Category Archives: California Politics

Stem Cell Con Job or Why Are We Scrambling to Let A Deadbeat In Our Community?

Posted on March 29, 2005 by | Leave a comment

I don’t know what is more irritating to me, as a taxpayer, to observe and make me cringe when it comes to the so-called “Stem Cell Research Initiative” voters, in their inimitable wisdom, passed in 2004 here in California.
Part of it is the actual law itself – but also, the way both the press and so-called “leaders” of local governments have chosen to overlook serious problems with this law.
Instead, they’ve chosen instead to shower an institute funded with $3 billion dollars of credit card spending with yet more “free” (aka “taxpayer funded” goodies). All for a scientific institute that is to be headed up by…a real estate developer with no experience in science, let alone stem cells.
Let’s start by taking a look at the law itself. Now, throughout the campaign, voters heard endless, heart-tugging emotional stories of those afflicted with terrible diseases. The initiative’s backers skillfully manipulated people, who want to do things to help others, to vote for this new law. People against the law were dismissed as ultra-right religious extremists (even though opposition came from people of diverse political views).
Like so many other initiatives, any real examination of the ramifications of the law were never fully examined. Then the thing passed. And suddenly, after the dust settled, we started to see a wave of “mea culpas” from the press like this one in the December San Francisco Chronticle, and another in the Bay Guardian.
Among the little details: the initiative is using borrowed money, $3 billion worth, and part of that has to go to paying of the debt created by the borrowing right away. So first thing we’re seeing these guys spend money on isn’t life-saving research – it’s bond debt. Out of $300 million in borrowed money in the first few years, as much as $200 million could go to…debt service. To paraphrase the Chronicle – this is like using part of a home loan to make the house payments. Now there’s a responsible way to manage money!
If the institute wants to stop spending money on stem cell research, they can. And if they want to spend it on wild parties, they can. And if you want to call your elected officials to bitch and demand a stop to such shenanigans…you can’t. They wrote the law so it’s almost impossible to enforce the same kind of oversight we demand on every other state program.
Best of all, the guy who wrote this thing, with all its faults, and vague promises of how the taxpayers will make their money back, just happens to be the guy in charge of the institute now and responds to queries about how he’ll run things with the words “trust me.”
That inspires a lot of confidence. Especially since he’s the one that wrote so many poison pills in the law that keep anyone from stopping him from using the state credit card any way he wants. No wonder he was the Governor’s choice for the job – we all know how much Gov. Doofinator loves spending on the taxpayer’s credit cards!
Now, I am sure the reporters here are congratulating themselves on a job well done for ‘exposing’ the innards of this law. But I have to wonder -where was all this investigative journalism before the people voted on it and why did so many people including celebrities, politicos, and pundits, sign on to this thing without reading the fine print?
It gives me little satisfaction to say “I told you so!” in this instance – I’d rather people have been a little more responsible, used their votes a bit more wisely, and demanded real answers to some questions before voting.
Now, it’s bad enough that voters passed a law with more loopholes, giveaways, and outright deceit as this one – but it is worse to see what so-called “leaders” of California’s cities are doing now to attract the Big, Taxpayer Funded Headquarters for this thing.
Reading the “bids” taxpayers’ representatives in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, and elsehwere are simply astonishing. We have a situation where cities, in a desperate bid to get the institute in their home towns are trying to out-do each other with offers of free office rent, free gym memberships, free this, and free whatever. Anything at all to get the $3 billion dollar credit card in their home town.
Now, what’s really pathetic is that once again local elected officials are doing two dumb things local electeds do really well – make “investments” in vague promises, and never tell anyone where the money is coming from to pay for said “investments.”
The first is one we hear a lot. Whenever some large, and usually dumb, idea is presented to the public, elected officials use their favorite word when they want to “invest” in a vague promise with your money. They use the word “encourage.” Whenever you hear this word, you need to get out a guard dog and put it next to your wallet – because it usually means someone wants to take money away from you and piss it away on something really dumb or give it away to someone who already has billions of dollars.
