$363,986 - San Bernardino County Sheriff highest paid elected California official

"Corruptus in Extremis"

- - - Sure these huge salaries, bonuses and pensions are "legal", but they are only legal because the corrupt political hacks scratch each other's backs.

(San Bernardino Sun)  -  San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon topped the list of highest paid elected officials in California in 2013, according to recently released data by the state Controller’s Office,

A onetime payment of $121,579 for accrued vacation and sick time that McMahon cashed out after being appointed sheriff by the Board of Supervisors in December 2012 catapulted him to the top of state Controller John Chiang’s list.

Coupled with his base salary of $225,499, McMahon’s total income for 2013 was $363,986, according to the Controller’s Office.

McMahon took office as San Bernardino County sheriff in January 2013, and he was subsequently elected sheriff for four more years in the June primary.

The Board of Supervisors appointed McMahon sheriff following the abrupt departure of Sheriff Rod Hoops, who announced he was retiring in November 2012 to take another job with the Washington, D.C., law-enforcement think tank Police Foundation, headed by retired Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann.

Prior to becoming sheriff, McMahon was an assistant sheriff with nearly 30 years of accrued vacation and sick time he never used while ascending the ranks from patrol deputy to the sheriff’s executive staff.

“That’s 28 years of leave banks, and I was not a big user of sick leave or vacation time in my career,” McMahon said. “I think I used 2 hours of sick leave in my career.”

McMahon attributes his lack of sick time to being in the gym five days a week and “being blessed with good genes.”

“I have a pretty good track record of being healthy,” said McMahon, 51.

In a news release last month, Chiang, in an effort to make public finance information more readily available to taxpayers, announced two new websites: PublicPay.ca.gov, which provides information on public employee pay and benefits, and Trackprop30.ca.gov, which assists taxpayers in tracking every dollar raised under Proposition 30, a sales and income tax increase initiative approved by voters in 2012 that is supposed to benefit public schools.

On the list of top-earning public officials, former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca came in at number two with $347,786 in total wages in 2013, followed by San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector Larry Walker with $325,245.

The Board of Supervisors in 2010 approved a merger of the Treasurer/Tax Collector and Auditor-Controller offices in an effort to save the county between $500,000 and $1 million a year.

San Bernardino County is one of several counties in California that have combined treasurer-tax collector and auditor-controller offices. Others include Sacramento, Santa Clara and Fresno counties.

Walker said that while he has been tasked with a lot more responsibility and received a bump in pay due to the merger, it has had little negative impact on office operations. On the contrary, things are running more smoothly and efficiently than ever, and communication has improved greatly among him, his division chief and his staff, he said.

“I feel good about what I’ve done, but it’s an ongoing effort that I’m always involved in,” Walker said.

Other elected San Bernardino County officials who made the state controller’s list include District Attorney Michael A. Ramos, who ranked 15th highest paid elected official in the state with $259,451 in total wages in 2013. Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk Dennis Draeger was ranked 17th highest paid with $256,682 in total wages in 2013.

San Bernardino County ranked 25th in the state in terms of employee pay and benefits, with an average wage of $48,997 and an average of $20,321 in retirement and health care costs.

Salaries for the county’s five elected supervisors in 2013 were: $163,238, $168,237, $169.106, $172,930, and $173,503.

California Cops Steal Naked Photos of Women

(Contra Costa Times)  -  The California Highway Patrol officer accused of stealing nude photos from a DUI suspect's phone told investigators that he and his fellow officers have been trading such images for years, in a practice that stretches from its Los Angeles office to his own Dublin station, according to court documents obtained by this newspaper Friday.

CHP Officer Sean Harrington, 35, of Martinez, also confessed to stealing explicit photos from the cellphone of a second Contra Costa County DUI suspect in August and forwarding those images to at least two CHP colleagues. The five-year CHP veteran called it a "game" among officers, according to an Oct. 14 search warrant affidavit.

Harrington told investigators he had done the same thing to female arrestees a "half dozen times in the last several years," according to the court records, which included leering text messages between Harrington and his Dublin CHP colleague, Officer Robert Hazelwood.

Contra Costa County prosecutors are investigating and say the conduct of the officers -- none of whom has been charged so far -- could compromise any criminal cases in which they are witnesses. CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said in a statement that his agency too has "active and open investigations" and cited a similar case several years ago in Los Angeles involving a pair of officers.

