Tuesday's Defeat - The Senator's thoughts on the special election..Tom McClintock

CaliforniaRepublic.org ^ | 11/14/05 | Tom McClintock

[b9]

Good to see you, Hildy.
Aren't you just soooo missing CA? ";^)

[afnamvet]

Hilarious indeed, Sierra Wasp. ; )

[SierraWasp]

Who were those unhinged Republican Senators taking their cue from, today? Have they forgotten they are Americans first and taken up this artsey fartsey partisan getcha gotcha legislating to embarass the 18 Senators who haven't yet forgotten why they were sent to Washington and had to vote against these gutless wonders???

If this is Republicanism, I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever rejoin the Party of my mis-spent youth!!!

[Hildy]

Hi there!!! I'm not missing CA one bit, but I am missing all the people...like yourself. What's going on with you?

[Dog Gone]

I think there's something in the DC water that causes insanity. Maybe if the Senators would return home occasionally and drink the local stuff it would make a difference.

I'm not sure.

[editor-surveyor]

"What a hilarious thread this has been..."

Well waspman, you always did have a better sense of humor...

(and that's only cuz mom liked you better)

[editor-surveyor]

"Who were those unhinged Republican Senators taking their cue from, today?"

John McLame has always been a bitter, vindictive rattlesnake; just hold your breath and watch the show.

[Amerigomag]

I'm using this thread to comment on your message since it was your first reply after you glanced at Coleman's website.

If you take the time to go over the issues that Coleman presents, you'll understand why it is bewildering for a freshman Assemblyman, Senator or Governor to be thrust into budgeting at a state level. California's financial codes are a complex web of legacy legislation that has been building since the 1930s.

If you're familiar with computer programing you can better appreciate California's tax codes by comparing them to Microsoft's operating systems which today are riddled with flaws because they've followed the same pattern of protecting legacy policies. Both Gates as a businessman, and California as a state, have been unwilling to endure the cost/pain of completely rewriting their codes from scratch. Both, instead, keep amending existing code as a cost saving expedient.

I'll offer a simple example if you'll bear with me:

Schwarzenegger and his campaign staff probably didn't realize when they hopped on the populist bandwagon to reinstate the VLF subsidy that, in addition to the immediate $4B annual loss in revenue to the state they understood, they also created an additional $2+B drain on the General Fund because the VLF is a property tax which the state has to return to local governments in accordance with an old formula. Before team Schwarzenegger realized their error they were sued by local governments and forced to return the money.

To this day, most newspapers and Schwarzenegger's political opposition, out of the same ignorance, keep referring to his decision as a $4B annual shortfall when, in fact, it's closer to $7B when viewed from the state's perspective. $4B the state didn't collect in revenue from motor vehicle owners and almost $3B the state owes to local governments because local governments are still entitled to their share of the now "phantom", 2% property tax which was never repealed. The combined sum nearly equals the current budget's "structural deficit".

[calcowgirl]

Thanks! It appears you were already familiar with the website. I found the piece outlining all of the local tax increases informative. While the state pinched $ from local governments, local governments just pinch more from taxpayers through local initiatives.

One big shell game (all of it taking more $ from taxpayers pockets).

Votes on Local Taxes November 2005.
A summary of local measures November, 2005. (PDF)
http://www.californiacityfinance.com/Votes0511summary.pdf