Stockton goes bankrupt - Welcome to Greece West

BANKRUPT  -  Public employee unions in the People's Republic are trying to make municipal bankruptcy almost impossible

• With a flood of corrupt union campaign money, it is government of, by and for labor unions.
• Corrupt businessmen join in on the fun.  They have raked in millions in city building contracts.
• Everyone was looting the Treasury and the taxpayers are left holding the bag.

Greece USA  -  American politicians at every level can't stop spending other people's money to buy votes for the next election.  Free pretend Monopoly money for everyone!

Back in the mid-2000s, the city of Stockton, California was hopping. The housing market was strong, and as a result tax revenues were flowing in. The city took out $190 million in bonds and loans to pay for a bunch of civic projects including a new city hall, a new multipurpose arena, and a baseball park.

But then the recession came, the housing bubble burst and, observers say, Stockton was hit even harder than most other California cities by the economic downturn. The city now has an unemployment rate of nearly 20 percent, and the foreclosure rate is one of the highest in the nation. It was ranked by Forbes magazine as America’s “Worst Place to Live” two of the last three years reports the Daily Beast.

Stockton had become a bedroom community for commuters to San Francisco and Oakland, and that drove overbuilding. When the economy imploded, commuters started disappearing, and the city saw a flight of home buyers. Property values in Stockton then plummeted, perhaps more than anywhere else in the state and nation, and the city could no longer sustain itself or pay the generous pensions to city workers.”

The city already has slashed the police force by one fourth and the fire department by one third, and cut 40 percent of other city employees, along with wages and medical benefits. Kathy Miller, a member of Stockton’s city council and its vice mayor, tells The Daily Beast that the city had no choice.

Miller says the problems in Stockton began with a series of decisions made in the 1990s based on the fact that, at the time, the city was doing well.

“It all started with the state, which in the early ’90s changed the formulas in Calpers (California’s public employee retirement system),” says Miller. “The state legislature decided that public employees could retire earlier and with higher pensions, and they gave huge benefits to the California Highway Patrol (CHP).”



After that, Miller says, the city couldn’t find any qualified police to hire because they all wanted to go to CHP. “So we decided to offer the same benefits that the state had given to CHP retirees,” she says. “That benefit was eventually granted to firefighters as well, and then every bargaining unit asked the city for more. This same type of thing happened in San Diego, San Jose, and cities all over the state.”

“There are at least 10 other cities in this state that are half a step behind Stockton. They’re all watching us very carefully.”

Miller says the city council responded as quickly as possible when the economy went south, “but with public employees, we were locked into labor agreements. We worked very hard in 2010, but some of the representatives (of the public employee unions) refused to negotiate, and some even demanded huge raises in salaries and benefits. That same year, we declared our first fiscal emergency.”

.

The clincher, Miller suggests, is when the city agreed in the 1990s to grant a lifetime retirement medical benefit to all city employees: “This benefit provided retired employees and one dependent with medical coverage with no premium, no co-pay, and no deductible. The worst part of whole thing is that the city didn’t set aside the money to fund the medical benefit.”

Miller says the council made the decision this week to eliminate the medical benefit which “is a luxurious benefit that a small group receives and which less than half of the cities in California provide. Nobody is being kicked off the city medical plan, but they will have to start paying for it. Taxpayers who live here will never have that benefit, but they are paying for it.”
.
(The Daily Beast)

The city of Stockton invested heavily in subsidizing waterfront development. This week, it approaches bankruptcy.

Republican changes to Independent



Bruce McPherson
Assemblyman & Senator 1993 - 2004
Secretary of State 2005 - 2007

Bye-Bye GOP

---- Republicans are too Conservative

---- He is an abortion rights supporter who's willing to discuss new taxes (Translation - Screw the taxpayers to fund Big Government.)

---- McPherson had endorsed Santa Cruz Democrats such as Fred Keeley, Henry Mello and Sam Farr.


The man long known as the only Republican who could get elected in Santa Cruz is no longer a Republican.
.
Bruce McPherson said he is dropping his GOP party affiliation and listing no preference, joining a growing bloc of California voters who've renounced party identification reports the San Joes Mercury News.

