a much more limited basis."

In other words the guarantee the Governor had given us that Prop. 42 gas tax money would only be used for transportation projects is no longer valid.  Tomorrow, if the Governor and the Democrat legislature wants, they can use gas tax money to study global warming and there is nothing we can do about it, except to continue to pay the tax and pay for the GOP'ers being rolled.

To make the point these bonds are a significant part of the Democrat agenda, here are the first two paragraphs of Bradleys' piece:
Democrats To Campaign With Arnold, Laud His Role In Big Bonds Passage
May 6th, 2006

"More good news for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the wake of Friday?s early morning passage of the $37.3 billion infrastructure bonds package, now set for California?s November ballot. He is getting major credit from Democrats for his role in making the deal happen. And major Democrats will be campaigning with him Monday on a flyaround tour of the state for the measure.

Joining the former action superstar, according to multiple sources in both parties, on his jet will be Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, along with the Republican legislative leaders, Senator Dick Ackerman and Assemblyman George Plescia. There may be more, it?s not a small plane. And look for other Democrats to turn up at the stops. This is the biggest plan for building for California?s future since the era of legendary Democratic Governor Pat Brown, so that is a name you will hear often."

Do we need infrastructure?  Yes.  Is there anybody, with a straight face that would claim rent control (theft of property by regulatory taking) and affordable or farm worker housing for illegal aliens is infrastructure?

Again, from the Bee, this is what Senator McClintock said:

"State Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, signaled there nevertheless will be some high-profile opposition.

McClintock, the leading Republican candidate for the lieutenant governor nomination and whose support of Schwarzenegger helped the governor with GOP conservatives earlier this year, only supported the flood protection bond and voted against the other three.

"My main concern is that much of those three bonds is for equipment, maintenance and social programs that are going to be obsolete before the bonds are paid off by our children," McClintock said, adding that he isn't planning on campaigning against them but that "I'll be offering my opinion from time to time."

But, even he will not campaign against them.

What did the people of California get out of this?

Bonds that will pass
Out of the $19 billion in transportation bonds (fully half of the total in bonds) $4 billion will be used for "mass transit".  $15 billion will actually be used to fix our roads and help unclog congestion.
A stronger stranglehold on the wages of the California taxpayer by the unions
Lots of lawsuits by environmental radicals
A massive debt that will stop all other needed projects in California for 20 years--or we can raise taxes.
More magnets to bring illegal aliens to California and to make life better for them (and more costly for honest citizens)

The GOP'ers, at a minimum could have said, "You will not get our votes for the bonds unless rent control and affordable housing is taken out of the package."  That could have been easy--the Governor needs these bonds, the Democrats need these bonds--so why not get a little something?  Instead, the GOP got rolled.

Dan Walters also believes we did not get a complete deal.  Worse, if you read his words careful, you will note that we are guaranteed, in the future, tax increases.  Whether they are directly for the infrastructure, or for the government services we can't pay for since we will have this new massive debt, taxes will be increased--just that Schwarzenegger and many of the current legislators won't be in office to take the responsibility for the economic mess.  We start in 2007 with, at current interest rates, paying $70 million in interest charges (what gets cut from the budget to pay for that?).  In 2013-14--seven years from now the interest charges, alone, will be $2.47 billion--imagine the cuts in services then--or the tax increases.

Dan said this, "It ignores such pressing needs as water storage while adding to the state's already immense general obligation debt without imposing much-needed revenues to offset the cost, such as higher gas taxes or flood control fees.

It is, in other words, a down payment with borrowed money, not the miraculous panacea that it will be depicted as being." http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14252671p-15068729c.html

The affect of this, as the recent Fleischman commentary ( http://www.flashreport.org/commentary0b.php?showMonth=20060506&postID=2006050612475408 ) notes, Jon is struggling with his support of the GOP this November.  Imagine, someone who has given so much time and effort, someone who understands how politics and public policy works, is struggling about how active his support of the GOP will be this election, how do you expect the activist on the street to understand and spend time electing Republicans? 

