Category: Politics

It’s no great surprise to me—especially in a state that in now governed by one political party—that taxpayer money is being spent to try to raise taxes. Last week, a coordinated campaign flyer was sent throughout Sacramento County to promote passage of Measure B—the sales tax increase for transportation.

Depending on where you live, it was paid for by various local governments. In the Rosemont area, it was paid for by the County of Sacramento. Where I live, it was paid for by the City of Elk Grove. I’m trying to get information on which other local governments were part of this coordinated effort. I’m sure Rancho Cordova and Citrus Heights were in on it too. The flyer is made by the same publisher with some tweaks to target various parts of the county.

Besides being paid for with taxpayer money, the flyers did not have any campaign identification on them. The required committee disclosures and I.D. numbers were not on them. The flyer clearly promoted passage of the tax increase and directed people to the yes on B website.

So why is that a big deal you might ask? Because they were sent not on the basis of utility bills or tax rolls or other relationships to local government, they were sent to registered voters.

My proof is simply. The flyer sent to my house was not sent to my wife and me. All county and city utilities are in our name except for the one that is in the name of my deceased mother-in-law. No, the flyer was sent to my adult stepchildren. Their only tie to our house is voter registration.  My stepson is in the Air Force and lives outside of California. The only government records with his name and our address on them is his voter registration. My stepdaughter’s only government records with her name on them are one motor vehicle, and her voter registration. No insurance, cell phones, utilities or anything else is in their names now or at any time in the past.

Voter registration records can legally only be used for political purposes.

Therefore for a political flyer to be sent to registered voters without being reported as a political expenditure is a clear violation of campaign finance law.

So we have two violations of the law in play:
1. Taxpayer money used to pay for a political mailer that is not identified as such
2. The flyer is sent to people on the basis of being registered voters

This is the second time that I am aware that the City of Elk Grove has funded a political flyer in favor of the tax increase. Clearly the elected officials at city hall are either in on this abuse of taxpayer money or not minding the store; either way is not good for citizens or the rule of law.

I’m encouraging the Sith Lord to file a formal complaint with the Fair Political Practices Committee (FPPC). Any action they take—which is a questionable proposition—would be long after the election in November. However, it might be grounds to get the tax increase challenged in court should it pass.

At the insistence of my wife, I had to sit thru the presidential debate last night.

My first impression was that Lester Holt is a dolt. He was so in the tank for Hillary—yes, unlike Democrats, I can spell her name correctly.

Lester was not evenhanded in his treatment of the candidates and intervened whenever Trump starting pressing Clinton on issues. Whenever the audience would applaud Trump, he would scold them but said nothing when Clinton supporters became vocal or would applaud. His questions were heavily slanted to the Left and never probed into Clinton’s failures. Trump had two opponents on the stage last night.

I was disappointed that Trump did not press Clinton on Benghazi, the Clinton Foundation, and all the foreign money that she is taking from the Islamic world.  Trump also did not press the fact that one in five households has no one working and there are 95 million people out of the workforce under the economy of Obama.

What I must remember is that Trump was not there for my benefit, he was there to “look presidential” to the low information voters in a few swing states.  If he can win the hearts and minds of these people that haven’t paid attention to politics until now, then he just might win.

If I was to score the debate on points, Trump won but not outright. Holt largely kept away from Clinton’s weaknesses and kept attacking Trump using her talking points.

I hope that next time Trump will better explain his economic ideas. His target audience is a bunch of economic illiterates that don’t understand that “the rich” pay most of the taxes in this country and our tax policies are punitive toward success and risk taking. Trump let Clinton get away with repeating the myth that that government creates jobs—no she didn’t use those exact words but if you look at the definition of what she said, that is what it means.

Debating Clinton presents so many potential targets that it’s understandable that Trump let some opportunities get past him. Trump was solid on the race trap that Holt tried to set and did well explaining his opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. Trump also did well deflecting the Media Matters type attacks that Clinton tried to hit him with towards the end. Trump does use satire and exaggeration and when Clinton tries to take him literally and hit him with it, she looks stupid.

