Posted on 11/20/2008 11:17:54 AM PST by goldstategop
Mr. Villines opposes that sales-tax increase or any other tax boost. His reasoning is that higher taxes will weaken the economy further, because people will have less money to spend on goods and other services. The problem, he says, is spending. As an example, he cites the states' public schools, which keep getting more money each year, even as enrollment is declining in K-12 grades. "There is not a revenue problem in California," he says. "There is a spending problem."
Mr. Villines's views are crucial because he has emerged as perhaps the most influential Republican legislator. Unlike his counterpart in the state Senate, who is leaving office at the end of the year due to term limits, Mr. Villines has two more years in office. He also controls a much bigger caucus than the Senate's, and was re-elected minority leader by a unanimous vote. "What keeps us together is the knowledge that, if we are not together, we will not be able to push our agenda," says Roger Niello, a Republican legislator from Sacramento.
Mr. Villines, a 41-year-old former public-relations executive from a conservative Fresno district, can be dramatic about making his opinions known. He strode into a meeting with Gov. Schwarzenegger and other statehouse leaders on Nov. 10 and handed them copies of a book entitled "The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy -- If We Let It Happen."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
...the taxes are going to pass anyway.
shrug.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Hey Mike, show me something and publish a DETAILED summary of California’s annual expenditures directed to welfare and other services to illegal aliens. Compare that spending to the other state expenditures. Simply have enough guts to do that, and you will have all the support you need to hold the line on tax increases. Some Republican, ANY Republican, please step forward with a show of fortitude.
Ditto on illegals in state prisons. Best data I have is that there are something like 19000 of them in California prisons. Times $50k per prisoner (my estimate) that’s a billion dollars, not including court costs. Schools? $1.75 billion to educate illegals ($5K/yr times 350000). Benefits of getting American citizens off the dole and into paying jobs - priceless. And yes, get rid of welfare, and Americans will do the work. Those of us who grew up here, and picked fruit, drove trucks, mowed lawns etc. knew that already.
Glad that he is the assemblyman from my district. Unhappy that there aren’t more like him.
That's our guy! I need to call his office and thank him!
A fellow Fresnan!
What’s Mike think of running for governor?
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