Schwarzenegger Secrecy Assailed, Records Demanded for 'California Performance Review' Process

US Newswire ^ | Jul 30, 2004 | Doug Heller

[hedgetrimmer]

To: National Desk

Contact: Doug Heller (310) 392-0522 ext. 309

SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Governor Schwarzenegger's California Performance Review, or CPR, secretly developed a reportedly 2,500 plus page report recommending radical changes to California government. According to information received by the Foundation for Taxpayer Consumer Rights (FTCR), the governor required participants in the CPR to sign confidentiality agreements that barred them from talking about the proceedings or aspects of the ongoing review. The California Performance Review was formed by executive order S-5- 04 in February.

FTCR is issuing a public records act request to the Governor, the California Performance Review executive directors and each of the governor's cabinet secretaries to learn more about the operations of the CPR, its costs and the process of developing its as yet undisclosed report. The governor has not even released a list of the 275 members of the CPR, who are funded with taxpayer money that was originally allocated for other purposes than the CPR.

"The governor promised that he would make California government more transparent and more accessible to the public. Now he has called for the biggest reorganization and dissolution of government in California history, developed behind closed doors and with gag orders on the participants whose salaries are paid by taxpayers," said FTCR's executive director Douglas Heller.

The California Performance Review reportedly included state employees and private consultants. FTCR, in its Public Records Act request, is seeking information regarding the membership of the CPR, expenditures of the CPR, contracts with private firms or individuals, and confidentiality agreements signed by CPR participants. The group is also asking for meeting minutes, notes, correspondence and draft documents pertaining to the CPR.

"The public has a right to know how much taxpayers have spent on this project, who participated and how they arrived at their conclusions," said Heller.

A copy of the Public Records Act request is available at http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/corporate/pr/pr004512.php3

http://www.usnewswire.com/

[hedgetrimmer]

Secret committees forming unelected councils and a plan to remove elected officials from state and local governments. California is headed for a council style government and a complete usurpation of our constitutional rights. The CPR will concentrate the power in the governors office and eliminate or render other publically elected officals powerless.

This is serious stuff. I am not making this up.

[RS]

"The CPR will concentrate the power in the governors office and eliminate or render other publically elected officals powerless."

Since it is a secret, just how did you find out that this is what it contains ?

[NormsRevenge]

Bump

[Reagan Man]

GovRino strikes again.

[SierraWasp]

Well... Nobody here seems to care!!! All that mattered is that we have a celebrity Governor with an "R" after his name!!!

Ping away, but you won't get much response on this site to threads like this. The SNC threads just shriveled and died!!!

Besides, all that matters right now is the Presidential Election and not the threats to CA's future governance. The crisis is over here. Haven't you heard? (/sarcasm)

[hedgetrimmer]

developed behind closed doors

The public was not informed about the process to develop this plan. The public was not allowed to participate in the development of the plan. The meetings that will be held to discuss the plan will not be held under Robert's Rules. They will be run by trained facilitators. This is not how California Constitutional government works. This is exactly how the British governmental system was overthrown in the mid 1990s for a council system that harmonized with the EU. The Governor has in mind a council system for California, as outlined by the CPR.

We in Santa Cruz county have witnessed the establishment of council system governments on a smaller scale. It is easy to recognize what the governor is attempting to do, if you have lived in California for any length of time and are politically aware.

Our US Constutition guarantees that all citizens shall have a constitutional republican form of government. Our governor wants to take that away, plus he wants to change the US constitution so that he can become president.

[hedgetrimmer]

If we can educate one person, then our efforts are not in vain. If each of us can educate one person, even better. Its discouraging, yes, but I am not ready to give up yet.

[NormsRevenge]

Open Government,, I'm all for Open Government,, I want lots of Open Government.. yada yada

horse ,, trojan ,, reins ,, power ,, yee haaaa...

things change, things stay the same.

[SierraWasp]

Your point is well taken...

[tubebender]

BUMP...

[RS]

" Our governor wants to take that away, plus he wants to change the US constitution so that he can become president."

You still haven't explained how you know what is in this "secret" plan.

"It is easy to recognize what the governor is attempting to do..."

How does on "recognize" what hasen't happened yet ?
Just what has he done that makes you think he is attempting to do anything ?

Did the people in Santa Cruz NOT have a vote on changing their form of government ?


