Ted Lieu
Arthur: I am happy to discuss the multiple issues you listed. Call my office and we will work out a good time to meet for you and me. You can then blog about anything we discuss at the meeting.
Ted Lieu
ReplyTed Lieu
Arthur Christopher Schaper
Now we're talking!
Call you tomorrow!
I called State Senator Lieu's Redondo Beach office.
I was glad to receive a cordial greeting from the office staff once again.
I told the person who received my call that I am glad that Senator Lieu responded to my request, but that I was not interested in meeting with him by myself.
I want him to set up a townhall meeting, one where his constituents can confront him and ask him questions about his legislative record and his priorities, including his foolish and misguided attempt to triple our car tax.
The Redondo Beach staffer directed me to Lieu's Sacramento office.
When I spoke to a Sacramento staffer, I requested once again a townhall meeting in Redondo Beach.
Right away, the Sacramento staffer responded:
"Oh, you're the blogger."
Oh brother -- is this what it takes for a state legislator to start taking his constituents seriously?
He rebuffed my requests for a townhall meeting.
"Oh, so you do not want to meet with the state senator?"
The time for talking about issues is long gone. It's time for the state senator to explain himself and his stance on pursuing inane boutique bills while the state of California is sand-bagged with high taxes, higher regulations, and the height of overspending.
I then brought up the attempted tripling of our car tax. The waffling and sputtering I got from this question was just too much not to discuss.
The staffer wanted to give me a lecture on the failing transportation and infrastructure in the state of California -- as if it's the taxpayers' fault. Working families are balancing their budgets and tightening their belts. Why can't our legislators do the same? He then continued to remind me about the failing schools and the massive cuts which they have endured, as if I was not aware of them already.
Do the staffers in Lieu's Sacramento office really believe that voters are just going to sit back and take in this push to raise our taxes until no one has anything left?
I offered a very simple suggestion -- implement Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's reforms, and allow cities and school districts more freedom to renegotiate medical benefits and pension formulas. He interrupted me again:
"Senator Lieu supports collective bargaining," the staffer answered.
Of course Lieu supports the union lobby, since most of his campaign dollars come from unions, like the ILWU, the SEIU, and even the CTA. I have written on this straining train of dollars for some time. Lieu wants transparency from Super PACs, but how can anyone trust him to vote in line with the best interests of the voters as long as the union lobby pays his way and crushes the opposition with overspending advertisements of their own?
The most insufferable response that I received from this staffer, one which should outrage voters, Democrat or Republican, was:
"We have balanced the budget."
State Senator Ted Lieu himself admitted that the budget is not balanced:
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
Governor Jerry Brown also admitted that the "balancing act" was anything but. Here is Brown's own assessment:
"As you go up the line you lose control and build bureaucracy," the governor said. "We want to put the money into local schools, but create greater control."
Brown also said the state's deficit is gone for the first time in years, adding it could reduce its debt substantially by 2016.
"The deficit's gone; the wall of debt remains," Brown said, noting the state's $36 billion debt could be reduced to $4.3 billion by 2016. (Bold added)
The biggest problem, of course, with any assessment, is that all of that projecting assumes that high income earners will stick around to remain high taxpayers. Different reports have suggested that all of these tax increases are not working.
Investors Business Daily reports:
As tempting as it might be to buy this story line, the answer is no. In reality, the Brown approach is the latest in a series of "kick the can down the road" budgets that ignore the buildup of debts. It rewards public-employee unions with pay and benefit increases — while shielding them from desperately needed pension reforms — and ignores deep problems within the state's economy.
But what about the comments from those budget analysts? IBD responds:
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office agrees the budget is basically balanced, but the agency's head, Mac Taylor, noted "it doesn't pay all of the wall of debt within the time period. It builds up very little of a reserve by the end of that period, and it does nothing regarding our various retirement-related obligations."
The liberal-sympathizing Huffington Post published this AP report covering "Brown's balanced budgets":
After years of cutting education and social services to close deficits, California's budget is finally in balance as long as state lawmakers follow Gov. Jerry Brown's guidance to hold the line on spending, the Legislature's nonpartisan budget analyst said Monday. (Bold and underlined added)
In other words, the budget is balanced as long as the legislature balances the budget. This is worse than "begging the question" -- this is "insulting the California voters."
The report continues:
Last week, Brown released a $97.6 billion state spending plan for the new fiscal year and projected a $1 billion reserve. Two months ago, the Legislative Analyst's Office had projected a more cautious outlook that forecast a $1.9 billion deficit.
Taylor said Monday that higher tax revenue, increased savings and repayment of loans account for the slight differences.
The higher tax revenue has not been collected yet! The increased savings have not been saved yet! The repayment of loans has not been repaid yet! And Governor Brown wants to increase spending, too? The whole situation reminds me of indolent rich kids who are making their spending spree plans by expecting to inherit huge sums when their wealthy parents die. Such crude cynicism and lavish speculation is not only outrageous, but dangerous and immoral.
Yet Lieu's staffer in Sacramento still stands by his empty and essentially false assertion that the California state legislature has "balanced the budget".
State Senator Lieu should start hiring new staffers, because with the people heading his office now, they are handing his opponents one win after another for the 2014 election.
Of course, Senator Lieu could stop hiding behind his staff and stage a townhall meeting (not an "event", not a "ribbon cutting") right here in Redondo Beach, where he can explain why he claims that the budget is balanced, when his own words and the Legislative Analysts' Office suggest that it is not. He can then explain why Sacramento wants to demand liability insurance from gun owners, or why he wants to legislate about abandoned ships, microchipped pets, tanning salons, and hunted bears. He can also explain why he wanted to triple our car tax, or why his colleagues are already undoing the meager pension reforms which they just enacted.
