Sorry for the week off. I enjoyed a weekend at the California Republican Party Convention in San Francisco, and was planning to write about the results. But I HAD to respond to the editorial in the Thursday Daily Breeze by State Senator Oropeza, who believes that your mortgage tax deduction is a "loophole" that needs to be filled.
In other works, you STILL don't pay enough taxes!
Senator Oropeza states in her editorial that "Leadership means solving problems." She continues..." government leaders must make difficult public service funding decisions with a fixed amount of revenue, and single parents must balance food, clothing and housing needs within the limits of their paychecks. Leaders of all kinds cannot afford to ignore reality; instead, they must make hard decisions with the information at hand." When I first read the editorial, I thought she had literally switched parties, or at least had a VERY good dinner meeting with fellow Senator Tom McClintock. But then she goes on to state "Beyond a few small fee increases, the governor has not proposed new or higher taxes to help balance revenues - echoing the party line issued by legislative Republicans." Thank you, Governor Schwarzenneger!
Democrats continue to miss the basic point of Senator McClintock: The business community does not pay taxes! Furthermore, rich individuals and families are not the most hurt by increased taxes; the poor and missle class are! For businesses, sales tax and other expenses are collected through the price of their products. Any increase of either are readily transferred to the consumer through increased prices. As for the rich, the costs of increased taxes are paid through less spending, whether it's eating out, traveling, purchasing nicer clothes, etc. Those employed in these industries that are dependent upon rich spenders are the hardest hit. This means restaurants, hotels, retail stores & other employers of low and middle class Americans.
The Long Beach Press-Telegram reported it better today: "With the state still facing a massive budget deficit, lawmakers have launched an effort to examine how many of the estimated $50 billion in tax credits and deductions they can reduce or eliminate to help balance the books. Those credits - sometimes called 'loopholes' by critics - range from the mortgage interest deduction to research credits for business to enterprise zones in the inner city. Many of them represent politically popular benefits that analysts say will be very difficult to eliminate when a two-thirds vote is required."
I'm surprised that those in Senator Oropeza's district, which includes Carson, El Segundo, Torrance, the Beach Cities and my portion of San Pedro, have tolerated someone who believes that her constituents need to sacrifice their tax deductions, which I'm sure are used primarily on essentials & retail (aka, economic stimulus). Jenny had a cake walk to get elected her first term; with these types of comments and liberal opinions, she needs to have a true challenge in 2010. Maybe something for the 53rd and 54th AD committees to work on together.
I may know someone interested...
Friday, February 29, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Why John McCain can help us win the 54th AD
The past two weeks have proved to be both unpredictable and opportunistic. As most of you know, I was the CD 46 chair for Rudy Guliani, whom I believe would have given voters of all demographics someone to consider. We also saw the biggest flaw in the "big state" strategy during his campaign: the early primaries offer free media coverage that literally feeds one's campaign. McCain, Romney & Huckabee figured this out, and were hence the three that survived to Super Tuesday. (I don't consider Ron Paul a serious candidate; send me a comment if you'd like me to debate this on a future posting.)
After Super Tuesday's performance by Senator McCain, I noticed something that may have been lost on most ultra-conservatives of our Party. Despite our state Party's exclusion of non-Republicans from our primary, McCain took an overwhelming majority of California's delegates. The hypothesis of the state leadership was having solely Republican votes in the presidential primary would yield a more conservative presidential nominee. I believe that California Republicans know what the state Republican activists haven't comprehended yet; that having a moderately conservative candidate gives us the best chance of not only winning the White House, but also many of our closer legislative battles by competing for independent voters.
Our Congressional, State Senatorial, and Assembly candidates will appear on their respective November ballots directly after the presidential candidates, meaning that a voter's choice for President will be immediately followed by their choices for the state-level races. Because of this, our nominees will have a significant portion of their vote intertwined with that of our presidential nominee within their districts. If our nominee does well in a district, so will our state-level nominees there. If our nominee cannot lure the independent vote, currently estimated at 22% in our own 54th Assembly District, then our district and others currently held by Democrats will have little chance of changing hands.