"That's who I am," McPherson said. "During my years in the California Legislature, I was widely recognized as the most independent voice in either the Assembly or the Senate. Now more than ever I think we need leaders who make decisions for the community and the people, not what's best for the party."

Since 1996, the number of independent California voters has doubled to 21.3 percent, according to the most recent statistics from the California Secretary of State's office. During that time, Democratic registration has declined 3.7 points to 43.4 percent, while Republican registration declined 6.8 points to 30.2 percent.

A former Secretary of State himself, McPherson may be the highest-ranking former state official to renounce party identification.

"It's as strident as I've ever known it to be," McPherson said of partisan politics. "I don't want to be identified as right or left."

An abortion rights supporter who's willing to discuss new taxes, McPherson was known as a moderate during his 11 years in the Legislature. During the years, he has endorsed local Democrats such as Fred Keeley, Henry Mello and Sam Farr.
.
He also is locked in what appears to be a runoff for the nonpartisan office of county supervisor in his bid to return to politics. First-time candidate Eric Hammer, a Democrat, appears to have cleared enough votes to force a one-on-one November vote, though some votes remain to be counted.     (San Joes Mercury News)

More Socialist Taxes for California

The March of Marxism  -  The once Golden State is turning Socialist Red with tons of new taxes on those who create jobs

• The endless taxing and spending of other people's money to buy votes for Democrats.
• No thought at all is given that job creators just might leave the state or not come here at all. 

People's Republic of California Governor Jerry Brown's tax hike on sales and upper-income job creators officially qualified Wednesday for the November ballot, as did two other tax measures.

Comrade Brown's tax initiative will be joined by a rival measure to hike income taxes on all but the poorest residents as well as an initiative to raise taxes on multistate corporations based elsewhere, the secretary of state's office announced.

A total of 11 measures, including a water bond, are now on the November ballot.

  
Brown and lawmakers are counting on voters to approve his tax plan to generate an estimated $8.5 billion in the current budget cycle, which provides additional funding for schools and helps bridge the state's $15.7 billion deficit.

• Comrade Brown's initiative would raise sales taxes by a quarter-cent on the dollar. It would also hike income taxes starting at $250,000 for individuals and $500,000 for joint filers.
• A rival measure filed by wealthy Leftist Molly Munger would raise taxes on a sliding scale starting at $7,316 in taxable income for single filers and $14,632 for joint filers. Her initiative would raise about $10 billion a year, mostly for schools and early childhood programs.
• The third tax measure to qualify Wednesday involves changing the state's corporate tax formula by making most companies calculate their liability based on their share of sales in California. Hedge fund manager Tom Steyer's proposal would generate about $1 billion extra a year, initially split between the state budget and green energy projects.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/21/4577951/jerry-browns-proposal-and-two.html#storylink=cpy

(Sacramento Bee)

California - For Sale to the highest bidder

California  -  The Best State Money Can Buy.

State's top 100 political donors contribute $1.25 billion

• Democracy does not exist in the People's Republic of California.
• From top to bottom almost all the political hacks in the state are owned by special interests.
• With monster super-sized legislative districts only millionaires or those funded by millionaire special interests can win elections.

In a state with nearly 38 million people, few have more influence than the top 100 donors to California campaigns – a powerful club that has donated overwhelmingly to Democrats and spent $1.25 billion to influence voters.

These big spenders represent a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of individuals and groups that donated to California campaigns from 2001 through 2011. But they supplied about a third of the $3.67 billion lavished on state campaigns during that time, campaign records show reports California Watch.

The state’s top 100 donors gave nearly five times as much to winning candidates as they did to losers. And they helped steer initiative campaigns to success as well – about 55 percent of every dollar they contributed to propositions aided a winning campaign, the analysis shows.

Some of these top 100 donors are continuing to donate heavily in the 2012 election cycle. For their part, tobacco companies Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds have spent more than $30 million since January to defeat an initiative on tomorrow’s ballot that would increase the cigarette tax.

Not surprisingly for California, the top 100 directed their money in large part toward the Democratic Party, which controls the governor’s office and the state Legislature. Overall, these top donors – 50 wealthy individuals and 50 special interest groups analyzed by California Watch – gave twice as much to Democratic candidates as they did members of other political parties.