"The allegations anger and disgust me," Farrow said. "We expect the highest levels of integrity and moral strength from everyone in the California Highway Patrol, and there is no place in our organization for such behavior."

Rick Madsen, the Danville attorney for the 23-year-old San Ramon woman who was the first to report Harrington, said the implications of the case are "far-reaching and very damaging."

"The callousness and depravity with which these officers communicated about my client is dehumanizing, horribly offensive and degrading to all women," he said. "It's going to lead to another level of mistrust and skepticism to the motive of law enforcement in general."

The San Ramon woman's DUI case has already been dismissed because of the investigation into Harrington's conduct, and the CHP confirmed that one of its officers, a 5-year veteran, has been placed on "administrative duties" and is not on patrol, although they did not mention Harrington by name. Deputy district attorney Barry Grove said he expects a decision about charges against officers in the CHP probe to be made next week.

In the search warrant affidavit, senior Contra Costa district attorney inspector Darryl Holcombe wrote that he found probable cause to show both CHP officers Harrington and Hazelwood and others engaged in a "scheme to unlawfully access the cell phone of female arrestees by intentionally gaining access to their cell phone and without their knowledge, stealing and retaining nude or partially clothed photographs of them." That behavior constitutes felony computer theft, the affidavit said.

As this newspaper first reported earlier this week, the investigation began with a single incident: Harrington's conduct during the Aug. 29 arrest of the San Ramon woman. The woman discovered that photos had been stolen from her phone five days after her release, when she noticed on her iPad that the photos had been sent to an unknown number. A record of the messages had been deleted from her iPhone, but the phone had been synced to the iPad.
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Read More . . . .

Obamacare California is running out of money

You mean it's not free?

• California Democrats have been sucking furiously on the Federal teat to keep Obamacare going, but now that flow of "free" Federal cash is going away leaving California taxpayers to pick up the tab.

Covered California (Obamacare) is setting aside nearly $200 million to fight off projected budget shortfalls as it prepares for what it says is a challenging financial future without hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid.

Officials brimmed with confidence after the agency tallied 625,000 individual or family health care enrollments through mid-January, the most of any state. They also say its survival is not assured, in part because of the uncertainty around sign-ups that are key to the exchange's success reports the San Francisco Examiner.

The greatest vulnerabilities include the "long-term sustainability of the organization" after federal grants that have been its sole source of support, more than $1 billion so far, dries up this year, the agency's executive director, Peter Lee, wrote in December to the California Department of Finance.

Lee outlined a list of potential risks that, along with the pace of enrollments, included safeguarding personal data, staff training and turnover, and protecting the agency from fraud and waste. To be self-sustaining, he said, the agency will make changes "to reflect ... revenue realities."

In its short life, Covered California has grown to oversee a $400 million budget, more than 860 employees and offices throughout the state. The agency is in the process of hiring 350 additional call-center employees, mostly in Fresno.

Need a Doctor? - You are Screwed!

Covered California pulls troubled online physician directory

The state's health exchange, Covered California, has taken down its error-plagued online physician directory until further notice.

The announcement was made after consumers complained that the directory contained misinformation about whether their doctors were participating in their new policies. Exchange officials said they would remove the physician directory from its website.

"We were trying to help consumers in selecting their plans, and we needed all (health insurers) to give reliable and accurate information," said Anne Gonzales, a spokeswoman for Covered California reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

The complaints began shortly after the policies became effective Jan. 1. Enrollees said that they checked the Covered California website to make sure their doctor would be part of their new plan's network, but later found out the information was wrong.

This is not the first time the new state agency has had to take the physician directory offline. The exchange pulled the doctor list from the site in mid-October to fix technical problems, but republished it before the end of that month, Gonzales said.

Gonzales noted that Thursday's decision affects only the combined physician directory, or the online tool that allowed consumers to see which physicians were in which networks to help them make their decisions. She said people can still find the physician information by clicking on individual plans. She did not know when the physician directory would be available again.

California Obamacare exchange is giving out your private information

 "Corruptus in Extremis"

• Corrupt drone government workers have given your private Obamacare info to "selected" private businesses so you can be telemarketed.
• Even under normal circumstances your "private" data on the Internet leaks like a sieve through stupidity, corruption or hacking.  Under Democrat Socialism your sensitive private medical information should be available to about 3.7 billion people on any given day.

