- NEWS
- SPORTS
- BUSINESS
- ENTERTAINMENT
- LIFE
- TRAVEL
- OPINION
No new taxes? GOP dollars support campaign Republicans abhor
March 16th, 2009, 3:00 am · 12 Comments · posted by BRIAN JOSEPH, Sacramento Correspondent
It’s safe to say California Republicans weren’t pleased with the tax increases approved as part of the budget fix last month. Of the 44 Republicans in the State Legislature, only six voted for the plan — and at least three of them already are the subjects of recalls while a fourth was ousted from his spot as Senate Republican Leader before his vote was even cast.
The day the Legislature approved the budget package, California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring released a statement saying: “We vigorously oppose any increase in taxes. History shows the increases will not produce the anticipated revenue, will harm California’s economy, and worsen the flight of jobs and people out of the state.”
So why is the California Republican Party contributing money to support the tax increases?
You read that right: Republican campaign dollars (as first reported by Red County) are going to support Budget Reform Now, the campaign for Propositions 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 1F, the measures on the May 19 special election ballot that were part of the budget package.
Prop. 1A, which implements a state spending cap, is directly tied to the tax increases. If voters approve the cap, the tax increases that are part of the budget will remain in effect for another one to two years.
Leading the charge against Prop. 1A is the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which is closely aligned with the Republican Party. But money from the California Republican Party is going to support Prop. 1A.
Here’s what’s happened: on Feb. 20, just one day after the Legislature approved the budget deal, the California Republican Party moved $250,000 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California Dream Team committee. The governor, of course, supports the tax increase and is behind the Budget Reform Now campaign.
Anyway, five days after the $250K was moved to the Dream Team committee, it gave $50,000 to the Budget Reform Now campaign. (A day before that, Dream Team also gave $30,000 to the Budget Reform campaign, but that’s listed as a “non-monetary” contribution, so that almost certainly couldn’t be part of the $250,000.)
The governor’s reliance on California Republican Party is interesting, given his recent comments that “the Republican Party has no money anyway.”
Asked about the ballot measures, Hector Barajas, spokesman for the California Republican Party, said that party’s board of directors, which includes the governor and Orange County’s Jon Fleischman of the Flash Report fame, elected to stay neutral on the May 19 election.
Barajas said the party money sent to the Dream Team committee is not earmarked for anything in particular. It could go to overhead or the governor’s travel he said.
“We have no idea where” it goes, he said. “The money could go to a number of items.”
In other words, the Republican party money could very well be going to the Yes on Prop. 1A campaign.
AN INTERESTING SIDE NOTE: Republicans are particularly upset with the GOP lawmakers who voted for the tax increases because they signed no tax pledges from Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform.
You know who works for Americans for Tax Reform? Ron Nehring, the California Republican Party chairman.
Could that explain why Americans for Tax Reform haven’t attacked the Republicans for reneging on their no tax pledge?
UPDATE: Nehring just sent me an e-mail saying he no longer works for Americans for Tax reform. “I have not worked for Americans for Tax Reform for years,” he wrote.
More Watchdog:
- Miracle manna: How OC finally wrangled more cash from stingy state
- As economy tanks, armed services attract recruits
- Regulators approve electric rate hike; many bills will rise
- Beer keg, Lakers tickets, wine lodge trip among gifts to OC lawmakers
- Musical meeting times for director’s heave-ho at Laguna Woods Village
- Gay engineer taunted with pornography at TBN seeks millions, suit says
- Feds have poor control over local police wielding immigration powers
- Problems haunt prominent drug treatment center for women, suit says
- A flying water bottle? A bruise? A heave-ho in Laguna Woods?
- Deborah Carona is MIA from Fair Board
- Adoption fees are fair at county shelter, frequent critic says
- Employee bonuses are an issue in electric rate hike proposal
- An (AIG) rose by any other name…still smells
- Best of OC Watchdog, 2008: Readers’ Choices
- High fees feed high kill rate at county shelter, critics say
- Who made the big bucks at Chapman University?
- Who needs undie run? Cash helps lift Chapman U’s profile
- Raise that (desalinated) glass of water and drink up!
- Jurors say the food’s not great, but the people are nice
- County workers don’t get Social Security. Blessing or curse?!
- Pool owners: Proceed cautiously on new pool rules!
- Fraud fine reduces electric rates - just as Edison hikes them
- Making it easier to raise taxes could help end budget crisis, audit says
- Brace yourselves; your electric bills are going up
- Electricity conservation tips from SoCal Edison
12 Comments
Leave a Reply
-
ADVERTISEMENT
-
Follow this blog:
More from OC Watchdog reports-
-
ADVERTISEMENT
You can follow this blog: on 
All the more reason to vote ‘NO” on every measure and vote EVERYONE out of office in Nov.