But there was a split: Special interest donors favored Democrats, while individual donors favored Republicans by a slim margin.


When broken down, records show the top 50 group contributors – including labor unions, energy companies and tribal governments – were three times more likely to give to Democratic candidates. The top 50 individuals, however, gave slightly more to Republicans.

• The state’s most extravagant individual donor and biggest campaign loser is Stephen Bing, the real estate scion and Hollywood producer. He gave more money than any other individual to a state campaign – $49.5 million in 2006 to support Proposition 87, known as the alternative energy oil tax, which failed.
• But Bing proved that a handful of California’s richest special interests and individuals have an outsized voice in elections here. The campaign he spearheaded became one of the most expensive in California history, drawing more than $156 million in contributions. Chevron, Aera Energy and Occidental Oil & Gas donated a combined $80 million to fight Bing’s measure.
• The biggest special interest donor, the California Teachers Association, spent more than $118 million on campaigns in the state during the past five election cycles and the first half of this one. The union has focused overwhelmingly on initiatives, spending $100 million of that war chest advocating and opposing ballot measures over the past dozen years.

Be it business or labor the cycle of corruption is the same.  Everyone
wants to line their pockets with taxpayer money.

Sugar Daddy

Florence had the Medicis. New York had Carnegie. California's political scene has its Sugar Daddies, awarded to donors whose contributions made up at least 25 percent of all the money that a committee received. Pour some sugar on me.

	Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Francisco, CAEnergy company (electricity, natural gas) 1,792 donations: 1,659 to candidates, 46 to ballot measures and 87 to parties		$66,897,713
4	Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, Temecula, CATribal government with gaming interests 1,182 donations: 1,054 to candidates, 47 to ballot measures and 81 to parties		$52,597,794
1	Stephen L. Bing, Los Angeles, CAScreenwriter and movie producer 56 donations: 23 to candidates, 19 to ballot measures and 14 to parties		$52,500,782
5	Morongo Band of Mission Indians, Cabazon, CATribal government with gaming interests 413 donations: 314 to candidates, 23 to ballot measures and 76 to parties		$50,428,228
6	Chevron Corp., San Ramon, CAEnergy company (oil, gas and geothermal) 1,321 donations: 1,196 to candidates, 37 to ballot measures and 88 to parties		$50,405,905

(Full story from California Watch)

The politicians of California are bought and paid for.

A state budget no one has read

Idiots on Parade  -  The Democrats are rushing budget bills at the last minute that no one has read.

• Democrats have all year to get ready for the budget but put off the hard work of real budget cuts.

The main budget bill coming before California lawmakers is a 777-page piece of legislation that spells out how the state will spend billions of dollars over the next fiscal year.  But as usual the deals are cut behind closed doors and no one has any time to read and properly analyze the budget.
.
A Senate panel raced to consider the measure Thursday, along with a handful of related bills that arrived in committee fresh off the printer reports the Sacramento Bee.
.
Passing the annual budget requires two dozen or more bills, the entire contents of which are virtually impossible for any one person to read in the days – and sometimes minutes – leading up to the floor vote.
                                                               .  
The process inevitably comes down to the wire, a function of deadline procrastination and a desire to keep lobbyists in the dark after deals are struck behind closed doors, for fear they would generate enough opposition to unravel a compromise.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/15/4563734/california-lawmakers-race-to-pass.html#storylink=cpy

In last year's late-night budget vote, lawmakers approved a 73-page bill on education finance less than an hour after it reached the Senate floor. Assembly Bill 114 contained the guts of a compromise struck by Gov. Jerry Brown, Democratic leaders and the powerful California Teachers Association to prevent midyear teacher layoffs and curtail the powers of school district administrators.
.
Democratic leaders needed the union's support to reduce school funding, and districts might have killed the bill, given enough time.
.
On Thursday, the Senate budget committee considered less than half of the 24 bills necessary to carry out a balanced budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. None was available online the previous evening.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/15/4563734/california-lawmakers-race-to-pass.html#storylink=cpy

(Sacramento Bee)

SHOCK: California voters approved more taxes

Moron Alert  -  California voters passed 63% of all tax increases on their local ballots.