In this case, cities are giving away all kinds of free things, including hundreds of thousands of square feet of real estate, money to pay for fancy offices, and money for things like gym memberships to get the Big Headquarters of the so-called “California Institute for Regenerative Medicine” aka “The $3 Billion Credit Card You Have to Pay For.”
Every single time you read what elected officials have to say when asked why they’re giving away money in a time of budget crisis to this thing, they all say something along the lines of how spending this money is an “investment” that will “encourage” businesses to open up shop near said institute, and thus, trickle down the effect of all that spending into local tax coffers, and of course, “create jobs.” Now, there’s nothing in any of these deals that guarantees any of that. But you never hear that part. No one asks, and no one tells.
If there is one thing I wish I could accomplish in politics, it would be to spend the next ten years on a long rage PR campaign to put a stake in the heart of political “junkie logic” like this in public discourse. Why? Because it is 100%, pure, unadulterated bullshit. Let’s see why.
Now, let’s use our friend “metaphor” to deconstruct the political junkie logic in an easy to understand way, and see why any local elected official that engages in said logic needs to be asked to leave town:
Suppose you were asked to take a good portion of your take home pay and put it in an investment your new friend wants you to make. No one can show you the potential rate of return. In fact, no one can show you that there’s any return at all. Worse, when you ask how the investment will work, you’re attacked as being a coward, a liar, or just plain crazy. “Can’t you see how your ‘investment’ will ‘encourage’ people?” they say?
You keep asking “But if I give you my $40,000 of savings, how will I make the money back?” and your new friend keeps saying that your money won’t directly benefit you back – but it will encourage others to give money to you since you’re such a great person for making this investment, and you want to encourage others to do the same so you get your money back. You have no guarantees, and the person taking your money could disappear tomorrow -and you’d be left with nothing.
Now, if this sounds more like a “con” than a sound investment, you’d be right. If you did something like this, you’d go to jail. If you’re an elected official, you’re praised as someone who “creates opportunity” and is “pro-business.”
Meanwhile the countryside is littered with abandoned office space and industiral plants businesses got at the taxpayers’ expense, all in the name of “investing” in the community and the vague promise of “jobs” in the future. And guess what? Most of those elected officials got promotions from the voters anyway!
In the case of the Stem Cell Mafia Institute, the “winning” city may find itself in for a rude shock should they “win” the right to have this debt-creator in their backyard, paid for by more of their citizens’ money. See, there’s no rule in any of that well-written law that the money has to be spent locally. In fact, they’re mandated to spend money where research is being done now – anywhere. Even out of state.
And no company has put up its stockholders’ dividends or its own profits up and said “Hey, I’ll move to the city where the Institute is!” – because most companies aren’t so stupid as to invest in fairy tales. There’s also no guarantee that in the future the Stem Cell Mafia won’t come back and say “give us more or we’ll leave” after the big investment.
So while we can’t figure out how to pay for a few cops in L.A., we can find money to give away $177 million to a billionaire for speculative development, and we can find millions more to “give” to a taxpayer-financed credit card agency with no real fiscal oversight. We can’t vote ourselves taxes to pay for roads, schools, and whatnot but we can vote to borrow money and entrust it to a guy with no scientific background and let him play with it as he sees fit.
It’s time to end the madness. If there was even a small amount of common sense, civic leaders across California would not be letting themselves be played like this. They’d instead suggest that if the Stem Cell Mafia wants to pitch its circus tent in their neighborhood, they’d have to have written guarantees that they’d employ local people at decent wages.
They’d have to guarantee that the states taxpayers, who are paying for the credit card debt keeping the lights on, would share in the patents and royalties generated by any research. And they certainly wouldn’t’ compete against each other like hookers at a street corner – they’d work together, since all of California voted for the initiative, and all of California should benefit.
I realize what I just said was a fairy tale as well. But hey! A person has to dream, right?
(note: this article was originally published on March 29, 2005. However in the ensuing upgrade from one platform to another, it was lost. It is being republished as current events warrant a trip in the Political Wayback Machine.)

