Free Republic

This just in from friends on the scene... California Republican Party (CRP) opposes Prop 1A-1F Mike Villines & Tom Campbell had spoken in favor of 1A and Steve Poizner against.

NO on Prop 1-A: THE "RAINY DAY" BUDGET STABILIZATION FUNDThis "budget deal" is a bailout for big spenders who will extract another $16 billion dollars in taxes and continue to increase state spending. It is not a "rainy day" fund at all. The California Legislature, that has over taxed and spent, will just have another slush fund to use at their will. It does nothing to restrain bloated deficits nor restrain tax and spend legislators. NO on Proposition 1-B: EDUCATION FUNDING. PAYMENT PLANMandates more deficit spending for an education system; that needs massive reform, not another $9.3 billion dollars in...

The state's largest teachers union, which has been one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's most visible foes over the years, is the largest single financial backer of the Republican governor's budget-reform package on the May 19 special election ballot. Newly released campaign finance reports for the election show that backers of the six budget-related measures are raking in far more cash than the opposition, and the gap is widening. "We've got a lot of work ahead to educate voters about the importance of six complicated ballot measures, but we're confident we'll have the resources to do that job," said Julie Soderlund,...

The California Teachers Association has deposited another $2.2 million into the campaign to pass Propositions 1A and 1B, bringing the group's total spending to nearly $5 million.

The California Teachers Association has donated another $1 million to pass the budget package on the May 19 special election.

In the movies, the hero often signs off on a major agreement by slashing his hand or thumb and sharing blood with his new partner. In politics, it's a lot less messy, since the partners just share money. Over the weekend, the California Teachers Association agreed to back all six of the budget measures on the May 19 special election ballot. It's a move that likely drew a deep sigh of relief from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, ... The deal was sealed Monday when the CTA gave $47,500 to Budget Reform Now, the Schwarzenegger-backed group leading the campaign effort. On that...

SACRAMENTO – A record $19.9 billion transportation bond pitched to voters last fall as a way to “fast track” projects is hitting slowdowns in some areas. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signaled that the money is flowing with a groundbreaking at Solana Beach last month for the extension of car pool lanes on Interstates 5 and 805. The bond will cover part of the $168 million cost. But legislation to set guidelines for distributing $2 billion to improve the movement of freight was stalled in part because Republicans thought proposals by Democrats were skewed toward improving air quality. And legislative leaders are...

SOLANA BEACH – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other elected officials yesterday broke ground on a $168 million project to extend the car pool lanes on Interstates 5 and 805. With a congested I-5 as a backdrop, the governor said it would be the first construction job funded in California with money from Proposition 1B, the transportation bond measure approved by state voters last year. Schwarzenegger said the lanes mark the start of a new wave of transportation improvements, saying it's time “to bulldoze our state out of gridlock.” The San Diego Association of Governments, working with Caltrans, wants to add...

SB 375 requires all regional transportation planning decisions and all transportation funding to be limited to a “preferred growth scenario,” that requires a minimum housing density of 10 units per acre. It was adopted by the Senate on June 7, 2007. Here is Senator McClintock’s speech in opposition to the bill: Mr. President: This measure says that all transportation plans and transportation funding decisions must be made with the object of concentrating people in dense urban cores. In this bill, it is called a “Preferred Growth Scenario.” It says all transportation plans and funds must serve this “Preferred Growth Scenario,”...

State transportation officials on Wednesday divvied up more than $4 billion in bond money voters approved in November for highway construction, approving car pool lanes, a tunnel and other projects. Many lawmakers and transportation experts, however, say the allocation made only a dent in California's overall highway needs. After an intense two-week lobbying campaign led by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the largest chunk of the $4.5 billion earmarked for reducing highway congestion will go to build an 11-mile-long, $730 million car pool lane on Interstate 405. Southern Californians also will get more than $1 billion for car pool lanes...

NORTH COUNTY ---- Offering a first glimpse at how state transportation bond money might be spent, the California Transportation Commission's staff on Friday recommended that the powerful panel award $304 million for road projects in San Diego County and $38 million for a project in Southwest Riverside County. The recommended San Diego County projects include the proposed retrofit of the Interstate 15 express lanes in the Miramar area to match the expansion under way to the north, as well as car-pool lane extensions on Interstates 5 and 805. The Southwest Riverside County project is the planned widening of Interstate 215...