I think Clinton blew her wad last night and is out of ammo for the next round but Trump is just warming-up. Voting in many states will be underway before the next debate and Trump has momentum.

I received an email yesterday that concerns Measure M in Placer County. Coincidently, it is also a sales tax increase to fund transportation just like the one in Sacramento County.  The old saying about following the money appears validated again.

I have analyzed the financial support for Measure M with Placer County so far and found the following from the main committee filings.  Numbers are below.  This leads me to the conclusion that developers have great hope of being subsidized by this tax increase.  When some groups have put out $40-49k this early in the election, how many millions in tax breaks are they expecting, if this is approved?  There are zero individual, concerned citizens who have donated to this measure.  93% of the donations are from the development industry and the rest are from the Roseville Chamber PAC, which arguably has a significant number of developers in it.  In addition, Uhler’s phony League of Placer County Taxpayers (more developers) has been involved with robocall surveys to neighbors to support the measure.  How is a tax increase in the interest of taxpayers!!!????  We need to get the word out to the community about who really supports this and why:
Heavenly Valley LLC——————$1k
Blackburn Consulting—————-$3k
Roseville Chamber PAC———-$10k
Westpark MPC5 LLC—————-$49k
Placer Vineyards———————$40k
Richland Developers—————$40k
Y & C Transportation—————-$2.5k
Total Contributions =  $145.5k

The contents of the email appear to be spot-on in their analysis.

See campaign financial disclosure for measure M
Link: campaign Financial Disclosure forms

Ballot arguments can be found here
Link: Ballot Arguments

Here is a syllogism that should be in play in public discourse now and the fact that it’s not should worry some folks.

Given #1: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was the most transformative President of the 20th Century. He expanded government more than any President in history. He is the modern idol of Liberal Democrats and Socialists in America.

Given #2: FDR was a man who suffered a debilitating disease and persevered to lead America thru the Great Depression and The Big War. Liberals often hold him up as a role model for handicapped people—except folks with Downs Syndrome which they universally wish to abort as soon as the amniocentesis test results are in.

Given #3: Hillary Clinton has some sort of disease that is making people think she can’t be President.

Given these three facts, why don’t we hear: Roosevelt was the greatest president and was battling the ravages of disease and Hillary is battling a ravaging disease and can be a great president too.

Oh, wait. Nobody is making this claim.

Given the Democrat’s universal reverence for FDR and his legacy, why isn’t Clinton embracing her health issues and claiming that she is the female Roosevelt?

Why doesn’t she come clean about her health issues and say that despite her challenges she can lead America into eight more years of socialist paradise?

Instead we have the usual Clinton spin, misdirection, and disinformation. Anything but the truth seems to be their credo.

My conclusion is “be afraid, be very afraid”.

Fellow readers, X made the long drive from his underground bunker to meet the Blog Father, the great William, for lunch at an undisclosed location.  Upon approaching the counter to place an order, both X and said Blog Father realized neither had a working credit card. Apparently both of us bank at Wells Fargo, or maybe Wells Fargo’s bankers bank with us?  Anyway, we had to settle this one way or another. Since neither of us are republicans or CRA members and we wished a resolution and not a filibuster, we decided to play; rock, paper, scissors.  The clash was epic! What started as best out of 3 eventually became best out of a 100.  As the competition increased, the crowd was chanting, and people began placing side bets. This led to confrontations amongst the spectators.  Glasses were thrown, a small child was hit by a cheese quesadilla, the margarita machine broke, and the salsa bar was in shambles!  Finally X lost and was forced to pay the bill with an IOU, and his girlfriend behind the counter broke up with him!

Finally, the commotion settled down and we sat down for lunch. During our meal, the conversation turned to discussing the various bills making their way to Chairman Jerry Brown’s desk in Sacramento.  One that stood out to both X and the Blog Father was a bill designed to force small businesses to set up retirement plans for their employees!  By the way, California defines a small business as a shop with as many as 100 employees.  Here is an excerpt of the bill,

California: Lawmakers just passed a bill that, if signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, will go into effect Jan. 1, 2017 and require a business with five or more workers, and no retirement plan, to participate in a new payroll-deduction savings program run by the state. The money will go into individual retirement accounts (IRAs) managed by a state-picked financial company. Larger companies with 100 or more workers will have to comply first. They will have one year from the time enrollment opens to sign up their workers or set up their own plan. Businesses with 50 to 99 employees will have two years after enrollment opens and small businesses with 5 to 59 workers will have three years to comply.

