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Flap’s Links and Comments for April 4th on 18:32
These are my links for April 4th from 18:32 to 18:36:
- Will Jerry Brown do conservative talk radio on his tour? – So Guv Brown is hitting the road to visit conservative California and try to get them to goose their representatives so he can pass his budget plan. For some reason this reminds us of Albert Brooks telling his wife in "Lost in America" that "it's time to get out. We have to touch Indians." (Partial H/T to our Pittsburgh homeboy Dennis Miller.)
Jerry already has an invitation from one of the uh, chiefs: Conservative radio host/Chronnie Award winner Eric Hogue. He's invited the Guv to be on his noon "Capitol Hour" (1380 KTKZ) show this week for a full hour. Says Hogue:
"I know this seems very self-serving, but I thought it to be (somewhat) news worthy considering …
Hogue just told us that "This morning I spoke with his scheduling department; they informed me that they (Gov's scheduling staff) is considering the opportunity, and they would return with a phone call later today, or tomorrow."
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Good Luck Eric.
What I would really want to see would be Jerry Brown doing KFI's John and Ken.
- California Redevelopment officials are offering pig in a poke – When Gov. Jerry Brown proposed to abolish more than 400 local redevelopment agencies and redirect billions of dollars in property taxes, the state's redevelopment industry shifted into political overdrive.
Redevelopment officials claimed that abolition would devastate efforts to improve local economies and cost hundreds of thousands of jobs.
However, independent analysts agree that redevelopment, while lucrative to subsidy-seeking developers, provides no substantial improvement to the state's overall economy.
The agencies skim more than $5 billion a year off the top of the property tax pot each year, and the state must make up about $2 billion of that hefty diversion in extra payments to schools.
Brown is saying, in effect, that the state can't afford to subsidize local development schemes and wants the money back.
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Read it all – CA Redevelopment Agencies are Big Government at its worst.
- Will Jerry Brown do conservative talk radio on his tour? – So Guv Brown is hitting the road to visit conservative California and try to get them to goose their representatives so he can pass his budget plan. For some reason this reminds us of Albert Brooks telling his wife in "Lost in America" that "it's time to get out. We have to touch Indians." (Partial H/T to our Pittsburgh homeboy Dennis Miller.)
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Flap’s Links and Comments for April 4th on 14:24
These are my links for April 4th from 14:24 to 15:23:
- CA GOP Saves Eminent Domain and Redevelopment Agencies – The truth is California Republicans do not believe in limited government. They do not stand up for property owners. They are the party of corporate welfare. They oppose higher taxes, but that’s the only guiding principle of the party these days. And even that is suspect. Many Assembly Republicans, such as the pro-union members of the “no more cuts” caucus (Jim Silva, Brian Nestande and Paul Cook), vote in a way that virtually mandates higher taxes at some point. Then they get on their high horse and sign those bogus tax-fighting pledges. And you wonder why the GOP is fading away in this state?
If the GOP could not provide more than one vote to end redevelopment, then we know that their claims about pension reform and spending caps are bogus too. They will never provide the margin of victory on these matters, either. When push comes to shove, they will be bought off again and will offer similar excuses for why they really support reform but just couldn’t vote for it this time. Yet Republicans wonder why they have been relegated to irrelevancy, the laughingstocks of the California political world. Sure, they usually are better than Democrats, but they offer no cohesive and believable alternative to the Party of Unions.
Certainly, Republicans continue to hold firm against the governor’s proposed tax-extension vote, but I’m guessing we’ll get that vote eventually. For instance, the state’s unprincipled business community, led by the Democrat-friendly California Chamber of Commerce, is promising to support those Republicans who go soft on taxes. The Chamber just wants business-as-usual, and is perfectly happy if legislators tax the rest of us more – as long as its members’ special privileges are protected. That’s no way to build a broader movement.
The Chamber loves redevelopment also and redevelopment is a core issue. Anyone who supports it cannot claim to be a conservative, not if the term conservative has any meaning. It is the epitome of bad public policy, in that it gives governmental powers to the most powerful and politically well-connected players at the expense of the average citizen.
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The California GOP needs new and conservative leadership.
- Has the left captured California redistricting? – The worst the panel could do is decide to protect all incumbents, which is basically the status quo. Even random changes would seem to be an improvement. … P.S.: However the lines are drawn, California’s legislative delegations will be heavily majority-Dem because the state is heavily majority Dem. That’s not the point. (The point, or points, are a) more moderates from both parties; b) more competition, within the parties and between them, translating into c) less incumbent lock-in, more voter ability to throw a bum out) …
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No, the Left hasn't captured the redistricting commission and ANY change will be an improvement for the RIGHT and the GOP.
- CA GOP Saves Eminent Domain and Redevelopment Agencies – The truth is California Republicans do not believe in limited government. They do not stand up for property owners. They are the party of corporate welfare. They oppose higher taxes, but that’s the only guiding principle of the party these days. And even that is suspect. Many Assembly Republicans, such as the pro-union members of the “no more cuts” caucus (Jim Silva, Brian Nestande and Paul Cook), vote in a way that virtually mandates higher taxes at some point. Then they get on their high horse and sign those bogus tax-fighting pledges. And you wonder why the GOP is fading away in this state?