Reiner's Slight of Hand

Kurt over at Fly at Night brings us up to date on Reiner's latest remarks and what's not happening with the state audit.

Grass-Roots Libertarians Oppose Meathead's Prop. 82

Measure would destroy preschools already serving two-thirds of eligible children

LOS ANGELES ? The Libertarian Party of California (LPC) adopted a resolution at its state convention this weekend opposing Proposition 82, the "California Preschool for All Act," and urges all Californians to vote against the measure. The resolution condemning Prop. 82 was passed unanimously. The delegates who voted represented Libertarian Party county affiliates from all corners of California.

Said LPC Chair Aaron Starr,

Hundreds of thousands of California parents are already providing preschool for their children with little or no support from taxpayers. Prop. 82 would increase that number by only a few percent, but in the process would effectively kill off our current private-sector preschools and replace them with an expensive and dysfunctional state-managed system.
 
Other means of making preschool accessible to a higher percentage of students, such as educational tax credits, could better accomplish the policy objective without destroying what is already working.

California June Primary Election

After a 3 month break from posting, I'm back to comment on the 2006 California Primary Election on June 6, 2006. I have a prelimary page up, and will be adding more. I will be covering the two propositions, prop 81 and prop 82, as well as the statewide primary races that will be on the ballot.

The Reiner rip-off

The Union Tribune remarks on new published reports that:

The First 5 panel paid $206,000 to three political consultants to run the commission TV ad campaign. After Reiner's initiative qualified for the ballot, the TV ad campaign stopped ? with a final tab of $23 million ? and the consultants went to work for the campaign touting the initiative.

This reeks. Of course there was a tight coordination of First 5's efforts to promote preschool and Reiner's push to get his measure on the ballot. It's astounding that Reiner still insists the TV ads were unrelated to his initiative, even though they stopped the day it qualified. Does he think we're the meatheads?

The Union Tribune is calling for Attorney General Bill Lockyer to investigate this $23 million use of public funds for Reiner's personal crusade. I will echo these call for the Attorney General to take action and encourage readers to vote No on Prop 82. .

I Got Elected. You May Not Criticize Me.

While not directly related to the California Special Election, John Stossel comments here on the McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Act.

"I got elected. You may not criticize me."

OK, the incumbents don't put it that way. They say: "There's too much money in politics! We need campaign finance reform."

And they get it. "Reform" sounds good. McCain-Feingold and a host of state laws would protect us from the evil influence of big money.

But that's nonsense. When our behemoth government has the power to spend more than $2 trillion every year, big money will find a way to try to influence it. It's the little guys, who aren't in office, who are silenced by "reform."

The Gerrymander is another form of incumbent protection. Politicians redraw district lines so they can keep their seats. By voting YES on Prop 77, Californians can stop the politicians from creating their own districts.

Tom Cambell Q&A on prop 76

State Finance Director Tom Cambell answers some questions about prop 76 on the JoinArnold.com website. Click here to read.

The Perils of Prop 79

the CoyoteBlog has a great article on the Perils of Prop 79.

It turns out that the initiative contains a little-noticed provision that will allow private trial lawyers to sue drug companies for the new tort of "profiteering in prescription drugs."

Chronicle reports Yes on 76 argument

California Director of Finance, Tom Campbell, reports why we need reform of the state's automatic spending formulaes that keep propelling spending above revenue. Even when we spend more than last year, the states employees unions call it a cut because the broken spending formulas say we should have spent even more.

Governor's Measures ahead in New Poll

New Poll shows a majority of California Voters Support Proposition 74, 76 & 77.

A recent private poll, conducted by Governor Schwarzenegger's pollster McLaughlin & Associates, shows strong support for the Governor's reform agenda, which will appear on the November Special Election ballot.

Good Article on Prop 76

The San Diego Union-Tribune has a great article "Governor has a crucial ally in Prop. 76 push" on Prop 76.

The long-anticipated union campaign against Arnold Schwarzenegger's special election initiatives has kicked into gear in recent days with a gut punch of a TV ad campaign depicting the governor as the reckless enemy of cops, school kids, teachers, decency, the American way – you name it.

The article goes on to say that the Governor's ally is the Truth.

New Blog for BallotBrain.com

I've decided to try and create a new blog to discuss issues pertaining to California'a 2005 special election.