• It is bad enough that mindless voters keep electing big spending Liberals of both parties, but they also vote to tax themselves out of even more of their money.

The local, state and Federal governments are spending the nation into bankruptcy.  But the Leftist voters in the People's Republic of California just can't stop themselves.  They keep voting the same big spending idiots back into power and support more and more local taxes.  After all, only more money will solve problems.
                                                                         .
Local voters approved 63 percent — or 55 of the 87 — local tax, bond or fee measures on the June 5, 2012 California primary ballot, according to Michael Coleman, the creator of CaliforniaCityFinance.com.

Majority vote measures fared much better than supermajority votes requiring two-thirds approval to pass special taxes and bonds. Fifteen of the 19 majority-vote measures passed (79 percent). But only 18 of the 34 supermajority vote taxes passed (53 percent).
.
For schools, voters favored approval by 66 percent; that’s compared to 45 percent for non-schools.
.
Analysts will not get much direction from these local election results in trying to handicap the mood of voters to pass Gov. Jerry Brown’s $8.5 billion tax increase initiative this November. Even though a balanced budget is constitutionally required to be approved by June 15, it was just reported that the leadership in the Legislature still refuses to cut $2 billion in social spending to meet Brown’s budget proposal, which itself appeared to analysts already to have a $4 billion deficit.
.
(See Cal Watchdog for more on this story.)

Jerry Brown appoints union hack

Brown drops his pants, bends over and spreads his cheecks for labor unions.

• Brown turns over the state teasury to corrupt government employee unions in return for campaign money.
• Democrats fuck taxpayers to pay the bills to feed the union machine.

Comrade Governor Jerry Brown of the People's Republic of California has appointed a labor union representative to be deputy director of legislative affairs at the Department of Personnel Administration.

The appointment of Nancy Farias, legislative director for Service Employees International Union Local 1000 since 2009, comes before the Legislature is expected this summer to consider pension changes proposed by Brown. The appointment was announced by the Democratic governor's office reports the Sacramento Bee.

Farias, 39, is registered as having no party preference. The Sacramento resident is to be paid $110,004 a year.

The Legislature is expected to consider public employee pension changes following adoption of the state budget this month.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/06/jerry-brown-appoints-union-rep-to-personnel-administration-post.html#storylink=cpy

(Sacramento Bee)

The Great Liar Abel Maldonado is in runoff for Congress

Abel Maldonado's 30 pieces of silver.
GOP State Senator Abel Maldonado lied to the voters and raised their taxes.  The Republican Party has rewarded his lies and betrayal four times in a row.

Question of the Day  -  Does the Republican Party actually believe in anything?

• GOP elected officials go out of their way to endorse a candidate who broke his no new taxes pledge and totally fucked the voters.
• But tell me something new.  This is standard operating procedure for the Republican Party.

By Gary:

The Great Liar and political whore former Republican Lt. Governor is now in a runoff for Congress in a district that covers Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties and part of Ventura County.  GOP voters gave Maldonado 30% of the vote to Republican Chris Mitchum's 20%.  Democrat psycho incumbent Lois Capps got 46%.

What is amazing to me is the bold stance taken by the Right-Wing Socialist Party that goes under the name "Republican".  The party is right-wing on issues like guns and abortion, but they don't even try to pretend that they give a shit about taxpayers and the march of Big Government Socialism.

The Great Liar
Abel Maldonado

State Senator Abel Maldonado betrayed his No New Taxes pledge and voted to pass the largest tax increase in the history of California.  The Republican Party rewarded his lies, gave him thirty pieces of silver and promoted him to Lt. Governor.

Both the Socialist leadership of the GOP and the non-thinking Republican voters have rewarded this scumbag four times in a row after he fucked over taxpayers.  They made him Lt. Governor, he then won the GOP nomination for Lt. Governor, GOP voters voted to keep him in the Lt. Governor's office in 2010 and now GOP voters supported him for a seat in Congress.

Does the Republican Party Believe in Anything?

That is the real question of the day.  If Republican leaders and voters keep supporting Big Government Socialists who vote to tax and spend and re-distribute the wealth, then is the GOP a Socialist Party?