The one thing John McCain brings over all else is his ability to attract the growing number of independent and third-party candidates throughout California, as well as traditional Democrats (aka. JFK/Reagan Democrats) that have turned away from the MoveOn.org activists controlling their party. In the 54th AD, the Democratic registration advantage is still close to an 8% gap at 43%-35%. This means that with even split of independents, our nominee still loses in the 54th 54%-46%. Where we stand a chance to win is by winning more independents & some Democratic voters. This requires both a presidential nominee able to capture independents, and an assembly nominee who can hold on to those independents when they reach the assembly member portion of the ballot.
The liberal press will continue to "report" that Senator McCain needs to focus on patching up the conservative voters and making his platform more appealing to our own Party members. I think most of us would attest that neither Clinton nor Obama will be luring many Republican voters to their camp; what they can do is lure more independent and moderate voters if McCain is forced to make his platform ultra-conservative to the point where he alienates most of the independent vote. The Democrats are relying on the far-right activists within our party to create dissention within it. Because of their current situation with Obama & Clinton both garnering 49% of their delegates, they can only hope that Republicans also continue to battle within. DNC Chairman Howard Dean has gone on record as being concerned about their eventual nominee only having 8 short weeks to campaign for the independent vote due to having no clear nominee until their convention. If we are foolish enough to wait until then to ally ourselves around one nominee as well, then we've taken away the opportunity to start talking to the independent 22% in our district, as well as the independent 30% state-wide.
I hope our party leaders have realized the opportunity we now have; not only to keep the White House in safe Republican hands, but a genuine opportunity to take batteground legislative districts, like our own 54th AD, by giving 22% of our district a presidential candidate worth voting for. Issues like the economy, taxes & national defense are those we've been successful at luring independent voters; issues such as abortion, gay rights and illegal immigration will only keep our candidates pinned down in a quagmire of debates that will take moderate voters away. There's a difference between "staying true to all of one's principles" & having to live in a world where any of those principles cease to exist. Senator McCain may not have been the most ultimate conservative in the past few years; but this may be the very characteristic that keeps our country out of the hands of the Democratic Party.
And having a nominee who can get independent voters gives us the opportunity to have them continue down the ballot to our other fine candidates.
After Super Tuesday's performance by Senator McCain, I noticed something that may have been lost on most ultra-conservatives of our Party. Despite our state Party's exclusion of non-Republicans from our primary, McCain took an overwhelming majority of California's delegates. The hypothesis of the state leadership was having solely Republican votes in the presidential primary would yield a more conservative presidential nominee. I believe that California Republicans know what the state Republican activists haven't comprehended yet; that having a moderately conservative candidate gives us the best chance of not only winning the White House, but also many of our closer legislative battles by competing for independent voters.
Our Congressional, State Senatorial, and Assembly candidates will appear on their respective November ballots directly after the presidential candidates, meaning that a voter's choice for President will be immediately followed by their choices for the state-level races. Because of this, our nominees will have a significant portion of their vote intertwined with that of our presidential nominee within their districts. If our nominee does well in a district, so will our state-level nominees there. If our nominee cannot lure the independent vote, currently estimated at 22% in our own 54th Assembly District, then our district and others currently held by Democrats will have little chance of changing hands.
The one thing John McCain brings over all else is his ability to attract the growing number of independent and third-party candidates throughout California, as well as traditional Democrats (aka. JFK/Reagan Democrats) that have turned away from the MoveOn.org activists controlling their party. In the 54th AD, the Democratic registration advantage is still close to an 8% gap at 43%-35%. This means that with even split of independents, our nominee still loses in the 54th 54%-46%. Where we stand a chance to win is by winning more independents & some Democratic voters. This requires both a presidential nominee able to capture independents, and an assembly nominee who can hold on to those independents when they reach the assembly member portion of the ballot.