Yes this is the new Ponzi scheme to stave off bankruptcy folks. Just as state sponsored pension plans begin to dry up and ungrateful SEIU workers are threatening a strike and demanding a 22% pay hike, the state now wants to balance the budget literally on the backs of working people.

Anyone want to take bets on whether or not this money will be diverted to cover current pension costs?  Social security redux is what X calls this.

But have no fear, the republican groups in California will take up our cause, right?  If nothing else, they are the loyal opposition, aren’t they? Is the defense being led by the two idiot brothers with the no impact republicans?  The State run California GOP? The do nothing group of clowns sometimes referred to as the TEA Party?  Anyone in the assembly or state senate?  Figures the CRA isn’t leading on this one, I heard the Ted Cruz for President 2020 committee recently began campaigning.

Herein lies the problem faithful followers, the people who create jobs or want to create jobs continue to have their hands tied by government red tape and other so called good laws to help the working man.  Why would anyone want to open a small business in California?  Honestly I will hang up and listen on this one.  Could you imagine trying to run a fast food restaurant; dealing with staffing, quality control, inventory, payroll, and now this state run Ponzi scheme?  (Laws like this make replacing people with automation cheaper every day.) Talk about a cluster flip!

Here is the bottom line and the dirty little secret folks; the Republican Party does not oppose bills like this nor do they want to put up an alternative.  All the local CRA units and central committees want to do is keep the same family dynasties in office and allow them to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic every election.  It’s sad to watch… A member gets into the state senate, then runs for something statewide to boost name ID and raise money, loses, then runs for re-election, terms out, then runs for Board of Equalization, then runs for county supervisor, ad infinitum. Meanwhile, the lemmings over at CRA worship these clowns like they are the Messiah resurrected. Sad state of affairs folks! Thankfully for our dedicated reader base, X and William will not allow these bills to be signed into law or propositions go unchecked and under the radar ever again.

But for some modicum of good news, I heard through the grape vine CRA is chartering a new unit in South Watts!

Until next time “X”

PS “X” stuck William with the bill and there is no word on the wellbeing of said small child hit by the flying discus.

I get bombarded with a plethora of junk mail each week. The other day I spotted a slick, glossy publication from the City of Elk Grove in amongst my pile of mail. On the cover are two items that together make what can only be an underhanded “in kind contribution” to the YES on Measure B campaign.

First was an article that claims that California now has early voting. Really? Until recently, I have been involved with various political groups that claim to be the guardians of public good—at least from a Conservative point of view—and I have never heard a peep out of anyone that California was adopting early voting. I know that in two years, we will have same day registration but early voting too? This is a bombshell announcement; however, the usual suspects are mute on this.

California seems to want more voter fraud to be committed more easily—at least as long as it benefits the party in power.

Next to this voter news on the newsletter was a plug for the Measure B campaign.

So we are told where to vote and what to vote for, seems like a plug for Measure B in my book.

UPDATE 08-31-2016

Sith Lord says that this is not a Texas style, full blown Early Voting System. Instead, Sacramento County Elections is trying voting at three locations in the county during week-ends. Voters will get one-time absentee ballot. They can then either vote on the spot or take ballot and return via snail mail or drop at a polling location later. Sith Lord was concerned about ballot security and county elections was not forthcoming about any chain-of-custody issues.

This is reportedly a trial program that will be evaluated later to decide if it should be continued.

The following was submitted to Sacramento County Elections as a ballot argument in opposition to the increase in local sales tax that will appear on the November ballot. This argument was not selected by the Registrar of Voters for Sacramento County. According to County Elections, several arguments were submitted.