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Posted in California Politics, Debunking Politicos Pundits + Spin, San Francisco Politics

Schadelmann’s All-Star Guide To The 2004 Election!

Posted on October 15, 2004 by | Leave a comment

Voting in California takes some effort. Not necessarily to drive to the polls, wait in line, or fill out the mail ballot and find the post office, but to simply wade through a pile of initiatives, everyone’s favorite tool of democracy, in a timely fashion.
Every year people call me and ask how to vote on these things – and every year it seems we not only get more of these initiatives, but we get dumber and dumber ones as well. So as a public service to my fellow Californians, here’s the Schadelmann.com All-Star No-Nonsense Guide to the 2004 Election, with notes as needed:’
President: John Kerry. Yes, I know he isn’t perfect. Guess what? I don’t care! At least he doesn’t think he’s perfect, like the guy in office does now. (I’m waiting for the press conference where Bush says he’s “better than Jesus” like John Lennon did…)
US Senate:Is there a race for Senate? Sure there is. I’m voting for Barbara Boxer, mostly because she autographed a newspaper I had from a rally I ran for her in Santa Cruz, and got her picture taken for free with my mom and dad when they visited Washington DC in 1994. What have you done for me lately, Mr. Jones?
US Congress:I can’t imagine there’s a district in Southern California where the person they drew the district for is going to lose. So you can pretty much vote for anyone and the “right” person will still win.
Rep. Jane Harman lives just a few blocks away from me, so I’m voting for her so I can tell people a Member of Congress lives just a few blocks away from me. And she seems nice. Her campaign is actually running a credible effort too, which is rare these days. Good job!
California State Legislature: The same reasoning applies here – the person they drew these districts for is going to win, barring some bizarre circumstances, so again, you can pretty much vote for whomever you want, and the “right” person will win. Have fun with it. Write in me for State Senate somewhere. Or your dog. Whatever.
Initiatives
Proposition 1A – Local Taxes and The State – NO: This is one of those initiatives I’d like to believe does what it says, since it’s in line with something I believe – that the State shouldn’t be taking locally collected property taxes away from local authorities. It’s wrong, and it denies local authorities, and the citizens who elect them, control over their own money.
That said, it’s unclear that this will accomplish a worthy goal: keeping local money local. After reading so many analyses that aren’t clear as to the details (where the Devil usually resides) I can’t really endorse this as a result. Which sucks, because I don’t know if anything better will come along, but I’m tired of voting for good-intentioned, hastily written laws that end up not working.
Proposition 59 – Open Government – YES: This is an easy call. When you pick up the newspaper and have to read yet another scandal involving Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, or another example of how people who work for the public want to keep the public uninformed as to what they’re doing, it’s clear that this law, which would clarify and codify the concept of open government, is needed.
Proposition 60 – Equal Ballot Access – YES: This is a simple law – it asserts the rights of people to nominate candidates of their party, and see the winner of the party’s primary appear on the fall ballot. This allows all parties to compete for your vote on the November ballot. You’d think such a simple, open, and small-d democratic concept would be a slam dunk for passage – but the People Who Know Best are slamming this concept with Proposition 62. Vote “yes” and stick it to The Man.
Proposition 61- Children’s Hospital Bonds – YES: Normally I despite “bonds” because they’re sold to the public as “more money for (fill in the blank here)” but no one ever talks about the huge interest payments that make these things cost way more than what they give to (fill in the blank here). At the same time it is really hard to say “no” to children’s hospitals, which serve anyone, and if you’ve ever met someone whose kid had heart trouble or leukemia, you know the work they do is great. So vote yes, despite the bond’s inherent weakness as a funding mechanism.
Proposition 62 – Special Interest Primary Elections – Hell NO: Longtime readers know full well what I think of this special-interest funded nonsense, designed to rig elections and allow political consultants and their pals in wealthy industries to play shenanigans with the political system.
Vote “no” and stick it to The Man. You can read back issues on this topic here, here, and here.
Proposition 63 – Funding for Mental Health – YES: The state of California, in one of its stupider moves, decided to dismantle our mental health system and devolve it back to the counties, and the effects are pretty clear.