Vote EVERY REPUBLICAN AND EVERY DEMOCRAT OUT OF OFFICE… THEY ARE ALL CORRUPT AND VOTE ONLY FOR SPECIAL INTERESTS….
“Heads-on-a-stick” RECALL ARNOLD! RECALL THEM ALL!
Reminds me of the Illinois “Combine”.
What a bunch of dirty traitors. Any republican who gives money to his party must have a screw loose. If there was one thing why people gravitated toward the republican party it was to protect us from higher taxes. As a former republican I could hold my nose when it came to abortion or gay rights. But taxes was the cornerstone of my membership which I have recently relinquished due to the horrendous budget negotiations and tax increases that the republicans helped kick through the legislature. They have stabbed their lifeblood in the backs. With friends like that who need enemies? We no longer have to separate parties with separate political philosophies. Now we have the republicrats.
Sounds like the Republican party of CA needs another chairman–one with more sense and more of a feel for what the grass roots supports.
Give me a break–giving Arnold’s committed that much money right after the budget passed. What did he think Arnold would do with it when he is pushing for those measures?
I guess that just reinforces to not donate to the CA Republican party.
However I think it is foolish to just vote everyone out of office (which isn’t likely to happen anyway). We should be selective and support those who voted against the tax increases and the budget which was most Republicans.
Punish the individuals who voted for taxes and reward those who voted against.
Too bad that they are wasting money on the special election. So much for conserving money when the state is in trouble. How much are the special elections costing the state and the counties?
Please join the cause…. We are recalling Jim Silva of the 67th district…
Jim says he is against the tax increases… Then how come Jim supported Prop1A? Here is from his website:
“The Legislature’s Misguided Tax Hikes and Prop. 1A
Dear Friends,
On February 20, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law the revised 2008-09 and 2009-10 budget packages. This collection of bills contains $15 billion worth of spending cuts, $14.5 billion in borrowing and a staggering $12.5 billion in new taxes. Among these taxes are a one cent sales tax increase, an increase of the vehicle license fee (VLF) to 1.15 percent of the value of the vehicle, and a .25 percent increase in the state income tax rate.
I opposed this budget and the tax increases it contains because I believe they will only extend California’s precarious economic condition.
In a separate measure I voted to place a state spending cap on the ballot. I supported this bill because although the cap is not as strong as I would like, I believe it would have been helpful in curbing the Legislature’s wasteful overspending and forced the Legislature to finally prioritize how it spends taxpayer money.
Unfortunately, five days after I voted to support the spending cap the tax increases mentioned above were approved. Language in these tax increase bills, which I strongly oppose, intertwines them with the spending cap. In fact, the spending cap will now only take effect if voters agree to approve extending these tax increases.
This is wrong.
This is not the spending cap I voted on and is not one which I can support. ”
http://www.silvaforassembly.com/misguided_taxhikes/
If Jim didn’t know that taxes were being added then they didn’t read the 2009-2010 State Budget Floor report which states in its summary of revenue the budget package includes 14.4 Billion in temporary General Fund Tax increases…. See link http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/... Read Morehttp://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/Asm%20Budget%20Floor%20Report%202008-09.doc
Then Jim also didn’t listen to OC Assemblyman Chuck Devore spell it out, the morning of the vote, that taxes will be included if the assembly passes prop 1a…. And I guess Jim also concluded that all the Democrats who supported this proposition were in favor of a spending caps? And if Jim don’t support higher taxes, then why does he support Assembly leader Mike Villines, who negotiated the tax increase? So if he still didn’t know about the taxes, doesn’t that make him fool? Liar or fool? Now that’s a ringing endorsement to not recall him!
The web site to recall jim silva is http://www.recalljimsilva.com….
Both parties are run by the public employees unions, teachers, police,fire, prisons and all civil service unions are controlling the state and local politicians thrrough our tax system.
There is only one way out of this and that is to get rid of the government unions and outlaw any government organizations from using their inside connections to government bureaucracy from participating in our elections.
Could someone please tell me WHO IS GIVING A SINGLE DOLLAR to the Republican Party?
First, I told them to take a hike because of their inaction on reducing the federal budget. Second, I told them to jump in a lake because of the border situation. And now, I get to tell them to take a long walk off a short pier because they just can’t adhere to the #1 Republican rule- No New Taxes/
Who is giving them money?