Widespread fears that Obamacare exchanges would fail to guard customer information are already coming true in California, where the state exchange is giving selected insurance agents customer contact information, resulting in unwanted calls and emails to Californians who have checked out the exchange but declined to buy insurance.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Covered California, which Obamacare proponents have held up as a rare example of a functioning state health care exchange, provides names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of customers who did not ask to be contacted.

“[Y]our contact information was provided to me by Covered California since your application is not yet finalized, however, you have been determined as eligible by Covered California,” an email sent to one outraged Californian began.

Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee told the paper that the unwanted contacts were necessary because the exchange is falling behind in its enrollment goals.

“I can imagine some people may be upset,” Lee offered.

The Golden State maintains a network of 7,700 technically private insurance agents to promote its health care exchange. The Times contacted agents who expressed outrage or conceded that the calls could be irksome to customers. The president of the California Association of Health Underwriters told the paper he was “shocked and dumbfounded” by the news and had assumed the customers on the call list requested contact.

“For a government agency to release this information to an outside person is a major issue,” a Ventura County tech consultant, who received an unwanted outreach, told the paper.

Lee told the Times Covered California does not share sensitive information such as Social Security numbers and maintained that the practice is legal.

Saloon Owner Told to Remove Sign Honoring Vets

It’s been there for six years, but now

they want to pull it down?

• The real issue is not the sign.  The real issue is the mindset of the mouth-breathing government worker drones who think pissing on Vets and the public is a great idea.

The People's Republic of California  -  A sign hovering above a Huntington Beach saloon for the last six years, thanking veterans for protecting our freedom, has been ordered to be removed. When he arrived at work on Monday, Johnny Kresimir, the owner of Johnny’s Booze and Pool, discovered a citation had been placed on his door.

A city spokeswoman for Huntington Beach said the establishment lacked the proper permits to display the sign that reads, “Thank a Veteran for your Freedom.”

Kresimir posted on Facebook that the City was threatening him with a $1000 fine if he didn’t produce the necessary permits to hang the sign. “If the sign goes down, it’s not going to hurt our business. It’s just going to hurt the community,” Kresimir lamented reports the Huntington Beach Independent.

Veterans reacted to the incident by posting reasons for why the sign should remain perched above the bar. A campaign to keep the sign has been spearheaded by Mayor Pro Tem Matthew Harper. He pledges that he will fight to preserve the sign if it comes up before the City Council.

The metal structure that supports the sign was placed there before Kresimir purchased the saloon. Removing the sign is a big job because of the electrical wiring, and his commercial lease prohibits anyone to stand on the roof. Kresimir is dismayed that he has to take it down because he erected the sign to honor veterans and those currently serving in our military.

However, the patriotic proprietor isn’t giving up and plans to lobby the city to see if he can keep the sign in place. If he loses the battle, Kresimir vows to invite veterans from the area to come and say goodbye to the symbol that honors them.

The SEIU just bought the California GOP

Party For Sale

California's Republicans bailed out by unions

• The Republican Party’s 7-figure debt had been paid off. Even more stunning was the news of who paid it: the SEIU.
• SEIU California officials have launched a Republican political action committee.

(Washington Times)  -  California’s unions have positioned themselves for a perpetual power grab against the political parties. To this end, they are attempting to achieve a stranglehold on political contributions, making their money the most important money that either party can receive.

The dead hand of government dependency weighs heavy on California’s politics. California’s Democrats have nearly obliterated the Republicans on their triumphant march to a welfare state. This is dangerous for the unions, whose support of Democrats is unnecessary if Democrats face no organized opposition. They are therefore uniting to prop up the GOP and keep the war going. Giving money to the GOP helps prevent a Democratic political monopoly, holding the Republicans up as a threat to Democratic power that will never actually materialize.

So why would the California GOP sell out to the Service Employees International Union – the SEIU?
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On October 4-6, 2013, the California Republican Party (CRP or CAGOP) held its Fall Convention at the Hilton Anaheim Hotel. This year’s theme, under the direction of newly elected Chairman Jim Brulte, was “Building from the ground up.”

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This year, the CRP Fall Convention set the tone for big changes in the Party. But do these changes include partnership with the SEIU? Has California’s GOP sold itself by taking money from SEIU?

