Free Republic

The same year California power broker Gerald Parsky hired placement agent Alfred Villalobos to win business deals from CalPERS, Villalobos organized a nonprofit company in Nevada that listed Parsky as its president. But Villalobos – a former CalPERS board member now at the center of an investigation into possible influence peddling – now says Parsky wasn't an officer with the Nevada company. In papers filed with the Nevada secretary of state, Villalobos said Parsky was mistakenly listed as president of the Capital Markets Advisory Council, which was founded in 2005. Its incorporation papers described Capital Markets as a think tank...

Could the flat tax come to California? Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today that he would like to see such “radical” proposals come out of a commission now studying an overhaul of the state’s tax system. The governor told the editorial board of the Sacramento Bee that he hoped the commission would not be afraid to propose something like “a 15% straight tax.” “That’s the kind of radical, daring kind of a proposal that I want to see on the table so we can look at it and say, ‘Oh, let’s study this, maybe that is the way to go,’ ”...

The subject of Arnold Schwarzenegger bores me. I wrote ceaseless columns on this site warning Republicans and conservatives that he would govern as a liberal and operate as a Trojan Horse for the Dems. During an appearance on the now-defunct CNN show Inside Politics, I said that he could become "the Jim Jeffords of the West Coast." For my troubles, I was dismissed as an out-of-touch, maniacal, abortion-obsessed pinhead. Now to hear the same country-club Republican jackasses who sabotaged Tom McClintock and parachuted Arnie into office whine about his liberal legacy is just boring. You made this slipshod bed; lie...

The state's perpetual budget crisis and the appointment of a commission to recommend changes in the state-local tax system have re-ignited a debate over property taxes that seemingly ended 31 years ago with passage of Proposition 13. The landmark 1978 measure imposed a tight limit on property taxes, which previously had been the chief support for schools and local governments, and had the indirect effect of shifting much of that burden, especially for education, to the state. Loosening Proposition 13 in some fashion would provide more money for local services and schools, ease the burden on the state and thus...

AN OPEN LETTER TO GERALD PARSKY, CHAIRMAN, CALIFORNIA COMMISSION ON THE 21ST CENTURY ECONOMY - SPLIT COMMERCIAL/RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY TAX ROLL UNDER PROPOSITION 13 April 13, 2009 The Honorable Gerald Parsky, Chairman Commission on the 21st Century Economy C/O Mark Ibele, PhD, Staff Director http://www.cotce.ca.gov/ Re: California Prop 13 Split Property Tax Roll Dear Chairman Parsky: I read with consternation that the Commission for the 21st Century has convened with the apparent agenda to undo the protections of Proposition 13 for commercial properties in California - http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/apr/09/tax-panel-promises-to-think-boldly/ A split commercial/residential property tax roll would spell personal and financial ruination for me...

AN OPEN LETTER TO GERALD PARSKY, CHAIRMAN, CALIFORNIA COMMISSION ON THE 21ST CENTURY ECONOMY April 13, 2009 The Honorable Gerald Parsky, Chairman Commission on the 21st Century Economy C/O Mark Ibele, PhD, Staff Director http://www.cotce.ca.gov/ Re: Split Property Tax Roll – State of California Dear Chairman Parsky: I read with consternation that the Commission for the 21st Century has convened with the apparent agenda to undo the protections of Proposition 13 for commercial properties in California - http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/apr/09/tax-panel-promises-to-think-boldly/ A split commercial/residential property tax roll would spell personal and financial ruination for me and many other small commercial property owners across...

DAVIS — The commission charged with recommending an overhaul of California’s tax system cautiously placed a toe on the third rail of state politics on Thursday, opening discussion of possible changes in property taxes and Proposition 13. “This commission does not just want to discuss easy issues. We’re going to discuss the property tax,” said Gerald Parsky, chairman of the Commission on the 21st Century Economy. The panel, created by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders, has been asked to recommend changes in state tax policy in order to stabilize government revenues and align the tax system in an economy...

It seemed appropriate that a panel examining ways to overhaul the state's tax structure met Thursday in the academic confines of UC Davis rather than the politically charged Capitol. The discussion focused on the theoretical, from examining the merits of a flat income tax to considering a "split-roll" property tax system that treats commercial businesses differently from homeowners. The daylong meeting occurred largely in a political vacuum, for now ignoring the difficulty of getting such ideas through a divided state Legislature where special interests hold great sway. But Chairman Gerald Parsky said the state's current fiscal woes may allow for...

As state budgeters look toward another multi-billion dollar budget deficit this summer, attorneys for the Legislature and Gov. Schwarzenegger have issued a new opinion reaffirming the legality of a plan passed by Democrats last December that raised revenues without requiring a two-thirds vote. The March 9 opinion from Legislative Counsel Diane Boyer-Vine, addressed to Gov. Schwarzenegger, reaffirms a 2003 opinion by her office that finds a bill that raises one tax and lowers another by an equal or greater amount only needs simple majority votes in each legislative house. “We think that a tax bill is not subject to the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger established a new state commission Thursday to overhaul the state's tax structure after facing significant volatility tied to stock market losses that already have hamstrung this year's budget. The Republican governor, joined in Los Angeles by Democratic Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, blamed the state's latest budget problem on a tax system that relies on the top 1 percent of earners to pay a significant share of revenues. He said changes are necessary to even out the state's revenues over time to stabilize funding for state programs. Schwarzenegger did not specify exactly what types of different taxes he...