Jon wrote, "There was a time when conservatives could champion candidates and causes that matched the rhetoric of individual liberty, freedom, and opportunity with policy goals that matched them. 
 
Now I am wondering what or who to be FOR in the coming elections.  Especially when Republicans seem intent on campaigning on a theme of "what government can do for you" that would make Ronald Reagan angry." 

With all of this said, let us not underestimate the need for road repair and the unclogging of our freeways, levee repair or replacement, water storage (which we will NOT get from this deal, so lack of water was not addressed) repair of schools (we don't need new schools in most areas if we enforced our immigration laws) and expansion of our emergency rooms and trauma centers (which might not be needed if we could control our borders).  These needs can be paid for by public-private investments, revenue bonds, re-ordering our budget priorities, control of our borders and other means short of adding massive debt to the backs of the middle class and the poor of California. (Tomorrow I will present a positive plan for the Governor to use to end most employment of illegal aliens in the state without a single new law and without a single deportation)

Again, where is the Governor's GOP agenda.  Even if he wins, and we need him to win, what has the GOP won?  A Democrat agenda?

I ask those who read this article to go to my blog and answer this question:

DOES THE PASSAGE OF THESE BONDS MAKE YOU WANT TO WORK HARDER OR LESS FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY THIS NOVEMBER?

[Amerigomag]

A suggestion for the Dilbert San Diego account.

1) Review the California threads starting to April 2003.
2) Take a moment to review the California constitution, with a eye toward understanding legislative procedures that tax or encumber.
3) Study the broad definitions of both social and fiscal liberalism. Using this new knowledge, make a reference list for personal use, classifying each, state wide office holder based on their historic, political actions.

Good luck to you Dilbert and welcome to the California Topic on FreeRepublic.

[calcowgirl]

"Fabian and I got the Proposition 42 people (advocates of spending the gas tax only on transportation projects) and CTA (California Teachers Association) together on a compromise," says Perata. That was necessary to head off a ballot measure about to be filed that would have blocked using that money for any other purpose in perpetuity. The compromise allows borrowing from those funds during times of budgetary crisis, but on a much more limited basis."

This bill was SCA 7, a constitutional amendment that will be offered as Proposition 1A on the ballot. It is almost toothless!

This measure would authorize a suspension, in whole or in part, of the
transfer of these revenues to the TIF for a fiscal year if (1) the
Governor issues a proclamation that the suspension is necessary due
to a severe state fiscal hardship, (2) a statute containing no other
unrelated provision is enacted by a 2/3 vote of each house of the
Legislature suspending the transfer, and (3) a statute is enacted to
repay, with interest, the TIF within 3 years for the amount of any
revenues that were not transferred as a result of the suspension.

In other words, it can be suspended any old day in Sacramento.

[Liz]

Time to play hardball with government officials and public employees. Elected officials, and government employees who handle the public purse, are subject to a higher standard of law than ordinary citizens. They serve under stricter rules, and must abide by specific laws:

ESTABLISHED FACT

Every elected and appointed government official, and government employee---in their capacity as fiduciaries of public monies---are required, by law, to be bonded by state bonding insurance carriers. The express purpose of bonding government officials and employees is to protect the public's money. Each state sets their own regulations, and selects a bonding insurance carrier.

Public entities that mandate bonding include: Municipalities, counties, townships (government employees of school districts, licensing agencies, and the like), ambulance districts, volunteer fire departments, community college districts, public universities, transit authorities, landfills, sewage treatment facilities, public works maintenance facilities, airports.

IMPACT

Taxpayers' concerns center on instances when elected and appointed public officials use government agencies fraudulently, misuse tax dollars to allow illegals to get government benefits and school subsidies, voting rights, auto licenses, building permits, welfare, food stamps, health care, and other government benefits, and the like using false documenation. These are examples of fiduciary negligence by a bonded government employee, and would violate the state's bonding regulations, and the carrier's bonding requirements.