The liberal press will continue to "report" that Senator McCain needs to focus on patching up the conservative voters and making his platform more appealing to our own Party members. I think most of us would attest that neither Clinton nor Obama will be luring many Republican voters to their camp; what they can do is lure more independent and moderate voters if McCain is forced to make his platform ultra-conservative to the point where he alienates most of the independent vote. The Democrats are relying on the far-right activists within our party to create dissention within it. Because of their current situation with Obama & Clinton both garnering 49% of their delegates, they can only hope that Republicans also continue to battle within. DNC Chairman Howard Dean has gone on record as being concerned about their eventual nominee only having 8 short weeks to campaign for the independent vote due to having no clear nominee until their convention. If we are foolish enough to wait until then to ally ourselves around one nominee as well, then we've taken away the opportunity to start talking to the independent 22% in our district, as well as the independent 30% state-wide.
I hope our party leaders have realized the opportunity we now have; not only to keep the White House in safe Republican hands, but a genuine opportunity to take batteground legislative districts, like our own 54th AD, by giving 22% of our district a presidential candidate worth voting for. Issues like the economy, taxes & national defense are those we've been successful at luring independent voters; issues such as abortion, gay rights and illegal immigration will only keep our candidates pinned down in a quagmire of debates that will take moderate voters away. There's a difference between "staying true to all of one's principles" & having to live in a world where any of those principles cease to exist. Senator McCain may not have been the most ultimate conservative in the past few years; but this may be the very characteristic that keeps our country out of the hands of the Democratic Party.
And having a nominee who can get independent voters gives us the opportunity to have them continue down the ballot to our other fine candidates.
Friday, February 8, 2008
California Voters choose wisely...Los Angeles Voters fall for "Phony Phone Tax"
This week's Super Tuesday showed us that a majority of statewide voters saw behind the deceptive wording of Proposition 93. Unfortunately, two-thirds of voters in the City of Los Angeles showed all of us that they could be convinced that a tax preservation was actually a tax reduction simply because they can be told that police & fire departments would be affected. It is a shame that Police Chief Bratton & Fire Chief Barry, both dedicated to serving their departments, could be politically naive in serving the interests of the tax-and-spend liberals of the Los Angeles City Council.
Did they honestly feel that the Mayor & members of the city council would actually make budget cuts to the police force & the fire department before looking at their boon-doggling programs and lavish travel expenses? Because of the deceptive measure of 2007, Measure R, most of the city council members are going to run for re-election in 2009; how many of them would have been so bold as to tell voters that because Measure S failed, they had to cut police and fire departments?
Neighborhood councils throughout the City of Los Angeles tried to get the word out to voters about this deceptive measure. I found myself working side-by-side with San Pedro Democrats who understood it wasn't that we were being asked to preserve (or rescue) a tax that had been ruled unconstitutional by the courts; it was how the City Council and the Mayor wrote the measure to be something that it wasn't. We were all burned by how deceptively Measure R was written as "Lobbying Activity Resitrictions", and, oh by the way, an extension of term limits from two terms to three. (shhhh!)
So I assume that Councilwoman Janice Hahn's $30 million anti-gang tax measure will be on the November 2008 ballot for voters in Los Angeles to consider, probaly as "Measure T". I'm curious to see how it is written to ensure it plays on our heart strings and shared conservative principles to vote for it. Don't be surprised to see a "Support the Troops" clause added to it or, even more appealing to the Randon Lengths crows in San Pedro, a "Get us out of Iraq now" clause. (Should we start a pool now?)
I am extremely thankful, though, for the voters throughout the state who saw through the similar deception going on with Proposition 93, the "Nunez/Perata Preservation Proposition" (oh, I mean "term limit reduction"), and voted to end the terms of these two horrible politicians. Thanks to the leadership of these two, our state budget is far worse than it was when they were elected, nanny legislation has run rampant & our Legislature has become the laughing stock of the country. Voters in both parties saw the opportunity to get rid of them and 42 other ineffective politicians, including our own assemblymember Betty Karnette, and replace them with some fresh members who will hopefully bring fresh ideas and energy to solving problems that have lingered on as unimportant to either Nunez or Perata.