California Republicans continue to decline. The number of voter registrations fell statewide to below 30 percent. People are not joining the party; zero to slow growth makes all the party’s existing problems worse.

Republicans hold no statewide offices in California. Their numbers in the California State Assembly are too small to have any meaningful impact on legislation. California is essentially a one-party state.
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Given that situation, those in attendance at the GOP’s Fall Convention were stunned at Brulte’s announcement that the Party’s 7-figure debt had been paid off. Even more stunning was the news of who paid it: the SEIU.

California Republican Party boss Jim Brulte.

What did that cost the California Republicans?

Brulte began his CAGOP debt removal strategy just this year. When he took over the party, he called his job “more like a bankruptcy workout.” At the time, he put the Party’s debt as high as $800,000.

On June 9, 2011, The Blaze Reported that SEIU California officials had launched a Republican political action committee. Their goal is to support candidates from right-leaning areas to Sacramento who put practical solutions to solve problems above strict conservative thinking.

“Our legislators are harangued by radio talk show hosts like John and Ken and D.C. ideologues like Grover Norquist,” said Bob Schoonover, president of SEIU Local 721 in Southern California.

Schoonover, a registered Republican, said lawmakers are afraid to do the right thing. “We’ve lost the art of compromise that allows us to make deals in tough times,” he said.

On June 10, 2011, News PopZero blog asked questions about the potential issues with SEUI’s objective. For starters, “the union likely will try to discourage Democrats from running in that district. Instead, the union will back a moderate Republican — and ask Democratic voters to do the same — in hopes that the moderate can advance to the general election and defeat whatever conservative Republican candidate emerges in a Republican district.”

In a story titled “Teachers union, SEIU open wallets to California Republican Party,” the Sacramento Bee reported that in recent weeks the California Teachers Association PAC donated $10,000 to the California GOP, SEIU Local 1000 donated $15,000, and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association donated another $3,000. Representatives of all three of these powerful public sector unions attended CRP’s Fall 2013 Convention, and some members welcomed them with open arms.

Chairman Brulte has taken charge by raising money faster than the last two chairmen, Tom Del Beccaro and Ron Nehring. The CRP has raised over $3.0 million so far this year and is on a fast track to total financial recovery.

As a proportion of total public sector union funds, the donations to California’s GOP are not large. The CTA has 325,000 members who on average pay well over $1,000 per year in dues. The CTA spends about 30 percent of its funds on political activities, or about $100 million per year to influence politics in California. So why would Brulte take money from unions who spend nearly all of their political resources on liberal causes and support Democratic candidates?

When Brulte was asked about this by a group of reporters, he emphasized that taking these contributions is part of a larger strategy to engage and encourage Republican members of public sector unions. He said:

“There are Republican members in almost every union I’m aware of. A significant percentage of SEIU 1000 members are Republican. Forty percent of the CTA members are Republicans. For years, those Republicans have been trying to get their leadership — most of whom are activist Democrats — to give some of that money to Republicans. I’ve been working with the Republicans in these unions, and they have been encouraging their leaders to take some of their dues money and give it to Republican causes.”

If the CTA membership is as high as 40 percent registered Republican in a state where only 28 percent of the electorate is registered Republican, why has it taken this long for members to put pressure on their union leaders to give money to Republicans? In October 2012 according to Mary Kay Henry, then President of the SEIU, about 30 percent of SEIU members voted Republican and an additional 20 percent were independents.

SEIU members should be very concerned about this kind of “pay-for-play” bargaining on their behalf. If the SEIU wants to be taken seriously as an organization, they need to do more than show concern for supporting Democrats who promote their initiatives. They need to be concerned about wasteful spending and government programs; after all, SEIU members pay those taxes as well.

Do the 30 percent of the SEIU members who are Republicans have any control to how their dues are donated to parties? No. A year ago, Veritas O’Keefe’s organization sent out an email explaining the impact of this collusion between union leadership and the Democrats.

“Since 2005, labor unions have reported spending $4.4 billion on political activity, with the vast majority of that money going to Democrats like Robert Menendez, despite the fact that half of SEIU members identify as Republicans or Independents! Besides an obvious conflict of interest, the worst part about the financial arrangement between unions and elected officials is that much of the money going into campaign coffers comes from compulsory membership dues. In other words, union members are forced to pay for political candidates or activities they may not even support.”