SUMMATION

MISUSING THE PUBLIC ASSETS OF GOVERNMENT---ALLOWING ILLEGAL ALIENS TO USE FRAUDULENT DOCUMENTATION TO OBTAIN SCHOOL SUBSIDIES, GOVERNMENT BENEFITS, DRIVERS' LICENSES, VOTING RIGHTS IS FIDUCIARY NEGLIGENCE BY A BONDED GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL. GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES WHO MISUSE PUBLIC AGENCIES AND PUBLIC FUNDS WOULD INCUR FINES OR IMPRISONMENT UNDER BONDING RULES.

FOLLOW-UP (what to look for)

Now, if a bonded government employee OR ELECTED OFFICIAL had previous financial problems---perhaps a bankruptcy or a job loss for financial improprieties, etc, that would preclude bonding---and if they failed to reveal the info to bonding agents, that would subject them to legal penalties for filing false applications.

Public officials with past financial problems who do not qualify for bonding would have to be tossed out of office.

If it is determined a public official failed to apply for bond coverage, he/she has broken the law, and is subject to an actionable offense.

Now, say government funds were stolen and the public official had failed to get bond coverage; the state would have no way to recover that money other than restitution through a criminal prosecution.

Public officials who lied on bonding applications might be subjected to fines or imprisonment.

[TheOracleAtLilac]

Having Arnold as Calif. governor is kinda like having Murphy as San Diego mayor
>>>> the rate of decline slows ever so slightly

California need a governor like the mayor San Diego just elected.
someone who'll effect positive change not hang 'round & smile like a Cheshire cat or collaborate w/ the enemy!

[calcowgirl]

So what is the calculation? No more than 25% of every dollar spent actually goes for the project - the rest is spent on environmental impact studies and "species relocation" efforts?

Oh, it's worse than that! First you have to sift out the parks, the open space, the retrofitting of buses, the womens' shelters, farmworker housing, etc. After you've done all that, you find about 25% for infrastructure. Now, start widdling that down for environmental impacts, species relocation, and you might find some money to actually build some Infrastructure

From SB 1689, the Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006 (This is what you will see on the Ballot for Proposition 1C)

   SEC. 6.    (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, all ballots of the November 7, 2006, statewide general election
shall have printed thereon and in a square thereof, exclusively, the
words: "Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006" and in
the same square under those words, the following in 8-point type:
"For the purpose of providing shelters for battered women and their
children, clean and safe housing for low-income senior citizens;
homeownership assistance for the disabled, military veterans, and
working families; and repairs and accessibility improvements to
apartment for families and disabled citizens, the state shall issue
bonds totaling two billion eight hundred fifty thousand dollars
($2,850,000,000) paid from existing state funds at an average annual
cost of ______ dollars ($_____) per year over the _____ year life of
the bonds. Requires reporting and publication of annual independent
audited reports showing use of funds, and limits administration and
overhead costs. (The Attorney General shall fill in the blanks in
this subdivision with the figures provided by the Legislative Analyst
for the annual average cost of the bonds and the number of years
required to retire the bonds.)"  

[45Auto]

The California political situation is hopeless; my prediction : If Arnie is re-elected, then sometime in 2007 he will sign a faggot marriage bill. As a lame duck, why should he try to hide the fact that he is a flaming liberal? With all his money, why should he care if the California taxpayer carries an even heavier burder?

[45Auto]

Just who are you going to get to arrest these miscreants? Certainly not the RAT AG. He's part of the problem. But he will act if you deny "equal rights" for homosexuals. Or if you try to "discriminate" against illegals. Or if you try to dry up a mosquito infested pond on your property. But crimes by government? Ha! I see Perata has yet to be indicted. The most respected members of the Cal legislature are the ones "who got away with it." It's only "a culture of corruption" if a Repubo does it.

[ElkGroveDan]

Why not vote for Arnold, though he's liberal as Republicans go, so he can be there to veto far out things like gay marriage and gay textbooks?

Well for starters he'll probably veto those bills BEFORE the election and then sign them after he gets re-elected. This guy is an at-heart liberal. Make no mistake about it.

[Hildy]

HOMOSEXUAL HISTORY? ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME?

[Beckwith]

So the California Republican party is a joke.