A special thank you must go out to our Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who saw the need to step in and provide both organizational and financial leadership in defeating Proposition 93. Steve Poizner brought the same drive and vigor that he has shown in going after individuals & companies submitting fraudulent claims since being elected, and we are very blessed to have him in Sacramento.
So congratulations to the great state of California, who will have new members in both the State Senate and the Assembly in 2009! Our objective now is to ensure we work hard to get new leadership in these houses, including Gabriella Holt in our own 54th AD & Thomas Vidal in the 53rd AD. Let's take advantage of our progress to ensure we send members who will truly work for a balanced budget and a successful California.
Did they honestly feel that the Mayor & members of the city council would actually make budget cuts to the police force & the fire department before looking at their boon-doggling programs and lavish travel expenses? Because of the deceptive measure of 2007, Measure R, most of the city council members are going to run for re-election in 2009; how many of them would have been so bold as to tell voters that because Measure S failed, they had to cut police and fire departments?
Neighborhood councils throughout the City of Los Angeles tried to get the word out to voters about this deceptive measure. I found myself working side-by-side with San Pedro Democrats who understood it wasn't that we were being asked to preserve (or rescue) a tax that had been ruled unconstitutional by the courts; it was how the City Council and the Mayor wrote the measure to be something that it wasn't. We were all burned by how deceptively Measure R was written as "Lobbying Activity Resitrictions", and, oh by the way, an extension of term limits from two terms to three. (shhhh!)
So I assume that Councilwoman Janice Hahn's $30 million anti-gang tax measure will be on the November 2008 ballot for voters in Los Angeles to consider, probaly as "Measure T". I'm curious to see how it is written to ensure it plays on our heart strings and shared conservative principles to vote for it. Don't be surprised to see a "Support the Troops" clause added to it or, even more appealing to the Randon Lengths crows in San Pedro, a "Get us out of Iraq now" clause. (Should we start a pool now?)
I am extremely thankful, though, for the voters throughout the state who saw through the similar deception going on with Proposition 93, the "Nunez/Perata Preservation Proposition" (oh, I mean "term limit reduction"), and voted to end the terms of these two horrible politicians. Thanks to the leadership of these two, our state budget is far worse than it was when they were elected, nanny legislation has run rampant & our Legislature has become the laughing stock of the country. Voters in both parties saw the opportunity to get rid of them and 42 other ineffective politicians, including our own assemblymember Betty Karnette, and replace them with some fresh members who will hopefully bring fresh ideas and energy to solving problems that have lingered on as unimportant to either Nunez or Perata.
A special thank you must go out to our Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who saw the need to step in and provide both organizational and financial leadership in defeating Proposition 93. Steve Poizner brought the same drive and vigor that he has shown in going after individuals & companies submitting fraudulent claims since being elected, and we are very blessed to have him in Sacramento.
So congratulations to the great state of California, who will have new members in both the State Senate and the Assembly in 2009! Our objective now is to ensure we work hard to get new leadership in these houses, including Gabriella Holt in our own 54th AD & Thomas Vidal in the 53rd AD. Let's take advantage of our progress to ensure we send members who will truly work for a balanced budget and a successful California.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
2007-2008 Accomplishments & Objectives
In an earlier posting, I introduced the general purpose of the Republican Central Committee. But I'd like to do a quick run-down of the accomplishments of the current committee and the remaining objectives for this term. The current membership of this committee has done more to get involved in local elections than in recent history, and has built opportunities for the next committees to build upon.
Shortly after being sworn in at the December 2006 RPLAC meeting, we quickly got involved in the Signal Hill city council elections, particularly the campaign to elect Nancy Long, a Signal Hill activist working to get more transparancy from the current council. Thanks to efforts by this committee in both phone banking & walking precincts, we helped Nancy quickly become more competitive; Nancy was actually leading by 23 votes for the final seat prior to provisional ballot counts. Of course, this margin never holds for a Republican candidate like it does for a Democratic one. By the time the provisionals were done, Nancy had fallen short of election. After consulting with my San-Pedran raised friend Steve Baric, president of the CA Republican Lawyers Association, Nancy decided not to pursue a lengthy recount or lawsuit, and will instead hopefully run for one of the three open seats in 2009. I've saved my yard sign from her campaign, and look forward to working as soon as she files to add a Republican to the Signal Hill City Council.