Such arguments can be submitted by individuals or groups. This one was submitted as an argument by an individual. I’m curious what they ended-up selecting. Anyway, here is the text as submitted.

As a resident of Sacramento County, I’m respectfully submitting an argument in opposition to this 30 yearlong sale tax increase. Here are some reasons to oppose this tax.

First, until the state and federal governments restore the taxes they are diverting from roads to other programs, why should we here at the local level be taxed again for repairs we have already paid for but never received? Here are examples:

1. All diesel fuel sales taxes ($620 million) are diverted to public transit. Zero is spent on road improvements.

2. All vehicle weight fees ($1 billion) are diverted to California’s general fund. None is used on roads.

3. 25 percent of the federal Highway Trust Fund is spent on non-highway projects.

Second “transportation” does not equal road repairs and improvements. It can but does not have to. Much of this tax is already earmarked for busses and light rail despite the fact that there is no visible relationship between transit funding and transit ridership.

Third, just because revenue from this proposed tax is designated for transportation does not mean that transportation spending will increase. Historically, when a special tax such as this is passed, a budget swap is done.

Here’s an example.

Suppose 5 million is collected from this tax and given to the transportation budget. Now 5 million that was being spent on transportation is free to be spent elsewhere. The result:  transportation spending is unchanged but 5 million more is available in the general fund thus growing government without fixing anything.

Fourth, government wants to boost the wages of their employees proportional to the increase in the minimum wage. Much of this tax will go to wages and pensions of existing employees and not the promised improvements.

I don’t think I’m under taxed just under served. How about you?

As we rapidly approach the November elections, I wondered aloud about what would happen with Sacramento County ballot Measure B.  For you home gamers—that’s a sales tax increase of .5% on everything you buy.  The threshold for approval is 67% and “X” seems to think this will be achieved rather easily.

Why you ask?

All the conservatives in this county are focusing their time and effort towards other “far more important things” such as a congressional race with a candidate running a strange campaign, raging against smart meters (X doesn’t believe this will ever appear on a ballot anytime soon), Common Core, or focusing on fringe, perennial candidates running for assembly or school board.  These folks are pouring precious time and resources into doomed and failing campaigns while looking the other way as our sales tax will go up yet again. This is called epic fail folks.  “X” believes these local groups—that claim to have your back and mine—will not even take a stand on measure B, nor will many even be informed as to what its effects will be.  Local Republican central committees and tea parties will tell you everything you want to hear, but actions speak so much louder than their words ever will.

So for the local Republicans and conservatives that read this blog, I will outline what Measure B is going to do.  The county expects to raise 8.6 million a year in new revenue (for the next 30 years). This money will be used to pay for new roads and maintenance as well as public transportation.  The county calls this measure “fix it first” meaning they can now completely repave local roads as opposed to performing routine maintenance that would have cost a fraction as much.  In addition the JPA connector out near Grant Line Road will be built, as well as additional overpasses for freeways and the like.  As far as public transit goes, Bruceville Road in Elk Grove will become a “bus corridor”. (X doesn’t know what the heck that means.)  Perhaps most importantly, light rail will be extended over time to have a final destination of Sacramento Airport!  (This has been promised to the people of Sacramento since before Joe Serna was mayor. – Editor) Oh by the way, that route had so few riders that RT had slated for it to be shut down earlier this year!  Yeah think about that….take a few minutes.

Now the good news. This tax increase can be defeated; even the Board of Supervisors study—that they likely paid several hundred thousand for—said as much.  The survey founds 69% would support such a tax; however, that number drops to 61% if there is any opposition, effectively killing the tax.  (For those of you who get your news from MSNBC I’m talking about stopping a tax, not killing people named “Tax” by the way).  So tell your friends, co-workers, acquaintances, etc. to make them aware.

Join the blog father William and his partner in crime “X” and stop the tax!

For those of you “conservatives” out there, you can go back to your regularly scheduled programming of aiding doomed campaigns, railing against smart meters, Common Core, or plotting Ted Cruz for President 2020.

Until next time……..

X

Editor’s note: “X’ has requested not to be publicly identified and is diligently searching for a better pseudonym.