It's not just California, partner.

[Liz]

ON THE BALLOT The $37.3 billion public works bond package includes: * $19.9 billion for transportation projects * $10.4 billion for university and school construction and remodeling * $4.1 billion for flood protection * $2.9 billion for housing and parks * The plan calls for the bonds to be paid off over 30 years starting in 2007-08 Paid for with General Obligation bonds, not Revenue bonds.

=============================================

FREEPER ACTIVISM Reporting Fiduciary negligience. If the bonding agents for tax-exempt transportation and highways, infrastructures. municipal school bonding, utilities bonding, and the like, are aiding and abetting illegals activities, and misusing tax-exempt bonding, they are violating their fiduciary responsibility and could be subject to fines and imprisonment. The SEC should be advised of your concerns. EMAIL enforcement@SEC.gov.

FREEPER ACTIVISM: Most bonding agents conducting state business are fiduciaries and registered broker-dealers and members of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). Violations of fiduciary responsibility occur if they choose to ignore blatant felonious activity by illegals. They could be held liable. NASD and SIPC should also be contacted regarding your concerns about illegals activity.

FREEPER ACTIVISM: Banks are engaged in fiduciary negligence by doing business with states that are aiding and abetting wrongdoing, and violating their fiduciary responsibility if they choose to ignore blatant felonious activity. As fiduciaries, the banks are violating state and federal banking laws, and could be held liable for jeopardizing the financial interests of bank patrons, shareholders, and depositors. The banks should be reported as follows:

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is the primary federal regulator for national banks. The OCC's Customer Assistance Group is available to assist customers with questions or complaints concerning national banks. Email Customer.Assistance@occ.treas.gov. Phone OCC Customer Assistance Specialists by calling toll free number, 1-800-613-6743, Monday-Thursday, 9-4, and Friday 9-3.

FREEPER ACTIVISM: And of course, the IRS in your area should be advised of all violations of tax-exempt state funds.

FREEPER ACTIVISM: If states and banks misused the sanctioning power of the FDIC in improper ways, to engage in illegal activity with government funds, that should also be pursued with the FDIC.

FREEPER ACTIVISM: If duly elected federal, state, county and municipal officials are using the power of governemnt to aid and abet ILLEGALS to break the law, to obtain the unlawful right to vote, and if elected and appointed officals did, in fact, allow illegals to break the law to serve on municipal councils, and if illegals are making monetary (taxing) decisions for U.S. citizens, this might be a violation of the Hobbs Act.

If elected and appointed officials took campaign contributions from said illegals, this could be characterized as extortion, and/or bribery, and a violation of the Hobbs Act.

The Hobbs Act was used recently to nail four Tenn state legislators and their aides in an extortion scheme. The TENN groups was arrested under the federal Hobbs Act, charging extortion, conspiracy to extort and attempted extortion, and accepting bribes by an agent of the state. The Hobbs Act covers extortion by public officials, as follows: 2403 Hobbs Act -- Extortion By Force, Violence, or Fear

SOURCE October 1997 Criminal Resource Manual 2403 http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm02403.htm

9-131.000 THE HOBBS ACT -- 18 U.S.C. § 1951
9-131.020 Investigative and Supervisory Jurisdiction Primary investigative jurisdiction of offenses in 18 U.S.C. § 1951 lies with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Inspector General's Office of Investigations, Division of Labor Racketeering (formerly the Office of Labor Racketeering), United States Department of Labor, is also authorized to investigate violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1951 in labor-management disputes involving the extortion of property from employers by reason of authority conferred on investigators as Special Deputy United States Marshals.

Supervisory jurisdiction over 18 U.S.C. § 1951 is exercised by the following offices with respect to the offenses noted:

1. Extortion under color of official right or extortion by a public official through misuse of his/her office is supervised by the Public Integrity Section, Criminal Division.

2. Extortion and robbery in labor-management disputes is supervised by the Labor-Management Unit of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, Criminal Division.

3. All other extortion and robbery offenses not involving public officials or labor-management disputes are supervised by the Terrorism and Violent Crimes Section, Criminal Division.