In February, I had to make a decision to work with a local friend & conservative Democrat Richard (Dick) Vladovic in his election bid for the local LAUSD seat. No Republican filed for this seat, but two far-left Democrats, UTLA activist Jesus Escandon & Progressive (aka Cindy Sheehan) Neal Kleiner, had filed to challenge Vladovic. I made the decision that it was more important for Republicans to step up and have an effect on every local election, rather than have Republicans stay home & hope that local Democrats will choose the most conservative candidate. Dick Vladovic won election in May, and has been a great leader for the community. Because I worked closely to help him win election, we now have a connection that will help us in future elections. This is the "big picture" in furthering our principles and values.
In August 2007, this committee stepped up its commitment to the state party's mission of getting more involved in local races by supporting four Palos Verdes Republicans in the November elections for Rancho Palos Verdes City Council & the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, my former hometown & high school district, respectively. A critical mistake we made was underestimating the influence of the local teacher's union (PVFA) & the Democrat incumbents. While Republican RPV City Councilmember Steve Wolowicz received the most votes of any candidate, our Republican challenger for the 2nd seat, RPV Traffic Commissioner Paul Wright came 80 votes short of the third and final seat. Paul ran a great campaign, and has already been encouraged by many, including myself, to run in 2009. In the PVPUSD race, we were unsuccessful in defending incumbent Dave Tomblin's seat and electing challenger Paul Neights. Both candidates were ironically painted as "union candidates" by the local union activists themselves, and unlike the City of Los Angeles, Palos Verdes residents do not exactly endorse the "union label". I learned a lot by participating in these races, and am still proud to have supported all four. I am already looking forward to the opportunities for both RPV City Council and the PVPUSD board for 2009.
For Tuesday's election, I have personally been working with San Pedro activists to fight Propositions S & 93, including ironically the local Democratic club. Most of their members also see the problems with these measures and worked with my local neighborhood council to hold a local information forum on Proposition S, the communications tax "preservation" measure. The forum was great for our side, and we recruited about 40 volunteers who walked their neighborhhods this past weekend to encourage voters to vote "NO". San Pedro is a great town, and has a lot of conservative Democrats that know "when to say when" to higher taxes.
We are currently engaged in the Long Beach Unified School District elections by encouraging Republicans to get involved in the campaigns for both incumbents Jon Meyer & Felton Williams. We'll continue to do so through their April re-election. We also support the recall effort of LBUSD Board member and TALB loyalist Michael Ellis, and will continue gathering signatures.
For the remainder of this year, once the Long Beach local elections are completed, our primary focus will be on winning the Assembly seat currently held by termed-out Assemblywoman Betty Karnette. We need to ensure our strongest candidate emerges to take on the strong Democratic candidate, likely LB City Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal. Bonnie is going to have a "machine" similar in structure to the Clinton one, and our nominee will need to be ready to spend and do what it takes to win. Bonnie will be a full-time candidate, so our nominee must be as well. This is primarily why I am asking ALL Republicans to get behind two-term PVPUSD Board Member Gabriella Holt, who has dedicated herself full-time to building the strongest campaign now to take on the Democrat nominee.
I'll go into a more detailed analysis of Gabriella Holt in a future posting.
For now, I encourage everyone to learn more about this committee and how to get involved in local elections, including Gabriella Holt's. 2008 offers numeroud opportunities for Republicans to make a difference; I hope we all find at least one and get involved.