“UPDATE: Nehring just sent me an e-mail saying he no longer works for Americans for Tax reform. “I have not worked for Americans for Tax Reform for years,” he wrote.”
Ron Nehring started his own consulting business a few years ago. Immediately thereafter, Grover Nordquist and Americans for Tax Reform became his clients - they only changed roles, but are still closely associated.
Ron Nehring hand picked Mr. Michael Kamburowski as Chief Operations Officer of the California GOP before that debacle was rectified. Kamburowski is a former registered lobbyist for Americans for Tax Reform and a top operative for the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, both founded by Grover Norquist.
Jon Fleischman, publisher of the widely read GOP Web site FlashReport.org. and a member of the state GOP board of directors,said that he was invited to at least two meetings with Nehring, Norquist and Kamburowski in March of 2007, when the state’s chief operations officer job was open.
Those included a March 12 meeting of Nehring’s “San Diego Center-right Coalition,” held at the offices of the San Diego Republican Party, which Kamburowski attended and later an intimate lunch the same day with Norquist and other top party insiders.
…
“Grover was there, as was Nehring and Kamburowski and some of the other people who worked for Grover, and we spent a little time talking to him,” recalled Fleischman.
…
“It was very clear, it was a ‘Come on down to this meeting, meet Mike Kamburowski, say hi to Grover’ and all mixed together,” he said.
…
“It was clearly part of the credentials that were presented — the work (Kamburowski) had done for Grover.
…
Other Republicans said Norquist and Kamburowski then went on to Northern California and Sacramento for similar meetings with other influential party insiders.
…
“This guy (Kamburowski) was connected, he breezed through the (hiring) process — and now it’s blown up in their face.”
Now, Ron Nehring has appointed his Republican Party of San Diego County Chair successor (puppet), Tony Krvaric, as CRP Sate Finance Chair. Ron Nehring is fully aware of Tony Krvaric’s shaded past - see:
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/San_Diego_GOP_chairman_cofounded_international_0425.html
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/San_Diego_GOP_chairman_Part_2_0430.html
If I was about to donate to the California GOP, how comforting is it that the State GOP Finance Chair was the ‘former’ Strider, No. 1, of Fairlight? Tony Krvaric was not only known as Strider or No.1, he started Fairlight, and international crime organization being investigated by the DOJ and when confronted with these facts he said, “Apparently there’s a hit piece floating around on me, “exposing” my wild high school, teenage years where I was in a computer club where we swapped Commodore 64 games (similar to how kids swap mp3 music files these days).” That’s like saying John Gotti was in a high school gun club!
Way to go Ron Nehring, Tony Krvaric, and California GOP!
It is hypocrisy for so-called conservative politicians to invoke Reagan’s legacy when dealing with the deficit. Faced with a massive budget deficit, they supported spending $6.5 billion for 40,000 prison beds without even asking any questions. Faced with a similar problem, Governor Reagan quickly dealt with overcrowding by reducing average length of stay by a few days and even closing a prison. Routine problem solved. If they want emulate Reagan, they should propose cutting waste before even considering cuts to critical programs.
Speeding up the technical violation process by one month would save about $220 million annually.
Increasing inmate work/ good-time credits by a month would save about $220 million annually.
Implementing Little Hoover Commission recommendations to realign responsibility for serious juvenile offenders from the State prison system to the counties would save about $250 million annually.
Establishing a community corrections program authorizing the State to contract with counties to provide parole supervision would save up to $500 million annually.
It is not complicated. They should actually follow former Governor Reagan’s lead.
Rich McKone, Parole Agent III, Retired, DC&R, Former Criminal Justice Planner, California Council on Criminal Justice & California Youth Authority richmck@starstream.net, Lincoln, CA – (916) 645-1219/Cell: (916) 216-5902
It is hypocrisy for so-called conservative politicians to invoke Reagan’s legacy when dealing with the deficit. Faced with a massive budget deficit, they supported spending $6.5 billion for 40,000 prison beds without even asking any questions. Faced with a similar problem, Governor Reagan quickly dealt with overcrowding by reducing average length of stay by a few days and even closing a prison. Routine problem solved. If they want emulate Reagan, they should propose cutting waste before even considering cuts to critical programs.
Speeding up the technical violation process by one month would save about $220 million annually.
Increasing inmate work/ good-time credits by a month would save about $220 million annually.
Implementing Little Hoover Commission recommendations to realign responsibility for serious juvenile offenders from the State prison system to the counties would save about $250 million annually.
Establishing a community corrections program authorizing the State to contract with counties to provide parole supervision would save up to $500 million annually.
It is not complicated. They should actually follow former Governor Reagan’s lead.