If Republicans who are union members want to keep their jobs, they know the GOP is not welcomed by the SEIU, and they have kept their voices quiet. When asked whether or not accepting money from public sector unions might help legitimize public sector unions, Jim Brulte was emphatic.

The union strategy on political contributions will have an effect on the CAGOP in time. Whether this is a strategy to influence both parties or an attempt to be responsive to members, it puts the unions in a more powerful positions with both their traditional friends — the Democrats — and the Republicans.


Read more: Washington Times.
 

$564 million in special interest spending buys the legislature

"Corruptus in Extremis"

During the 2011-2012 California legislative session, interest groups spent $564 million lobbying state government. That's enough to enough to run the state parks department for a year reports the Sacramento Bee.

Lobbying expenditures increased 5 percent during the last session compared to the previous one, representing a full recovery from a brief dip in lobbyist spending during the recession -- and a new, all-time record.

CALIFORNIA STATE COUNCIL OF SERVICE EMPLOYEES	$8,673,835
WESTERN STATES PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION	$8,481,004
CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION	$8,392,913
CALIFORNIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE	$6,656,838
KAISER FOUNDATION HEALTH PLAN, INC.	$5,969,645
CHEVRON CORPORATION AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES	$5,660,533
CALIFORNIA HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION/CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF HOSPITA	$5,042,077
CALIFORNIA MANUFACTURERS AND TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION	$4,572,312
AT&T INC. AND ITS AFFILIATES	$4,367,381
VERNON; CITY OF	$4,319,069
HOWARD JARVIS TAXPAYERS ASSOCIATION	$3,980,961
CALIFORNIA SCHOOL EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION	$3,654,399
LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES	$3,563,819
CALIFORNIA BUILDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION	$3,402,596
LOS ANGELES; CITY OF	$3,330,198
. SEMPRA ENERGY AND ITS AFFILIATES, SAN DIEGO GAS & ELECTRIC COMPAN	$3,305,741
CALIFORNIA LABOR FEDERATION, AFL-CIO	$3,197,924
EDISON INTERNATIONAL & AFFILIATES SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON, KER	$3,015,605
PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY AND ITS AFFILIATED ENTITIES	$2,968,384
CALIFORNIA STATE ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES	$2,937,766
CALIFORNIA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION	$2,898,355
LOS ANGELES; COUNTY OF	$2,788,739
ALAMEDA; COUNTY OF	$2,471,336
SAN BERNARDINO; COUNTY OF	$2,360,227
CALIFORNIA RETAILERS ASSOCIATION	$2,266,529
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS	$2,236,592
ORANGE; COUNTY OF	$2,232,999
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF HEALTH PLANS	$2,144,301
WAL-MART STORES INC.	$2,126,031
METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA	$2,104,882
SAN DIEGO; COUNTY OF	$2,002,100
RESEARCH AFFILIATES, LLC	$1,881,980
CONSUMER ATTORNEYS OF CALIFORNIA	$1,870,761
ANTHEM BLUE CROSS	$1,827,451
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY	$1,761,375
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS	$1,715,520

Use this database to search every organization that recently paid lobbyists Sacramento Bee.

Jerry Brown takes a $54,400 bribe from the SEIU

"Corruptus in Extremis"

A State pay raise to union workers hits Jerry Brown's desk the

same time as a $54,400 union campaign contribution to

the Governor's campaign committee.

Corrupt Money  -  It all depends what you do with it.  If a politician hides a bribe for services rendered in his freezer he can go to jail.  But if that same politician deposits that same bribe in his campaign account then it is "legal".

Either way the taxpayers are fucked.

Temporary tax increases recently approved by voters are paying off for the People's Republic of California's largest public employees' union.
   
The state Senate this week, following earlier approval in the Assembly, ratified a three-year agreement that gives the 95,000 members of Service Employees International Union Local 1000 4.5 percent pay raises by July 1, 2015. The agreement was negotiated between the union and the People's Governor Jerry Brown.

Democrats used their two-thirds supermajority in the Senate on Wednesday to approve AB1377 on a 27-8 vote, sending the bill containing the agreement to the Socialist Democratic Governor for his signature. temporary tax increases recently approved by voters are paying off for California's largest public employees' union.    ..
They acted days after SEIU 1000 gave Brown's 2014 re-election campaign committee $54,400.