We’ve traded any sort of system for getting people the help they need so they’re not shouting at a wall somewhere on the street for one that doesn’t work – in our state’s case, letting everyone loose on the street where many mentally ill people now live. This initiative, like most, isn’t perfect, but at least it tries to get some money where it’s needed, and help cut down the cost of other problems, like homelessness, and crime, in the process.
Proposition 64 – Make Large Companies Unaccountable for their Misdeeds – NO: This piece of special interest funded legalese portrays itself as something that will help small business defend itself from “frivolous” lawsuits. As a small business owner myself, I’m sure I could be persuaded to support such a concept.
Too bad this is just an attempted to weaken the laws in California that keep large companies accountable when they pull shenanigans. But rather than go on and on about this noise, check out this amusing video which does a far better job than I, mostly because they’re riffing on the old Schoolhouse Rock videos from the 1970s.
Proposition 65 – Local Taxes and The State II – YES: This was the initiative local authorities drafted before the compromise 1A was created. Just to have a little fun, vote “yes” and see what happens. Reading through the analysis is long, complicated and not a lot of fun. Don’t we pay people to do this for us in the Legislature?
Proposition 66 – Reform Three Strikes – YES: In the clamor for “tougher laws” California came up with the cutely named “Three Strikes and You’re Out” law. There wasn’t a whole lot of reasoning as to why three felonies merited life imprisonment, versus two, or four, or 3.1416. It polled well and we passed it.
Since then we’ve had plenty of violent felons go on to commit lots of crimes, while some idiot who shoplifts beef jerky at a 7-11 gets a life term. This law would fix some of the problems with the law so that it makes more sense and gets more real criminals behind bars.
Proposition 67 – Telephone Taxes for Emergency Care – NO: This is one of those laws I don’t like, since they’re taxing telephones to pay for emergency care service, when that should be paid for in a more sensible way, but when I read who’s opposing this, I don’t like them either. I’d rather vote “no” and force the Legislature and the Governor, who are paid to solve these problems, come up with a more stable plan.
Proposition 68 – The Larry Flynt Gambling Initiative – NO: The card clubs and racetracks who were paying for this campaign have pulled their support, since their own polling showed this poorly-created law going down to defeat.
Like good gamblers, they decided to leave the table and not keep putting their money down on a bad bet. California needs to realize that gambling money is not “free” money, and getting our government addicted to the expansion of gambling in the long run is a bad idea, especially since California has no law-enforcement system comprable to Nevada’s to police gaming in this state.
Proposition 69 – The DNA Database Act – NO: I’d like to believe that a massive database of every person who’s gotten a traffic ticket’s DNA would help law enforcement. But when you consider that this is the same government that finds new and exciting ways to screw up records and files, you have to wonder if this is such a great idea.
Proposition 70 – Yet Another Gaming Initiative – NO: Despite the fact that I’m generally very sympathetic to Indian gaming, I’m voting “no” on this one. The concept overall is very good – the tribes would voluntarily pay the same top tax rate California’s corporations pay, on their profits.
But until there’s a more sensible and powerful enforcement of gaming law on and off Indian lands, and until the State gets serious about being a gambling state and building up the infrastructure needed to keep gaming clean, like they do in Nevada, I’m not supporting this or any other initiative for a while.
Proposition 71 – That Stem Cell Thing – NO: Far be it from me to cast my lot with the Holier Than Thou crowd, or for being against research that would help people in the future. That said, I’m not wild about having a lot of money given to a few biotech companies who can spend this as they please, without a lot of oversight. Plus this uses the much-maligned “bonds” to fund this activity. We need a better way to fund real research in this state and this country, and this doesn’t fix the “big picture” problem we continue to have. Vote “no” and force them to come up with a better idea.
Proposition 72 – Health Care Reform, Part 1 – YES: We’ve given private business a chance to do things their way, and frankly it’s no longer working. More people pay a lot more and get a lot less for what they spend on health care. The Usual Suspects are trotting out tired catch-phrases like “rationed health care” and “bad for business” but we already have a system that’s doing both.
When people can’t afford to go to the doctor and let their problems get worse, that’s rationing. And how is it good for business when you have employees that have to take their kid to the emergency room instead of a regular doctor? It’s not perfect, but it’s a start. Vote “yes” and once again, stick it to The Man.
That’s all for now. Have fun!
© 2003-2006 Greg Dewar | All Rights Reserved | Originally Published at www.schadelmann.com