[Liz]

Public employees on the government payroll, and their co-conspirators, may have committed actionable offenses under Penal Law .135.60 COERCION IN THE SECOND DEGREE (a Class A misdemeanor).

PENAL LAW 135.60 (Committed on or after September 1, 1967) is Coercion in the Second Degree. When an individual uses or abuses his/her position as a public servant by performing some act within or related to his or her official duties, or by failing or refusing to perform an official duty, in such manner as to affect some person adversely. Perform any (other) act which would not in itself materially benefit the actor but which is calculated to harm another person materially with respect to his or her health, safety, business, calling, career, financial condition, reputation or personal relationships.

The term(s), ("crime"), ("public servant") used in this definition has its own special meaning in our law. PUBLIC SERVANT means any public officer or employee of the state or of any political subdivision thereof or of any governmental instrumentality within the state, or any person exercising the functions of any such public officer or employee. The term public servant includes a person who has been elected or designated to become a public servant. CRIME means a misdemeanor or a felony.

[Liz]

Just who are you going to get to arrest these miscreants? Certainly not the RAT AG. He's part of the problem.

---

Try to exercise critical thinking here.

I specifically recommend you avoid politicans and political types.

I PURPOSEFULLY DID NOT mention contacting your state AG.

DO NOT CONTACT, OR TALK TO POLITICIANS,ABOUT THESE CONCERNS (THEY WILL SIMPLY COVERUP EVIDENCE).

[calcowgirl]

I appreciate the intent of your posts, but these puppies are just being put on the ballot. Some of the legislation has not yet even been published on the State website so we know what it says (The Toll Road bill for example). It will probably be a year before we can even figure out where and how they are even proposing to expend the dollars, let alone actually spent them. Until that time, the implied misdeeds, or even planned misdeeds, cannot be identified for which you are urging activism.

As such, our first PRIORITY of activism should be to DEFEAT THIS GARBAGE ON THE BALLOT. If that fails, then I would wholeheartedly endorse exposing the inevitable misdeeds that will be done with $37 Billion dollars as they become identifiable.

[Liz]

Keep in mind that the power of this initiative does not depend entirely on enforcement............


.........but letting the word get out that WE know the ins and outs and that we are prepared to act if and when it becomes necessary.


In summation, these suckers are going to know we will not tolerate them walking all over our rights.

This is our government and we intend to preserve it.

[Liz]

.....Some of the legislation has not yet even been published on the State website so we know what it says (The Toll Road bill for example). It will probably be a year before we can even figure out where and how they are even proposing to expend the dollars, let alone actually spent them....

Oh please, this is not the first tax-exempt bond initiative these people have constructed. Far from it. You are better off looking at what's already been passed b/c dollars to donuts the tax-exempt money the state raised was misused. A little research and you can dig up all the facts and figures you need to nail them but good.

[calcowgirl]

In summation, these suckers are going to know we will not tolerate them walking all over our rights.
This is our government and we intend to preserve it.

I'll second that!

[calcowgirl]

You are better off looking at what's already been passed b/c dollars to donuts the tax-exempt money the state raised was misused. A little research and you can dig up all the facts and figures you need to nail them but good.

I don't disagree that there are OTHER misdeeds to look into. I just didn't see that as appropriate use of THIS thread. There are some current pressing actions necessary to defeat the largest monstrosity of all time in California.

[Amerigomag]

This guy is an at-heart liberal. Make no mistake about it.

Amen Dan.

Check out the last paragraph of Bill Bradley's analysis this afternoon. It begins with ** ANTI-ARNOLD DEMOCRATS ARE REALLY STRUGGLING WITH WHAT IS HAPPENING.

The Austrian is so Democrat that he has apparently flummoxed the partisan, Democrat strategists. Even Schmidt will probably stop pushing the comparison test on the California Topic until after the primary.

[ketelone]

The measures for the most part seem positive and waht the people of california want. The fact that illegals are usurping the benefits of these well founded programmes, is not Arnolds fault. That needs to be addressed at a national level.