Shortly after being sworn in at the December 2006 RPLAC meeting, we quickly got involved in the Signal Hill city council elections, particularly the campaign to elect Nancy Long, a Signal Hill activist working to get more transparancy from the current council. Thanks to efforts by this committee in both phone banking & walking precincts, we helped Nancy quickly become more competitive; Nancy was actually leading by 23 votes for the final seat prior to provisional ballot counts. Of course, this margin never holds for a Republican candidate like it does for a Democratic one. By the time the provisionals were done, Nancy had fallen short of election. After consulting with my San-Pedran raised friend Steve Baric, president of the CA Republican Lawyers Association, Nancy decided not to pursue a lengthy recount or lawsuit, and will instead hopefully run for one of the three open seats in 2009. I've saved my yard sign from her campaign, and look forward to working as soon as she files to add a Republican to the Signal Hill City Council.
In February, I had to make a decision to work with a local friend & conservative Democrat Richard (Dick) Vladovic in his election bid for the local LAUSD seat. No Republican filed for this seat, but two far-left Democrats, UTLA activist Jesus Escandon & Progressive (aka Cindy Sheehan) Neal Kleiner, had filed to challenge Vladovic. I made the decision that it was more important for Republicans to step up and have an effect on every local election, rather than have Republicans stay home & hope that local Democrats will choose the most conservative candidate. Dick Vladovic won election in May, and has been a great leader for the community. Because I worked closely to help him win election, we now have a connection that will help us in future elections. This is the "big picture" in furthering our principles and values.
In August 2007, this committee stepped up its commitment to the state party's mission of getting more involved in local races by supporting four Palos Verdes Republicans in the November elections for Rancho Palos Verdes City Council & the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, my former hometown & high school district, respectively. A critical mistake we made was underestimating the influence of the local teacher's union (PVFA) & the Democrat incumbents. While Republican RPV City Councilmember Steve Wolowicz received the most votes of any candidate, our Republican challenger for the 2nd seat, RPV Traffic Commissioner Paul Wright came 80 votes short of the third and final seat. Paul ran a great campaign, and has already been encouraged by many, including myself, to run in 2009. In the PVPUSD race, we were unsuccessful in defending incumbent Dave Tomblin's seat and electing challenger Paul Neights. Both candidates were ironically painted as "union candidates" by the local union activists themselves, and unlike the City of Los Angeles, Palos Verdes residents do not exactly endorse the "union label". I learned a lot by participating in these races, and am still proud to have supported all four. I am already looking forward to the opportunities for both RPV City Council and the PVPUSD board for 2009.
For Tuesday's election, I have personally been working with San Pedro activists to fight Propositions S & 93, including ironically the local Democratic club. Most of their members also see the problems with these measures and worked with my local neighborhood council to hold a local information forum on Proposition S, the communications tax "preservation" measure. The forum was great for our side, and we recruited about 40 volunteers who walked their neighborhhods this past weekend to encourage voters to vote "NO". San Pedro is a great town, and has a lot of conservative Democrats that know "when to say when" to higher taxes.
We are currently engaged in the Long Beach Unified School District elections by encouraging Republicans to get involved in the campaigns for both incumbents Jon Meyer & Felton Williams. We'll continue to do so through their April re-election. We also support the recall effort of LBUSD Board member and TALB loyalist Michael Ellis, and will continue gathering signatures.
For the remainder of this year, once the Long Beach local elections are completed, our primary focus will be on winning the Assembly seat currently held by termed-out Assemblywoman Betty Karnette. We need to ensure our strongest candidate emerges to take on the strong Democratic candidate, likely LB City Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal. Bonnie is going to have a "machine" similar in structure to the Clinton one, and our nominee will need to be ready to spend and do what it takes to win. Bonnie will be a full-time candidate, so our nominee must be as well. This is primarily why I am asking ALL Republicans to get behind two-term PVPUSD Board Member Gabriella Holt, who has dedicated herself full-time to building the strongest campaign now to take on the Democrat nominee.
I'll go into a more detailed analysis of Gabriella Holt in a future posting.
For now, I encourage everyone to learn more about this committee and how to get involved in local elections, including Gabriella Holt's. 2008 offers numeroud opportunities for Republicans to make a difference; I hope we all find at least one and get involved.
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