... and BTW anyone know what Kerry's plans are ? Shouldn't we know BEFORE we go into the voting booth ?

[hedgetrimmer]

You still haven't explained how you know what is in this "secret" plan.

The word "secret" is from the author of the article, not me. However, if you read the article, it says that the CPR was developed in secret. Now, in an open and free society, legislation that has such a far reaching effect on how a people are governed has to be brought before the legislature either as testimony or as a bill or as a statement of the sense of the legislature. I'll bet you can't tell me who is on the committee, and why they were chosen. Why wasn't there any citizen input before they wrote the performance review? How is it that this committee is acting like a legislature, when they are not?

Are you politically aware at all? Do you remember Al Gore and his reinventing government? He did a national performance review. He named a committee to do it. The Clinton administration radically restructured our government to allow lawsuits against property owners on the basis of environmental justice(collectivist environmentalism) and created the Presidents Council on Sustainable Development which was a foothold for socialist ideology to infect our federal government in the EPA, the Department of Energy, the US Forest Service and the BLM, and that cancer has spread to the states, and now to communities with "smart growth". If you are politically aware you will realize the damage to constitutional rights the national performance review has done to our individual rights. If you are politically aware you will see that the national performance review process is exactly the process the governor is using to subvert our own state government.

So when I say it is easy to see what the governor is attempting to do, I speak from the experience of watching the Clinton administration dismantle our property rights and other constitutional rights, before our very eyes. If you do not see it, I suggest you read up on the National Performance Review. You will find links to it in our California Performance review.

[hedgetrimmer]

The Man Behind the State Review

The state performance review released this week was a first for California, but it was the 10th for Billy Hamilton, the soft-spoken Texan brought in to ramrod Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's effort to change the way government is run.

This isn't the first time Hamilton has strayed outside Texas to lend his expertise to a government reorganization effort. He worked on a similar plan in Oklahoma and in 1993 spent months flying between Austin and Washington, D.C. , working with Vice President Al Gore to help set up President Bill Clinton's National Performance Review.

***


Do we really need to "ramrod" this plan through? Does that indicate to you that this project is going to be forced on the people of California whether they like it or not? Can you see a concern that an unconstitutional process will be followed to ramrod the effective destruction of our state Constitution?

[hedgetrimmer]

Did the people in Santa Cruz NOT have a vote on changing their form of government ?

How do you vote to change an constitutional government to an unconstitutional government? When a council holds a meeting they are not the government so most people don't attend. They never dreamed the council would assume the cloak of the government and write legislation for the city government. No one dreamed that the city government was so corrupt that they would implement a socialist government structure in the city of Santa Cruz through these unelected councils. No one dreamed that a free government would fall so easily to the socialists.

[RS]

"So when I say it is easy to see what the governor is attempting to do, I speak from the experience of watching the Clinton administration"

So you watched a professional politician Democrat in charge of the executive branch of the Federal Government, and feel that a businessman Republican Governor of a State is going to the same thing because of a similarity of the names of the commissions ?

Oh...OK Now it makes sense...

[RS]

"Can you see a concern that an unconstitutional process will be followed to ramrod the effective destruction of our state Constitution?"

Just HOW is the State Constitution changed without a vote ?

You seem to be really upset, but youre not saying anything...

How about something specific - what is ONE thing that will come out of this that Arnold will get passed ?

[hedgetrimmer]

Obviously you missed this post.

The Man Behind the State Review is Billy Hamilton. He worked for Vice President Al Gore to help set up President Bill Clinton's National Performance Review. Arnold hired this man Surely a businessman hires someone because they are experienced doing the job they are hired for. This man was hired to do exactly the same job he did for far left democrat Al Gore. Now what does that say about Mr. Schwarzenegger?

Why don't you go to the CPR site? They say themselves that the CPR is a state version of the National Performance review.

[RS]

"Now what does that say about Mr. Schwarzenegger?"

That says we wants to hire people that can get a job done, like every good businessman -

It dosen't say a word about what the job would be - If you hire a good saleman, it dosen't matter if he will sell horses or horse poop.

Have you read the report ? What specifically in it do you think turns California into a socialist society ?

Here's the link http://www.report.cpr.ca.gov/

[hedgetrimmer]

Have you ever heard of The Third Way?