Governor aims to apply extra gas tax funds toward bridges, school buses Attempting to revamp a decades-old tax-control provision, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has drawn fire from public transportation advocates who like the idea of high gas prices automatically pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into buses, trains and ferries. Using an arcane formula that weighs gasoline sales tax revenue against sales tax on other goods, a 1971 law negotiated with then-Gov. Ronald Reagan diverts any additional tax receipts into a fund for public transportation. True to his reputation, Reagan demanded rigid controls on the 4.75-percent tax on gasoline feeding the...

Welcome to the live thread for the California Primary Election. Polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you are a registered voter, it is your duty to vote and defend your rights and civil liberties, protect your pocketbook, and vote the bums out where applicable. Feel free to discuss issues key to your local area that others may be interested in. Post your polling place experiences if you like. And post numbers as they come in later tonight.

The quick-paced television commercials for the infrastructure bond measures make promises that voters can't count on. Proponents of Propositions 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and 1E are running 11 versions of the same ad, which feature different lists of transportation projects based on the region in which the commercials air. In the Bay Area ad, the announcer promises the bond measures will "expand the Caldecott Tunnel, improve 101 and 880, and extend BART and Caltrain." But representatives of Bay Area transportation agencies say that isn't necessarily how they'll spend the money. Projects meeting those broad descriptions are among the Bay Area's...

So, without any further words, here is the Voter Guide:BALLOT MEASURES NOVEMBER 2006 - SUMMARYThe FR and Bill Leonard recommend: Proposition 1A = YESProposition 1B = NOProposition 1C = NOProposition 1D = NOProposition 1E = NOProposition 83 = YESProposition 84 = NOProposition 85 = YESProposition 86 = NOProposition 87 = NOProposition 88 = NOProposition 89 = NOProposition 90 = YES

$7,300. That is approximately what each household in California will be asked to cough up to pay for the $42.6 billion bond package on the ballot November 7th, should it pass. While there is a clear consensus that our infrastructure is in desperate need of repair and expansion there is also a growing cynicism that saddling future generations with $84 billion in bond payments over the next 30 years represents more of the same fiscal irresponsibility we have come to expect from Sacramento. Despite tens of millions of dollars in campaign spending to support these measures, a hearty array of...

UNIVERSAL CITY - Studies show the average motorist in Los Angeles County spends 93 hours stuck in traffic annually. And despite the strictest emissions programs in the country, the region continues to suffer from the nation's worst air quality. A $19.9 billion infrastructure bond on the ballot Nov. 7 seeks to address these problems, but experts say it's only a start. On Monday, local and federal lawmakers met with business and transit leaders for the annual , where they urged voters to pass Proposition 1B as a down payment on California's long-neglected infrastructure needs. "If you look at the top...

There are very few absolutes in politics, but let's be clear about this November's election - a vote for any of the proposed bonds, Propositions 1B - 1E and Prop 84, is a vote for the same type of fiscal recklessness that led to the recall of Governor Gray Davis in 2003. Think about it. Since 2003, tax revenues have exploded in California - up $20 billion annually. The Governor's Workers' Compensation reforms are an underappreciated reason for this increase and the economic activity associated with this increase. Unfortunately, the Legislature, Democrats and some Republicans, and the Governor, have spent...

BEWARE BIG bond ballot measures. They frequently go "oink." Consider Proposition 1B, the $20 billion bond measure -- oops, I should say $19.925 billion because they priced it below $20 billion as if it were a sold-on-TV appliance -- which promises to improve congestion on California's freeways. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, his Democratic challenger Treasurer Phil Angelides, and the Legislature, all support the measure -- which tells you that it is either really good or really bad. Think bad, because the measure is not so wonderful that backers are above misleading the voters. Schwarzenegger signed the bill, standing in the middle...

Tom McClintock visited our editorial board and delivered a devastating analysis of the infrastructure bonds that changed my vote on 1B. (I was already opposed to 1C and 1D.) He noted that historically bonds were used to pay for major projects that last for at least a generation, under the theory that if it takes 30 years to pay off, the people here in 30 years should still be benefiting from it. He said that argument was crucial to rationalizing passing bonds, since, with interest costs, they end up costing $2 for every $1 spent. But McClintock said the highway-transit...