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, said Monday that Gerald Parksy, a longtime Republican political figure, will chair the tax commission she and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger formed in late October. The commission, according to the executive order Schwarzenegger signed, will release a report on how to modernize California's tax structure on April 15, 2009. The commission has gotten off to a slow start, however. On October 30, Schwarzenegger said, "Speaker Bass and the Senate President pro Tem and I will name 12 commission members in time for them to begin their work in November." But as of yet no one...

LOL. There was another article this weekend about big donor GOP liberals worried that the party was too right wing and demanding changes in the structure etc.... This story comes around every so often, usually because someone is trying to benefit financially or politically from the effort. Sometimes both. These articles always make me laugh. Why? Because it is all fantasy. The State GOP central Committee is not controlled by conservatives and hasn't been for the over 15 years I've been an actual member. I should point out I've been a member of the Executive Committee of the CRP for...

Tomorrow Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee investigating the U.S. attorneys matter. Sampson’s appearance comes a few days after word that another top Justice Department aide, Monica Goodling, has informed the committee that she will take the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination if she is called to testify. In a statement, Goodling’s lawyer blasted committee Democrats, charging that chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy and others “have already publicly drawn conclusions about the conduct under investigation. The most incendiary charge leveled by Democrats, and particularly by committee member Sen. Charles...

Sacramento -- Two appointees tapped by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to study ways to rein in public pension costs receive income from firms that invest $750 million annually for the California Public Employees' Retirement System, business ties that some say could call the panel's independence into doubt. Gerald Parsky, the former head of the state Republican Party, is a partner in a Los Angeles firm, Aurora Capital Partners, which invests $150 million for CalPERS. Schwarzenegger appointed him chairman of a 12-member commission responsible for recommending ways to overhaul public pension systems, ... Commission member Matt Barger is a senior adviser at...

John McCain's presidential campaign picked up support Friday from a prominent California Republican with ties to the White House - Gerald Parsky, who chaired President Bush's campaigns in the state in 2000 and 2004. Parsky, a Los Angeles financier and fundraiser, will serve as an economic policy adviser for the Arizona senator's campaign. McCain's political team already includes an array of politically influential figures, including Donald Bren, chairman of The Irvine Co., Univision chief A. Jerrold Perenchio, and Orange County investor George Argyros, a former ambassador to Spain appointed by Bush. John Chambers, the chairman and chief executive of technology...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders Tuesday announced appointments to a commission that will report on how the state and local governments can meet the costs of providing pensions and health care to retired public employees. Gerald Parsky, an investment executive and former chair of the University of California Board of Regents, will head the 12-member panel, the Governor's Office said. The governor's other appointees, all Republicans, will join union leaders and pension experts appointed by Democratic legislative leaders. Schwarzenegger's Finance Department estimates the state would need to invest an additional $44 billion to meet its pension obligations to all...

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California's regents took further steps Thursday to try to resolve its long-running controversy over executive compensation, in many cases by giving retroactive approvals for deals previously granted without the required board signoff or disclosure. The corrective actions came in response to several audits last spring that detailed scores of instances in which UC leaders had failed to follow their own policies in granting additional pay or benefits to top managers. In most, the extras were provided without explicit regent approval. Those audits followed media reports that the university system had given millions in bonuses,...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday he intends to appoint former Republican Congressman James Rogan to a judgeship in the Orange Superior Court on Oct. 1. Representing Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena and neighboring areas in Congress from 1996 to 2000, Rogan was one of the House managers in the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton, but lost a heavily contested race in 2000 to Schiff. Schwarzenegger also named San Diego attorney Carolyn M. Caietti and Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura H. Parsky to judgeships in the San Diego Superior Court, tapped Santa Barbara County Senior Deputy District Attorney Edward Bullard for a...

The University of California's Board of Regents created three high-ranking jobs to supervise the system's troubled finances Thursday, the same day it agreed to let about 60 top executives keep some $1 million in extra compensation they weren't supposed to get. The regents retroactively approved the raises and other perks, most of which audits had revealed were obtained by the president's office without going through the proper channels. Three separate audits - performed by the Bureau of State Audits, an outside firm and the university's internal auditor - were launched after the San Francisco Chronicle reported that executives were getting...

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California has awarded $702 million in low-interest home loans to executives, faculty and staffers, including some to employees who did not qualify under university policy. There are nearly 2,000 active university-issued loans, most carrying interest rates of 3% to 4%, but some with much lower rates, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday. Officials with the 10-campus system refused to reveal who received the money, citing employee confidentiality. But they released some details, including an unidentified UC Berkeley professor who was given a $250,000 home loan with an interest rate of 0.5% a year. An...