Senator Lieu's Response -- and Mine

Arthur: I'm not sure I understand your post. I have multiple upcoming events. I have had previous events all over the district. I will have future events all over the district. Feel free to attend some of these events. I also go to events all over the district. From ribbon cuttings in Santa Monica to speaking at places such as the South Bay Chamber of Commerce in Torrance to meetings in my Redondo Beach office, I am continually meeting constituents. 

Senator Lieu did not respond to my request at all.

"Event" is not a "townhall" meeting. Events are times and places where legislators promote themselves, give speeches, or stand for photo-ops.

A townhall meeting is defined as a place where a politician speaks to his or her constituents in an open forum, where the voters get to ask questions and hold their leaders accountable for their decisions and seek redress for causes and concerns which have not been taken care of.

Senator Lieu owes the voters in his district a "townhall meeting", not an "event".

Also, whether or not you believe deadly melanoma caused by indoor UV tanning is a serious issue, or that psychological abuse towards LGBT youth is a serious issue, it does not mean I can't work on multiple issues at the same time. 

Melanoma is a serious issue. -- I never once claimed that it was not serious. The unserious element of this matter is that the state legislature is taking time to manage this issue, when mothers and fathers are better care-takers of their children.

The psychological abuse of our youth is terrible. On a more grander level, students are abused daily in failing public schools, where parents cannot ge the information that they need, or where unfit teachers are still in the classroom -- i.e Marc Berndt, whom LA Unified could not fire, even if they wanted to.

This common tactic is all too common among statist legislators. "You oppose protecting people from dangerous melanoma!!!!! You do not care about ending the psychological abuse against teenagers!!!!!!

I loved William F. Buckley's assessment of such subtle ad hominem hokum: "You are a pyromaniac in a field of strawmen!"

Lieu states the obvious, the remains oblivious to the obstreperous --

The budgets I worked on and voted on over the last several years, plus Proposition 30 that I worked on, have now resulted in a balanced budget with a projected surplus.

Lieu's own words contradict this assessment:

11:35 pm on Monday, December 3, 2012

You may want to add that in the New Year, California voters can look back and know that California created more jobs than any other state, at a higher rate; that our credit rating went from negative to stable to positive; and that we whittled down a $60 billion budget deficit four years ago to $1.9 billion this year, with projected surpluses starting in 2014.
--Sen Ted Lieu

He said that there was a "$1.9 billion deficit"  -- now he says that the budget is balanced? What gives?

By the way, "Projected' is a fanciful way of saying: "Has not happened yet." Has anything that Sacramento "projects" ever come to pass?

This Sunday I will be receiving the Legislator of the Year award at 10:30 am from the League of Humane Voters (California chapter) at the Beverly Garland Hotel, 4222 Vineland in North Hollywood. Feel free to stop by.

His bills have been anything but "humane" for the human beings in this state. How many more nanny-state laws, which benefit interest groups and trial lawyers at the expense of everyone else, will Lieu continue to pass and promote? The tax burden keeps sinking this state lower and lower, the schools continue to suffer with no funding, and union interests tie up the state legislature to their minute interest, at the expense of the public interest.

Next Friday I will be speaking at UCLA. 
 
Ted Lieu
Where and when? I hope that someone can tell me, because part of the reason why college students are suffering a substandard post-high school education is that Sacramento spends money that we do not have on matters that do not matter, then pushed policies which further bankrupt the state, insulting working families and depriving poor and working class individuals of the opportunity to succeed.