Yes has to be the answer.

If it quacks like a duck then it is a duck.  Several years ago I stopped listening to what GOP politicians said and looked at the bottom line of the results of their being in office.  After all is said and done, if the results are more Big Government and more Marxist wealth re-distribution then the GOP is Socialist.  They might be considered "moderate" Socialists when put side by side with red flag waving Democrats, but Socialist they are.

Below are endorsements for the proven liar Maldonado and Big Government from many well known Republican leaders.  This is directly from Abel Maldonado for Congress. 

ENDORSING THE GREAT LIAR MALDONADO
FEDERAL & STATE OFFICIALS 
--Judge William Clark, Former US National Security Advisor
--Edwin Meese, Former US Attorney General
--George P. Shultz, Former US Secretary of State
--Stu Spencer, Campaign Manager, President Reagan
--Robert Lagomarsino, Retired Congressman
--Katcho Achadjian, CA Assemblyman
--Mike Curb, Former CA Lt. Gov. & CEO, Curb Records
--Bruce McPherson, Former CA Secretary of State
--Bill Simon, Former CA Governor Nominee
--Anthony Canella, CA State Senator
--Bill Emmerson, CA State Senator
--Mimi Walters, CA State Senator
--Connie Conway, CA Assembly Leader
--Nathan Fletcher, CA Assemblyman
--Dan Logue, CA Assemblyman
--David Valadao, CA Assemblyman
--Rebecca Morgan, Former CA State Senator
--Dick Ackerman, Former CA State Senate Leader
--Jim Brulte, Former CA State Senate Leader
--Dave Cogdill, Former CA State Senate Leader
--Dennis Hollingsworth, Former CA State Senate Leader
--Fred Aguiar, Former CA Assemblyman & CA Gov. Cabinet Secretary
--Jim Cunneen, Former CA Assemblyman

ENDORSING THE GREAT LIAR MALDONADO
COUNTY OFFICIALS
--Tom Sneddon, Former District Attorney, Santa Barbara County
--Jim Thomas, Former Sheriff, Santa Barbara County
--Patrick Hedges, Former Sheriff, San Luis Obispo County
--Frank Mecham, San Luis Obispo County Supervisor
--Paul Teixeira, San Luis Obispo County Supervisor
--Joni Gray, Santa Barbara County Supervisor
--Steve Lavagnino, Santa Barbara County Supervisor
--Ruth Brackett, Former San Luis Obispo County Supervisor
--Jerry Diefenderfer, Former San Luis Obispo County Supervisor
--Jerry Lenthall, Former San Luis Obispo County Supervisor
--Howard Mankins, Former San Luis Obispo County Supervisor
--Harry Ovitt, Former San Luis Obispo County Supervisor
--Joe Centeno, Former Santa Barbara County Supervisor
--Brooks Firestone, Former Santa Barbara County Supervisor
--DeWayne Holmdahl, Former Santa Barbara County Supervisor

ENDORSING THE GREAT LIAR MALDONADO
CITY MAYORS & PRO TEMS
--Ed Andrisek, Mayor of Buellton
--Lupe Alvarez, Mayor of Guadalupe
--John Linn, Mayor of Lompoc
--William Yates, Mayor of Morro Bay
--Jim Richardson, Mayor of Solvang
--Bob Kelley, Mayor Pro Tem of Atascadero
--Bill Nicolls, Mayor Pro Tem of Grover Beach
--John Hamon, Mayor Pro Tem of Paso Robles
--Kris Vardas, Vice Mayor of Pismo Beach
--Ray Johnson, Former Mayor of Atascadero
--Gary Nielsen, Former Mayor of Carpinteria
--Jean Blois, Former Mayor of Goleta
--Peter Keith, Former Mayor of Grover Beach
--Larry Versaw, Fomer Mayor of Grover Beach
--Marvin Loney, Former Mayor of Lompoc
--Mike Simenski, Former Mayor of Lompoc
--Joe Valencia, Former Mayor of Lompoc
--Jim Heggarty, Former Mayor of Paso Robles
--Dave Romero, Former Mayor of San Luis Obispo
--Eric Onnen, Former Mayor of Goleta