Let the facts speak for themselves
Fact: There are three arms of government in Sacramento, the Assembly, the Senate and the Lobbyists.
Fact: The lobbyists write more bills than the other two houses.
Fact: The lobbyists can’t introduce a bill, they need a sponsor and that would be your elected representative.
Fact: 99.99% of sponsored bills come with large campaign contributions.
Fact: 60% of the bills passed in 2007-2008 session were sponsored bills.
Fact: There were about 2800 bills proposed, but almost none of them dealt with slowing the growth of government, the deficit, creating jobs or reducing taxes.
Fact: The democrats backed more sponsored bills than republicans, but republicans backed more private special interest legislation. Private meaning something that would benefit one business over another.
Fact: There are 120 legislators, 80 in the Assembly and 40 in the Senate and of this total only 1 elected representative, Tom McClintock, refused to accept a sponsored bill in the 2007-2008 session.
Fact: The current law allows elected representatives to receive campaign contributions while they are in session writing bills or sponsoring bills.
Fact: Large campaign war-chests are necessary to get re-elected. This causes legislators to aggressively pursue campaign contributions their entire time in office.
Fact: On average 94% of the candidates who outspend their opponents will win the election.
Fact: Incumbents have a 5 to 1 advantage over their opponents when it comes to raising money.
Fact: For years both major parties have sued to death every attempt at campaign finance reform, despite the overwhelming voter support for these initiatives.
Fact: In total disregard to the will of the people, our legislators have repeatedly failed to reform the wide-open for corruption campaign finance laws in this state.
No wonder our government is so screwed up!
Sources: California Secretary of State, San Jose Mercury News – Study: Statehouses at high risk for corruption, Politifact.com and OpenSecrets.org, BUCKLEY v. VALEO, 424 U.S. 1 (1976).
Fact: There were about 2800 bills proposed, but almost none of them dealt with slowing the growth of government, the deficit, creating jobs or reducing taxes. So now we vote on Proposition 29, all for the benefit of funding cancer research a new $1.00 a pack tax is proposed. yea sure, a major part of this bill is to create ANOTHER office of California administrative bureaucrats, and the clever politicians realizing that this bill may cut consummation of cigarettes wrote that a TRANSFER of funds (taxes) to the GENERAL FUND in order to preserve the expense and longevity of another NEW Government division. This bill is just another tax of private income to preserve growing Government waste. I don’t smoke,and do not like being around second hand smoke, however as long as it is considered a free choice activity by these very same Politic ions, I will not support their veiled attempt to add more taxes to the general fund for their benefit. Let them write a bill properly and exclusive to the prevention of cancer through smoking, and I’ll support it. This is not that bill! So I am going NO on 29 and any other bill that infuses GENERAL FUND coffers new tax dollars to create more money for political waste
This has got to go on page one, thanks Harold.
Jack this story makes me mad for all of the reasons you articulate but it is also a perfect example of why we tax payers should start thinking in terms of people when we think of business. Businesses are not buildings. They are people…our fellow citizens of California and the USA.
I read the article in the JS Mercury in search of businesses that were “unfairly” benefitting from the legislation being proposed through our legislature. In many cases I saw that most businesses were attempting to cut through red tape and the onslaught of regulation and taxation that was unfairly or unreasonably restricting their businesses.
This is going on because our state government is too intrusive and too controlling. It is too damn big. It is the major reason that companies are moving out of this state as fast as they can and taking their jobs and potential tax revenue with them.
When it isn’t state goivernment it is local government. I’m reminded of George Lucas working patiently for TWENTY YEARS with local and state agencies in an attempt to build a movie studio on his personal property…TWENTY YEARS!!!!! Over that twenty years he met demands again and again only to be met with more demands and delays. Is it any wonder the people that have a business are looking for ways to gain some reasonable control through legislation when it has been unreasonable legislation that has made it impossible to survive or move forward?