"We don't really have any comment on that specific contribution," union spokesman Jim Zamora said. "But it is worth noting that SEIU Local 1000 worked very hard in 2010 to elect Jerry Brown and to defeat (Republican) Meg Whitman. Nothing has changed in terms of our support for him."   

A spokesman for the governor would not comment on the timing of the contribution, opting instead to address the contract itself reports the San Jose Mercury News.

Only Democrats supported the measure in the Senate, but 10 Republicans voted it for it in the Assembly, where it passed 63-9 last month. That included Assembly Minority Leader Connie Conway, R-Tulare.

Republicans in the Senate said approving the agreement based on temporary taxes is foolish and a disservice to voters. The quarter cent sales tax hike will expire in four years and the higher income taxes on the wealthy in seven.     They said voters were misled by the governor and other supporters of the initiative, Proposition 30, when they said the money would be dedicated to public schools.
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"The governor asked Californians this past year to approve a tax increase for education, which we gave him. Today, we are about to give a $1 billion pay raise to the state employees instead," Sen. Tom Berryhill, R-Twain Harte, said during Wednesday's floor debate.
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The $1 billion estimate assumes that other state employee unions receive similar raises patterned on the SEIU 1000 pact, Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, said in a statement. He criticized the state giving raises to government workers while others are struggling.
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It is the first pay raise for the employees in seven years, said Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, who carried the measure in the Senate. The SEIU contract will cost the state's general fund $130 million a year once the full increase kicks in.

 

Bullet train to go right through a high school

Bullet train draws a bull's eye on downtown Bakersfield

• The train could run through the 174-bed Bakersfield Homeless Center, Bakersfield High School and dozens of buildings.

The insanity of the People's Republic's Bullet Train goes on and on.  Up and down the empty agricultural Central Valley the government hacks have chosen the most densely populated and expensive areas to run the tracks.

California High Speed Rail officials have released a preliminary track alignment through Bakersfield that would steer clear of several notable local sites but would require the bulldozing of others.

The rail authority's alignment alternatives for Bakersfield have raised considerable concern locally. One option would require demolition of a building at Bakersfield High. Churches and businesses would also be negatively impacted by different scenarios, as would city-owned facilities.

In late 2011, the rail authority proposed a new option that staff said would lessen the impact on the city. But that "hybrid" route also caused concern because it would run through the 174-bed Bakersfield Homeless Center on East Truxtun Avenue, as well as new housing proposed at Mill Creek, parking for the downtown convention center and other properties reports the Bakersfield Californian.

A spokeswoman for Mercy Hospital said the preliminary alignment released Tuesday would affect the medical center.

Bakersfield City Manager Alan Tandy and the Kern Council of Governments had argued in favor of delaying a decision on route alternatives through the county. Noting that there is no money to build the project's initial phase all the way south from Merced to Bakersfield anyway, they proposed a tentative alignment following the existing BNSF railroad. That would leave options open but avoid placing a stigma on properties that would be affected by any final alignment.

Wasco city manager Dan Allen noted that the City Council has passed a resolution opposed to the project.



 

In an empty agricultural Central Valley government hacks run the train through the most expensive and densely populated areas.

SHOCK  - Trains Stop!
No one appears to notice that trains make stops.  The Bullet Train will not be rushing at ultra-speed from Los Angeles to San Francisco.  What no one talks about is trains make stops to drop off an pick up passengers and their luggage.
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There will be multiple stops for the train such as Burbank, Palmdale, Bakersfield, Fresno and San Jose.  Each stop will require 30 to 45 minutes to load and unload everyone involved.  A trip with five stops at different stations could add perhaps 3 hours or more to the trip.  You might be able to drive there faster in your car.

California's High-Speed Rail Authority sues everybody

You have been served.

Comrade Governor Jerry Brown wants a single judge to decide the entire corrupt high speed rail program

• The Leftist Democrats are desperate to make sure the corrupt unions and businesses sucking on the Bullet Train money are protected from the people.

(San Jose Mercury News)  -   If you're reading this, consider yourself served.

The People's Republic of California has filed a civil case against everyone -- literally, the whole world -- seeking to validate $8.6 billion in voter-approved bonds for its $69 billion high-speed rail project.