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Posted in California Politics

What’s The Difference Between a Fee and Tuition?

Posted on March 15, 2004 by | Leave a comment

Gov. Doofinator (AKA Pete Wilson II) is at it again. Not content to push a phony credit card bond (with plenty of help from alleged Democrats like Steve Westly), now we’re getting the usual “fee hikes” at the University of California, California State University, and community college campuses. (Prison guards will get their raises, don’t worry!)
However, many reporters often make a mistake when covering these issues and it’s not just a matter of semantics – it’s a matter of accuracy. Specifically, whenever “fees” are raised, they often use the term “tuition” interchangeably as today’s LA Times story does here.
The reason this is important is quite simple- the laws governing the creation and management are very specific – California residents cannot be charged “tuition” (i.e. money paid to cover the costs of their education) at any California school. The only people who pay “tuition” are out-of-state students at any of these schools.
Now to some people this may still seem like a semantic difference, but it’s critical that those watching budget shenanigans know why it’s important. Whenever “fees” are jacked up at a UC campus for example, not a dime of that money covers the actual cost of educating the people who are attending the school. Instead, the schools transfer the payment of the university or college’s basic functions away from the state and on to the students and their parents.
Guess what one of those expenses is? Can’t guess? More money for aid for students who can’t afford to go to college! (and the bureaucracy that runs it!) If that cycle of silliness doesn’t boggle your mind, I have a job for your as Governor Doofinator’s budget guy/gal.
So once again the point needs to be clear – the money that folks are being asked to pay is not part of any “tuition” – and those covering such issues should know the difference since recognizing this fact makes the big picture issue a lot different than the one painted by Gov. Doofinator and his Wilsonian cronies.
Once again, we have one of the famous “California disconnects” in public policy. We pass bonds to build buildings at colleges, yet not a dime of that (expensive) money pays for the teachers or books that go in them. We raise the cost of attending the college buildings, but again, the increased out of pocket expenses do not cover the cost of the teachers or the books that are part of the education one is paying for.
Thus, when you attend a California school, you will end up spending a lot more time waiting for the classes you need to graduate. That means more money borrowed to spend more time in school, while those who can afford a 4 year stint at Yale or Stanford can get their degree and get on with their lives.
Which brings up one other point – whenever these “fees” are raised, the inevitable comparison comes up that although the cost is more, it’s still “cheaper” than an Ivy League school which is considered comparable. This may have held water 20 years ago, but nowadays it is kind of like raising the price of a Camry 40% and saying “well it’s still cheaper than a Mercedes Benz.” Which of course, is true, but is it a value anymore if the price is inflated? Or does one start looking elsewhere for a better deal.
Frankly after years of paying for prison guard raises over school, and the sheer incompetence of UC’s management of the weapons labs here and in New Mexico, I believe that comparison could be questioned. More to the point – with the eroding course offerings at all levels of the education system and the difficulty in getting classes needed to get out in four years, such a comparison at the undergraduate level may not hold any longer.
More importantly, the point of a public university system, built and paid for by the citizens of California, is meant for their free use first. A vibrant, active, and accessible education to those smart enough to qualify, allows our state to have people capable of creating the businesses and coming up with the new ideas we’ll need to stay on top.
Otherwise, we will continue the slide towards becoming a Third World country – something I’d rather not see. A college education is no longer a “luxury” or an “extra” as it was in the Industrial Age. If you want a job or a future with any hope of more than minimum wage and no benefits, you have to go to college. Just ask the grocery workers who went on strike. Or the blue collar workers on the permanent unemployment line.
More important, the taxpaying citizens of California built these colleges with the idea that anyone smart enough to get in could go to school. This has been the social contract between the state and the people for over 100 years. Making the comparison in cost to other states or private schools is a betrayal of that contract – not everyone can pick up and move to Michigan, New York or some other state to get an education – nor should they.
Generations of prominent Californians were able to get their education at community colleges, state Universities, and UC campuses for a minimal cost. It’s time to end the circus, and find a better way to maintain a free, quality education for those smart enough to deserve one.
PS: I recently read a very interesting story about an immigrant who came to California in the late 60s, who was in need of some improvements to his education if he was to succeed in his chosen field. Because Santa Monica College was available to him, he was able to take some classes and improve both his language skills and his knowledge of his new adopted homeland.
He has since gone on to be a tremendously successful businessman, and a leader on the national stage. You can guess where this is going…yes, in fact it was Arnold Schwarzenegger. (insert Paul Harvey-esque music here)
Hmm…
© 2003-2006 Greg Dewar | All Rights Reserved | Originally Published at www.schadelmann.com

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Posted in California Politics, Debunking Politicos Pundits + Spin, Gov. Doofinator's Follies

March 2nd Primary Endorsements- Taxpayer Funded Fun!