Call you tomorrow!
I called State Senator Lieu's Redondo Beach office.
I was glad to receive a cordial greeting from the office staff once again.
I told the person who received my call that I am glad that Senator Lieu responded to my request, but that I was not interested in meeting with him by myself.
I want him to set up a townhall meeting, one where his constituents can confront him and ask him questions about his legislative record and his priorities, including his foolish and misguided attempt to triple our car tax.
The Redondo Beach staffer directed me to Lieu's Sacramento office.
When I spoke to a Sacramento staffer, I requested once again a townhall meeting in Redondo Beach.
Right away, the Sacramento staffer responded:
"Oh, you're the blogger."
Oh brother -- is this what it takes for a state legislator to start taking his constituents seriously?
He rebuffed my requests for a townhall meeting.
"Oh, so you do not want to meet with the state senator?"
The time for talking about issues is long gone. It's time for the state senator to explain himself and his stance on pursuing inane boutique bills while the state of California is sand-bagged with high taxes, higher regulations, and the height of overspending.
I then brought up the attempted tripling of our car tax. The waffling and sputtering I got from this question was just too much not to discuss.
The staffer wanted to give me a lecture on the failing transportation and infrastructure in the state of California -- as if it's the taxpayers' fault. Working families are balancing their budgets and tightening their belts. Why can't our legislators do the same? He then continued to remind me about the failing schools and the massive cuts which they have endured, as if I was not aware of them already.
Do the staffers in Lieu's Sacramento office really believe that voters are just going to sit back and take in this push to raise our taxes until no one has anything left?
I offered a very simple suggestion -- implement Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's reforms, and allow cities and school districts more freedom to renegotiate medical benefits and pension formulas. He interrupted me again:
"Senator Lieu supports collective bargaining," the staffer answered.
Of course Lieu supports the union lobby, since most of his campaign dollars come from unions, like the ILWU, the SEIU, and even the CTA. I have written on this straining train of dollars for some time. Lieu wants transparency from Super PACs, but how can anyone trust him to vote in line with the best interests of the voters as long as the union lobby pays his way and crushes the opposition with overspending advertisements of their own?
The most insufferable response that I received from this staffer, one which should outrage voters, Democrat or Republican, was:
"We have balanced the budget."
State Senator Ted Lieu himself admitted that the budget is not balanced:
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
Governor Jerry Brown also admitted that the "balancing act" was anything but. Here is Brown's own assessment:
"As you go up the line you lose control and build bureaucracy," the governor said. "We want to put the money into local schools, but create greater control."
Brown also said the state's deficit is gone for the first time in years, adding it could reduce its debt substantially by 2016.
"The deficit's gone; the wall of debt remains," Brown said, noting the state's $36 billion debt could be reduced to $4.3 billion by 2016. (Bold added)
The biggest problem, of course, with any assessment, is that all of that projecting assumes that high income earners will stick around to remain high taxpayers. Different reports have suggested that all of these tax increases are not working.
Investors Business Daily reports:
As tempting as it might be to buy this story line, the answer is no. In reality, the Brown approach is the latest in a series of "kick the can down the road" budgets that ignore the buildup of debts. It rewards public-employee unions with pay and benefit increases — while shielding them from desperately needed pension reforms — and ignores deep problems within the state's economy.
But what about the comments from those budget analysts? IBD responds:
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office agrees the budget is basically balanced, but the agency's head, Mac Taylor, noted "it doesn't pay all of the wall of debt within the time period. It builds up very little of a reserve by the end of that period, and it does nothing regarding our various retirement-related obligations."
The liberal-sympathizing Huffington Post published this AP report covering "Brown's balanced budgets":
After years of cutting education and social services to close deficits, California's budget is finally in balance as long as state lawmakers follow Gov. Jerry Brown's guidance to hold the line on spending, the Legislature's nonpartisan budget analyst said Monday. (Bold and underlined added)
In other words, the budget is balanced as long as the legislature balances the budget. This is worse than "begging the question" -- this is "insulting the California voters."
The report continues:
Last week, Brown released a $97.6 billion state spending plan for the new fiscal year and projected a $1 billion reserve. Two months ago, the Legislative Analyst's Office had projected a more cautious outlook that forecast a $1.9 billion deficit.
Taylor said Monday that higher tax revenue, increased savings and repayment of loans account for the slight differences.
The higher tax revenue has not been collected yet! The increased savings have not been saved yet! The repayment of loans has not been repaid yet! And Governor Brown wants to increase spending, too? The whole situation reminds me of indolent rich kids who are making their spending spree plans by expecting to inherit huge sums when their wealthy parents die. Such crude cynicism and lavish speculation is not only outrageous, but dangerous and immoral.
Yet Lieu's staffer in Sacramento still stands by his empty and essentially false assertion that the California state legislature has "balanced the budget".
State Senator Lieu should start hiring new staffers, because with the people heading his office now, they are handing his opponents one win after another for the 2014 election.
Of course, Senator Lieu could stop hiding behind his staff and stage a townhall meeting (not an "event", not a "ribbon cutting") right here in Redondo Beach, where he can explain why he claims that the budget is balanced, when his own words and the Legislative Analysts' Office suggest that it is not. He can then explain why Sacramento wants to demand liability insurance from gun owners, or why he wants to legislate about abandoned ships, microchipped pets, tanning salons, and hunted bears. He can also explain why he wanted to triple our car tax, or why his colleagues are already undoing the meager pension reforms which they just enacted.
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