The lawsuit, titled "High-Speed Rail Authority v. All Persons Interested," is meant as a pre-emptive strike so the state can confirm that it's definitely legal to issue some of the bonds needed to begin bullet train construction this summer. By citing a somewhat obscure California civil code, the state can use the "sue now or forever hold your peace" strategy to prevent a string of future lawsuits and, instead, deal with the legal issues in one fell swoop.

Anyone interested in trying to block the project can sign up with the court, put their endless hours of "Law & Order" watching to use, wear their best suit and show up at a hearing to argue their case. They would join lawyers who are already suing the rail authority in other cases and go toe-to-toe with the state Attorney General's Office, which is representing the rail authority.

The state's biggest-ever project is also one of its most controversial, which has led the rail authority to swat away lawsuit after lawsuit since California voters approved the bullet train in November 2008.

"You might as well do it for the whole shebang," said Oakland-based attorney Stuart Flashman, one of the lawyers already suing the rail authority. He will join this new case, too, and expects at least a half-dozen people to join him.


"It says you've got the court's stamp of approval," he said. "Nobody can come back and say, 'You shouldn't issue these bonds.' "

Lawyers say this "validation" process, while not well known, isn't necessarily uncommon among public agencies that want to create a legal shield against future lawsuits to calm investors interested in their bonds.

The city of San Jose did it in 2009, for example, before issuing bonds to expand its convention center. Even then, that case ended up being tied up for a year because a gadfly signed up to challenge it, before the city won, said City Attorney Rick Doyle.

"You never know what you're going to get," he said. "You could get a crazy person filing something."

Riverside attorney Danielle Sakai, who has represented clients in several similar cases for the law firm Best Best & Krieger, said, "It could take years to work its way through the courts, but once that's done, it's done, and it can't be challenged."

The rail authority released a statement saying the attorney general's strategy, unveiled in Sacramento County Superior Court last week, "promotes judicial economy" by combining all potential lawsuits into one.

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Government Insanity
The stupidity and corruption of the insane Bullet Train crowd is off the charts.  In the empty agricultural Central Valley the government wants to run the train through the most expensive and densely populated areas.  In the above case millions will be spent to move the 99 freeway 100 feet for the train.

$413,000 pension for life to government worker

Meet the Looter and Moocher of the Month
County Administrator Susan Muranishi

Alameda County rewards boss: $400k…for life

• Socialist Democrats demand more and more taxes to line the pockets of crooked government workers who are looting the treasury.

Alameda County supervisors have really taken to heart the adage that government should run like a business — rewarding County Administrator Susan Muranishi with the Wall Street-like wage of $423,664 a year reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

For the rest of her life.

According to county pay records, in addition to her $301,000 base salary, Muranishi receives:

– $24,000, plus change, in “equity pay’’ to guarantee that she makes at least 10 percent more than anyone else in the county.

– About $54,000 a year in “longevity” pay for having stayed with the county for more than 30 years.

– An annual performance bonus of $24,000.

– And another $9,000 a year for serving on the county’s three-member Surplus Property Authority, an ad hoc committee of the Board of Supervisors that oversees the sale of excess land.

Like other county executives, Muranishi also gets an $8,292-a-year car allowance.

Muranishi has been with the county for 38 years, and she’s 63. When retirement day comes, she’ll be getting a lot more than a gold watch.

That’s because, according to the county auditor’s office, Muranishi’s annual pension will be equal to the dollar total of her entire yearly package — $413,000.

She also has a separate executive private pension plan, for which the county chips in $46,500 a year.


(San Francisco Chronicle)

Crooks & Foster Children to get Bullet Train Jobs

An orgy of insane liberal political correctness

• Moron Liberals want 30% of Bullet Train jobs filled by former foster children, single parents, the homeless and convicted criminals.
• Everyone from businesses to unions are furiously sucking on the teat of high speed rail.

The prospect of construction jobs in the recession-weary Central Valley has long been a selling point for proponents of California's $68 billion high-speed rail project.

A controversy has arisen, however, since officials pledged in December to reserve a portion of those jobs for certain disadvantaged people.

In addition to veterans, former foster children and single parents, the classification includes high school dropouts, the homeless and people who have been convicted of a crime.

