Remember Fullerton cop chief Patdown Pat “I Hired Them All” McPension and his idiotic, self-published “She Bear” bullshit?
Apparently there is still plenty of political capital to be reaped by unleashing the inner tigress. At least McKinley’s effort was only offensive to those dumb enough to buy his moronic book.
But here is our Assemblyperson Sharon Quirk pitching the same thing on the taxpayer’s dime. Almost anybody who knows about physical training will tell you that 2 hours of martial arts lessons is likely to prove disastrous when attempted against a large, masculine criminal.
But of course the real purpose for this “limited attendance” session, as indicated in the mailer is to get some indoctrination in “women’s issues,” as you get face time with Sharon Quirk Silva.
Newman has been handed yet another bill to pass off as his own in his race against the recall – SB714. It allows the state to use eminent domain to take Coyote Hills by force, turning it over to something called the “State Coastal Conservancy” at great expense to California taxpayers. Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva has put up a matching bill that provides taxpayer funding for some of the takings.
Fullerton property rights advocates are warning about the loss of local control and lamenting the potential undoing of 40 years of development compromises (sunk costs, perhaps).
On the other hand, preserve purists like the folks at Save Coyote Hills love the bill, which has the potential to take land from a developer and use it to expand the Robert E. Ward Nature Preserve.
Whatever your take, this warning applies – A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take away everything that you have. Handing this issue over to Sacramento bureaucrats may not get you what you want.
Although the results have yet to be certified, and the Democratic Party is doing their best to invalidate the petition gathering effort (even going so far as to sue individual College Republican signature gatherers) the recall election of State Senator Josh Newman is likely proceeding. And now the Republican party has a candidate for the special election.
This morning, Fullerton City Councilmember Bruce Whitaker announced his intention to run in the special election to replace Newman, when it takes place.
Whitaker, a Republican, has been on the City Council since 2010, when he won a special election to replace Shawn Nelson. Whitaker has a long record of fighting tax increases prior to his election to the City Council, including his opposition to Measure R, the proposed county sales tax proposed to deal with Orange County’s bankruptcy in the mid 1990s. This will be the second recall election Whitaker has been involved in, as he was also part of the successful recall of three Fullerton City Councilmembers over a utility tax increase in 1994.
Whitaker’s announcement will hopefully put the final nail in the nascent candidacy of Ling Ling Chang, who was the Republican Party’s candidate in the 2016 election and who many (myself included) believe blew what should have been a winnable race. Whitaker is not the first candidate to announce however, as FFFF contributor Joshua Ferguson announced his intention to run for the race earlier this week.
The effort to recall California State Senator Josh Newman, our local representative here in CA’s 29th District, has reached massive numbers in what is likely record time. The recall effort was initiated after Newman threw his fiscally responsible campaign rhetoric into the circular file and opted to vote with his caucus to raise taxes on the working poor. He knew full well that the voters would never approve such a scheme were it put to a vote but little did he know that voters would retaliate by seeking to remove him from office.
With nearly 85,000 signatures, well above the 63,000 required, having been submitted for the recall it look as if Josh Newman will be facing another vote much sooner than he anticipated.
The Tax Bear Cometh
We’re still waiting on word for how SB96, the budget trailer bill that cynically tries to change the recall laws mid-stream, will play into this whole scenario but expects lawsuits to be filed and candidates to come out of the wood-work to claim credit for something they likely had zero to do with thus far into the process. As things move forward we’ll keep you updated because this is sure to stay interesting.
Last week California was showered with editorials criticizing state Democrats for their underhanded retroactive gimping of the recall process to protect state senator Josh Newman.
In at least one interview Newman himself has supported the effort to delay his own recall, although he avoided directly voting for it. Newman’s abutment of this electoral abuse of power illustrates his rapid degeneration from virginal statesman to shrugging beneficiary of political treachery. If any of the public’s trust in Newman remained after his vote for the regressive gas tax, it’s all but gone now.
On the bright side, recall organizers have vowed to mount constitutional challenges that will attempt to restore California voters’ right to recall government officials.
Last weekend OC Democratic Party official Jeff LeTourneau approached a Newman recall table at the Fullerton Walmart and began shouting profanities. “Which one of you assholes is the gay?” he screams, along with “You are a fucking disgrace to any gay person I know, you piece of shit.”
Video was captured by one of the recall signature gatherers and has just been posted to Fox News.
State Senator Josh Newman and the rest of the CA Democratic party are apparently not returning any calls regarding the incident.
Let’s say you bought a house in Fullerton at the peak of the housing market. The market has mostly recovered but the house is only worth what you originally paid. However, when you receive your tax bill, the Franchise Tax Board assesses it higher, so there is more than a $1,000 difference in what you think you should pay and what you are actually charged. So you send a letter to the Franchise Tax Board disputing the charge and explaining why you believe your bill should be lower.
According to our State Senator Josh Newman, what you just did was costly and unnecessary. You see, that letter disputing the $1000+ charge cost 49 cents to mail, and the letter isn’t guaranteed to get you that refund you want.