Posted on February 25, 2004 by | Leave a comment

The geniuses who moved California’s primary from the sensible, and safe June to the irrationally early March did so to “give California more say” in the presidential primaries. But because of the unbalanced front loading of the primaries so far our “choices” have been reduced to picking amongst who’se left: Sen. Kerry, Sen. Edwards, Rep. Kucinich and yes, Rev. Al Sharpton, in the Tuesday primary. Whatever “influence” California might have had has once again been snatched away, reminding one of poor ol’ Charlie Brown’s quixotic quest to kick that football Lucy has.
While this may reassure Sen. Kerry’s campaign, it has the unintended effect of potentially dampening turnout for other campaigns this March, which would be unfortunate. Several very important issues are on the ballot, and it’s important to make sure one’s voice is heard since many of these will have a more direct and immediate impact on people’s lives than who gets elected President. Plus, with so many races already decided, you can do what I do when confronted with inevitable winners in these races, and use your ballot as state-funded entertainment.
So without further ado, some humble recommendations from Schädelmann.com:
President: The only real race right now is on the Democratic side – I am unaware of any serious insurgency on the GOP side. I make two recommendations for you to consider, it really depends on how you feel when you mark your ballot.
If you want to be able to say “Hey, I voted for the winner” then vote for Sen. John Kerry. Polls indicate he’s got anywhere from a 25 to 32 point lead over Sen. Edwards, and the rest trail far behind. Thanks primarily to a large loan from himself to the campaign, he was able to revive his flagging fortunes and already President Bush and his minions are attacking him. Even if Kerry’s lead were to drop 15 points (not likely) he’d STILL win by over 15 points anyway. So if you want to vote for the “winner” , vote for Sen. John Kerry.
If you don’t care about voting for a winner, and want to have some fun, vote for Rep. Dennis Kucinch. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Rep. Kucinch and think he’s a genuinely nice guy and his campaign staff has always been fun to talk to. Barring some revelations over the weekend, he’s not going to win the California primary. But then again, with Kerry being the inevitable winner anyway, voting for Kucinch won’t hurt Kerry a bit, and could help Rep. Kucinch get some issues aired at the convention in July. So if you’d like to use your ballot for some taxpayer-funded fun, vote Kucinch.
Proposition 55: Vote No I hate to vote no on building schools, or fixing them since so many are in such sorry shape. But as usual, these fund will build lots of buildings, but make not one assurance that there’ll be a dime to fund any classes in them.
Plus when you read the fine print and realize we’re paying as much in interest (12.4 billion dollars) as we are in getting actual money to the schools (12.3 billion dollars) you begin to realize this is short term borrowing with long term debt problems. We have too many bonds issued as is – force the Doofinator and the Legislature to fund schools properly, or take the shackles off of local government and let local communities decide for themselves how much they would like to pay for decent schools in their area.
Proposition 56: Vote Yes. The two-thirds requirement to pass a budget is one of these idiotic “think tank” ideas some genius comes up with as a way to try and make things better, when in fact it makes things worse. It makes no sense for a budget with 64% of the votes in the Legislature fail, because it didn’t get a full 66% vote.
The wild-eyed claims about making it “easier” to pass higher taxes and the threat of Californians waking up one day to find all their taxes have been quintupled is foolish. If a state Legislature raised taxes too much, they’d get voted out of office – that’s our job as voters if that is in fact how we feel.
More importantly, it would force all of our state leaders to make hard decisions about how to run our state government, instead of allowing them to pass clever little “non tax” taxes, like state assessments on parking tickets and the infamous “snack tax” of Gov. Pete Wilson (aka Arnold I).
Return majority rule to the state budget process, and take away the excuses both branches use to evade their roles as leaders charged with making decisions.
Proposition 57/58: Vote NO NO NO NO. Gov. Doofinator ran Gray Davis out of town claiming that Davis resorted to budget trickery that ran our state in to debt, and that he, the Doofinator, would make “tough choices” and bring “leadership” to Sacramento. This bond and pony show does neither.
Rather than be a balls-out real Republican and cut like crazy, he instead proposes to get out the state credit card, and borrow our way out of our problems. This is not leadership – this is deferring the problem to future generations so that Doofinator and the Legislature can say they “fixed” the problem without having to make any difficult choices.
Particularly galling is the total sellout of the Jarvis Taxpayers Association, longtime foes of budget shenanigans (we thought) who have signed on to this foolish package, as well as the sellout of “Democrats” like Steve Westly, who claims to be a Democrat, but can’t seem to get those sparkles out of his eyes when standing next to the retired movie star. The witty rejoinder we keep hearing from people who “reluctantly” support this nonsense is the old “well we don’t want to make cuts in social programs, so this is the best we can do.”
Bullshit! It’s is just this kind of crisis that can force everyone to make real decisions and stand up for what it is they truly support and discard what they do not. Sure the battle would be ugly, and the short-term damage would be horrible, but the eventual compromise from an honest debate would be far better than this noise.
Superior Court, Los Angeles County: Since I recently moved here, I do not know much about these candidates. Rather than cast an irresponsible ballot, I’m leaving these blank. I rarely do this, but when I know so little about LA Superior Court issues, I’m not going to add to the noise by casting crazy votes and accidently voting for some nutcase candidate by mistake. Maybe that makes me less of a “knowledgeable pundit,” but I’d rather admit I don’t know something than lie.
Los Angeles County Supervisor: Los Angeles County, an area bigger than 20 states, has only five supervisors running the County. These people run “their” districts like little feudal kingdoms, safe from any real opposition with huge election bank accounts that ensure no one dares take them on. The geographic area of each supervisor’s district is so big, that running a low budget campaign is next to impossible. Thus, voting in these races is like voting in a third world country where the election’s been determined in advance, and the “winner” gets something like 110% of the vote.
Thus, vote for any non-incumbent in these races. If the ones running in your area are particularly insane, then write in someone. Anyone. Yourself, your friend, your dog, whatever. Punch a hole in these folks’ egos and deny them their 90%. It won’t change much but at least you’ll make someone at the Elections OFfice have to hand count your ballot.
No matter how you end up deciding to vote, be sure to do so. And make sure you know where your mail-ballot is and your polling place. Although I’m registered in Venice as a Permanent Mail Ballot voter, I have yet to receive my ballot, and after several frustrating calls to the Elections Department did I find that I may never get it – and if I’d followed the advice of the first person to take my call, I would not have been able to vote at all this time around! Scary.
© 2003-2006 Greg Dewar | All Rights Reserved | Originally Published at www.schadelmann.com

