Lieu Wants Transparency -- Let's See Through Him

Senator Ted Lieu (D-Marina Del Rey) wants more transparency when it comes to political donations. In Senate Bills 2 and 3, Lieu proposes that the state would levy penalties for failure to disclose campaign contributions. The bills would require greater disclosure on mass mailings, including from nonprofits. A chief motivator for this cause, Lieu spotlights the “Yes on Prop 32”campaign, in which an out-of-state interest funded the campaign to end the pilfering of employee paychecks for union dues.

“It’s absurd to allow unlimited campaign donations to super PACs without required the donors to reveal themselves,” one Venice activist claims, supporting Lieu. The statement begs the question: Why is it so bad? With all due respect, does it really matter who sends us all of those mass mailings? Aside from the forestries depleted with such inane, gag-inducing promotions, the only one who should be grumbling is the garbage man because he has to haul so much more to the landfill. For the record, Citizens United was the right decision, one which opened the flood-gates to saturation,  exposing once and for all the declining power of money in politics, at least when it comes to elections. Shame on President Obama for chiding the Supreme Court during his state of the Union speech, and right before their very eyes. Not less money but more money is needed. This country just witnessed a Presidential election which burned through $2 billion dollars from both sides, and this country and Congress is more sharply divided than ever. Money is buying less and less in terms of votes.

Instead of transparency at election time, the voters deserve to see more transparency when it comes to who funds our elected officials’ campaigns and how our government spends the taxpayer’s dollars.
I would like to see into the minds of our legislators and understand why legislators like Senator Lieu claim progressive that a “mere” $1.5 billion budget deficit remains, covering up the ongoing budget short falls with rosy projections on the dwindling number of wealthy people in the state of California.

I would like to see into the heart of the Assemblymembers who killed SB 1530, a bill which would have permitted greater transparency for schools and the districts which supervise them to remove predatory teachers from the classroom

Forget about full disclosure of political donations to SuperPacs. Why doesn’t Senator Lieu disabuse himself of his own political contributions? According to Maplight.org, Senator Lieu receives 89% of his dollars from interests outside of his district, with more than half from Sacramento. The last time I checked, he was representing the South Bay. The vast majority of his funds come from union interests, with the Service International Employee Union topping off with $34,800, followed by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in a close second.

Those two union interests served their own interests at  he expense of Southland residents, including Mr. Lieu’s constituents in the South Bay, where SEIU bolstered the weak union protests at LAX and in front of Wal-Mart. Of course, there was the “crippling strike” at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Lieu gets campaign money, the unions get a raise (or at least they get to raise hell in the streets), and the rest of us our left picking up the tab or making up for lost time.

Senator Lieu, money cannot buy the vote of the residents in the South Bay, but they seem to be buying yours. Your colleague in the Assembly, Betsy Butler of Marina Del Rey, lost her seat by a narrow margin in part because she helped kill SB 1530. The California Teachers Association was pulling her strings, apparently. Judging by your contribution record, they have given you more reasons to suspect your allegiance to voters in the South Bay.