That’s pretty much the takeaway from this recent editorial from Mr. Newman, which ran on Page 2 of our local Fullerton Observer Newspaper. Senator Newman’s response to the anger over his vote to raise taxes by over $52 billion over ten years in an already overtaxed state is pure misdirection, asking his supporters to instead ask recall proponents “why they’d waste $2.5 million on a recall petition rather than put 34 more teachers in our schools, 16 more firefighters in our communities, or 13 more cops on our streets.”
Of course the answer is really simple: Because $52 billion is more money than $2.5 million. About $51.9975 billion more.
Don’t think about the $1000 tax you shouldn’t have to pay. Think about the two bubble gum balls you could buy with this money instead.
Elsewhere in the editorial, Senator Newman does get around to justifying his vote and that the increased spending on roads was necessary due to the poor condition they are in. Nobody in Fullerton would dispute that, but the reason for the problem is grossly out of whack spending priorities, not a lack of revenue.
Take the examples Newman cites himself. He bemoans the fact that the alleged $2.5 million recall cost could put 13 more cops on our street and not the fact that, by his own admission, putting a single police officer on our streets costs over $192,000 per year in the first place due to the grossly unsustainable public employee benefits we dole out. He bemoans the horrible condition of our roads and not the fact that the 18 cent per gallon tax we already pay has been diverted into the fiscal vortex that is high speed rail – and even when Caltrans does spend money on roads, overpayment and delays have come to be accepted as inevitable.
This is why your constituents are angry, Senator Newman, and this is why they are listening to (as you put it) “shock jocks” and signing the recall petition in droves. We are tired of excuses and we are tired of politicians who choose to represent the interest in Sacramento that want to keep this unsustainable benefit machine chugging along at the taxpayers’ expense.
In the event you are reading this yourself, Senator, I don’t say any of this with rancor and I still like you personally, but you are working against my interests and those of hundreds of thousands of your constituents in Sacramento and it has to stop. And babbling about millions while your policies are costing tens of billions isn’t going to save you.
Take a second and watch recall leader Carl DeMaio explain how recalling Josh Newman is the first step in a three stage plan to rescind the new car tax and fix California’s roads without new taxes.
To sum up his plan:
Recall Newman and eliminate the 2/3rds Democratic majority in the state senate.
Give legislature 30 days to rescind gas tax before additional recalls commence.
Pass statewide initiative to commit existing tax dollars towards road repairs.
Now that’s pretty ambitious. But remember that this tax is just the first test case for the Democrats, who are working on other tax hikes as we speak. They’re now desperate to fill in the enormous financial gap left by the public pension crisis. Even just the elimination of Newman has the potential to stop the state from reaching back into our pockets over and over again.
Here’s a clip of KFI’s John and Ken expanding upon The Hourly Struggle’s recent interview with state senator Josh Newman. The radio hosts also took the opportunity to announce that they are coming to Fullerton this week, gathering signatures to recall Newman.
The effort to recall State Senator Josh Newman is officially on! This Thursday we’re going to broadcast live in Fullerton, and we need you to come by and sign the recall petition.
WHEN: THURSDAY 05/11/17 2pm-6pm PST
LOCATION: Arco AM PM 519 South Harbor Blvd. Fullerton,CA
Carl DeMaio, who hosts on our San Diego sister station KOGO-AM, has worked hard to put all of this together. He’ll be there doing his show along side us from 3-6pm.
That’s right. Governor Brown just announced that he is personally raising money for Fullerton. Not IN Fullerton, mind you.
And well, it’s not for the people of Fullerton either.
Brown is inviting his lobbyist pals to a $4,400 Sacramento dinner in order to raise money to defend Fullerton’s hapless Senator Josh Newman and the car tax Newman helped secure. You know, the one that he recently dumped on Fullerton motorists (along with the rest of California) because the answer is Sacramento to government malfeasance and bad behavior is always MOAR Money.
Bend overHere’s the story (contains egregious LA Times popups. Do not click).
Brown is headlining a fundraiser on May 23 at de Vere’s Irish Pub in Sacramento, billed as an event to support Newman’s reelection campaign. Donors are asked to give up to $4,400 to Newman’s 2020 Senate campaign committee, although the money can be shifted to fighting a recall measure if one qualifies.
Give to “Newman’s 2020 campaign committee, although…”. Isn’t that cute? It’s almost as if this isn’t specifically FOR the recall. Once he’s out of office maybe Senator Newman can save some of those $4,400 donations to buy himself another posh vacation in Saint Lucia after the recall is over. If he’s lucky maybe he’ll have the bad news before his trip this time around.
It’s always amazing to watch politicians and their lobbyist friends soak up booze while reaching for their wallets for the sole purpose of being able to continue to pick our wallets clean.
For those of you who cannot afford a $4,400 posh dinner and are actually impacted by this new highway robbery masquerading as a transportation tax feel free to sign the petition to recall Senator Newman. You can pick up and sign the petition if you’re a registered voter in District 29 this Thursday between 2-6pm (1400-1800). KFI’s John & Ken as well as KOGO’s Carl DeMaio will be live broadcasting from the ARCO Gas Station at 519 S. Harbor Blvd here in Fullerton.