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Posted in California Politics, Campaign Tactics & Analysis, Debunking Politicos Pundits + Spin, Democratic Party Chatter

ART ATTACK 2003! – A review!

Posted on October 6, 2003 by | Leave a comment

Saturday night was the big night for Robbie Conal’s latest Art Attack on Los Angeles on the Recall here so I dropped by to attend as a non-objective journalist and see what was happening. I wasn’t sure what to expect but figured I could give up my usual Saturday doings to see what others were doing for La Causa days before the recall election.
Turnout at this thing was incredible! Usually when you go to these sorts of things there’s a gang of usual suspects that shows up and does its thing, and that’s that. The scene at Canter’s Deli was quite the opposite. The crowd was huge!
It wasn’t the size alone that made the turnout so impressive – it was the diversity of the group that caught me off guard. There were Usual Suspects, high school kids, college students, senior citizens, concerned citizens, high-falutin’ professional types, and a lot of Regular Folks, all concerned about the election, and all wanting to do SOMETHING, anything to get the word out before election day.
That positive attitude – a “we can do it” attitude versus an angry, resigned, defeatist one – was something that was encouraging to watch. People were ready to put their feet on the ground and do something that would bypass the mass media and attempt to reach voters just a few days before the election, instead of just sitting at home and being pissed off. It was a good event and fun to attend – Robbie Conal and everyone involved deserve a high-five from the rest of us.
On Sunday I got ahold of a friend’s digital camera and shot some video and still pictures on Main Street in Santa Monica to see if any posters made it here in the heart of Arnold Country (his main offices are on Main Street). Sure enough some did!
Here’s a traffic light box with the poster, intact.
Here are some citizens checking out posters at Main and Hollister at a construction site….that one that has the “post no bills” sign stenciled in.
Someone violated Robbie’s “Guerilla Etiquette” and posted one over by Rockenwagner – not cool, kids! Remember you’re not supposed to post on private property!
Check out more images my gallery at journalspace. As I get more pictures I’ll be posting them here and updating the site.
Note to Arnold Supporters, Law Enforcement Personnel, and Other Concerned Citizens: I can verify that I myself engaged in no illegal activities. Really. If you need proof I have plenty! Honest!
© 2003-2006 Greg Dewar | All Rights Reserved | Originally Published at www.schadelmann.com

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Posted in California Politics, Debunking Politicos Pundits + Spin, Gov. Doofinator's Follies