"There's another chapter in the high-speed fail saga, and I almost can't do this one with a straight face," Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, said in a recent installment of "Are You Kidding Me?" a video series in which Jones vents political frustrations.  

"What a social engineering disaster this is going to be, and add to California's laughingstock reputation," he told the Sacramento Bee..The rail policy, contained in a request for proposals issued to contractors, calls for at least 30 percent of project labor to be done by people who live in low-income areas, with at least 10 percent of that work going to disadvantaged workers.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/04/5233285/high-speed-rail-project-targets.html#storylink=cpy

 

The rail policy, contained in a request for proposals issued to contractors, calls for at least 30 percent of project labor to be done by people who live in low-income areas, with at least 10 percent of that work going to disadvantaged workers.

Liberals lobbied rail officials for a "disadvantaged-worker" program for two years before its approval.

"The notion that this buffet of employment could go through this community, and we've got unemployed people who are starving …," said one activist, "I knew we'd get it right because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us, for the workers."

Opposition to the rail authority's new hiring policy is partly ideological. Jones scoffed last week at "some of the liberals up here in Sacramento" and said that "when you're building a high-technology system like this … you should be hiring the people that are most qualified, not the most disadvantaged."


California bullet train insanity -  John and Ken

Another criticism has nothing to do with the policy itself, but with its inclusion in a broader agreement that even rail officials acknowledge is a form of Project Labor Agreement negotiated with labor organizers.

Under the broader Community Benefits Agreement, non-union subcontractors could work on the project, but only if they agree to wage and working conditions typically afforded union workers.

Kevin Dayton, a former lobbyist for Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., which represents non-union contractors, said the Community Benefits Agreement is exclusionary and that the authority promoted its "disadvantaged worker" program only to divert attention from it.

"I believe that that particular policy was simply a front for what they really wanted to do, which was to require all of the contractors working on it to sign a Project Labor Agreement," said Dayton, who is now an independent consultant.

Rail officials are reviewing proposals from five consortiums seeking to build the first section of the rail line, a 30-mile stretch from Madera to Fresno costing as much as $1.8 billion.

But Nicole Goehring, government affairs director of the Associated Builders and Contractors' Northern California chapter, said many non-union contractors won't bid under restrictive conditions of the agreement.

"For your qualified, skilled workers who might be able to bid it but don't happen to be in the union," she said, "they now have to, their employers have to sign on to these union workforce rules in order to be able to have an opportunity to work on the job."

The rail authority's hiring policy is one of several policies designed to keep project money in California. Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed legislation last year requiring the rail authority to "make every effort" to buy trains and related equipment from manufacturers in California.

Such policies, Morales said, could lure engineering and manufacturing firms to California, creating "a rail industry similar to the way aerospace was such an important driver of the state's economy in the '50s and '60s."

The rail line is proposed to begin in June or July in the Central Valley and expand outward, connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco within 15 years. The authority still must acquire land for the project, and long-term financing remains uncertain.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/04/5233285/high-speed-rail-project-targets.html#storylink=cpy

Bullet Train Insanity

In the empty, agricultural Central Valley, the morons running the Bullet Train selected the most densely populated areas to build.  Homes and businesses up and down the Valley would be torn out driving up already high costs.

About 40 Fresno business owners and employees rallied against California's proposed high-speed rail project at the former Klein's Truck Stop.
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The Central Valley Tea Party organized the event, which drew dozens of other opponents, in advance of meetings the state High-Speed Rail Authority in Fresno.
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Tea Party activist Steve Brandau said that 106 business owners along the path of the high-speed trains have signed and sent letters to the Fresno City Council and the Fresno County Board of Supervisors opposing the project.
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"Our chief concern is that there's no viable funding stream for this project," Brandau said. The organization's message to Gov. Jerry Brown and the state's rail authority, he added, is "What part of 'We are broke' don't you understand?"
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A large sign at the rally proclaimed, "100 Businesses against High Speed Rail," and declared that rail money would be better spent on water, roads and jails. (Fresno Bee)

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/05/01/2820794/local-tea-party-to-host-high-speed.html#storylink=cpy

CRAIG KOHLRUSS/THE FRESNO BEE - Local veterans advocate Charlie Waters speaks out against the High Speed Rail project during a Tea Party rally at Klein's truck stop in northwest Fresno.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/05/01/2820794/local-tea-party-to-host-high-speed.html#storylink=cpy