Howard Jarvis Txpyrs Assoc
see prop 13
SEE GINGRICH ATR
see scc libtaRDS
capt 417
2020
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ol ads growus ?
9 26 OFFICIAL TOP FUNDERS. Valid only for September 2025 LIMITS ABILITY OF VOTERS TO RAISE REVENUES FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Petition circulation paid for by Protect Prop. 13, a project of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Latest Official Top Funders: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballotmeasures/initiative-and-referendum-status/official-top-funders
OFFICIAL TITLE AND SUMMARY (SAME AS ON PETITION) The Attorney General of California has prepared the following circulating title and summary of the chief purpose and points of the proposed measure: (25-0006A1.) LIMITS ABILITY OF VOTERS TO RAISE REVENUES FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Limits voters’ ability to pass voterproposed local special taxes by raising the vote approval threshold requirement for such ballot measures from a simple majority (over 50%) to two-thirds. In charter cities, prohibits voters from approving real estate transfer taxes other than the existing 0.11% transfer tax authorized by Revenue and Taxation Code section 11911. Overturns all existing voter-approved property-related taxes, including real estate sales and transfer taxes, that do not comply with these requirements two years after the measure is enacted. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Annual loss of revenues to local governments totaling up to a couple of billion dollars, predominantly affecting certain charter cities. Potential future reduction in what local governments would otherwise collect in revenues due to a higher vote threshold for certain taxes and fewer types of taxes that local governments can adopt.
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duck 9 26
NORQUIST
- Americans for Tax Reform
- https://www.atr.org › howard-jarvis-taxpayers-association-launches-fight-to-save-prop-13-on-the-2026-ballot
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Launches Fight to Save Prop 13 On ...
- Jul 15, 2025Today, HJTA is leading a renewed charge to protect taxpayers, this time with a 2026 statewide ballot initiative known as the "Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Proposition 13." " Prop 13 " capped the property tax rate at 1% of the assessed value of real property while restricting annual increases to 2%.
- yeson43.com
- https://yeson43.com
Yes on Prop 43 | California Proposition 43 | Protect Proposition 13
- Paid for by Yes on Prop. 43, a Project of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Committee Top Funder Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
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LI 9 26 SCRAPE
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4/24 RR fuckwits
CA-43_PRelease_2022-02-07_LPSCC-election-result-endorses-initiative
LPSCC Vice Chair Mark Hinkle served as national chair from 2010 to 2012. He is a small-business owner and president of Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association. LPSCC Fundraising Committee Chair Mary Gingell served as national chairman from 1991 to 1993. She retired in 2020 from her role as Director of Development Events and Services at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank. Hinkle explained that the new ballot initiative the party has endorsed would restore parents’ ability to leave property to their children without triggering reassessments and prohibitive upsurges in property taxes.
“California’s nickname is ‘the golden state,’ but now it seems that’s only true for the politicians in Sacramento,” Hinkle said. “They figure that by chiseling away at our cherished Prop. 13, they can mine homes, farms, and ranches for even more treasure to fund their rampant, Big Government expenditures. Instead, it should be families who get to shout ‘eureka’ this November, if enough voters will join Libertarians in supporting our neighbors’ freedom to keep their parents’ and grandparents’ property in the family.” Joe Dehn, re-elected as LPSCC chair, is the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Congress, District 17. Dehn is campaigning on a platform of drastically cutting the size of the federal government and taxes; ending U.S. military involvement in other countries’ disputes; and ending domestic “wars,” such as the war on drugs, the war on guns, and the war on immigrants
...
About Joe Dehn for Congress: Joe Dehn offers a radically different alternative to the failed policies of the Republicans and Democrats. The 17th Congressional District spans parts of Santa Clara and Alameda Counties. Web site: Dehn.VoteLibertarian.us/campaign [link to embed https://dehn.votelibertarian.us/campaign/]. Media contact: (408) 774-1570 or CD17@DehnBase.org.
About the Repeal the Death Tax Act: Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is sponsoring Initiative No. 21-0015A1, which will restore the ability of parents and grandparents to pass property to their children without triggering reassessment and a massive tax increase on long-held family farms, homes, and small businesses. For more information, visit HJTA.org/RepealTheDeathTax.[LINK TO EMBED http://hjta.org/RepealTheDeathTax] Media contact: Susan Shelley at Susan@HJTA.org or (213) 384-9656.
https://kpfa.org/episode/upfront-june-21-2022/ start 1:09-
prop 14 jarvis apt gprhet jiujitsu const pvt prop rights
fused libtard w/ (xian?) social conserv
colorblind
--> new rt [ --> trump?]
berkeley mcduff subdiv mkting ploy, save the redwood league, save tress curve street, so gotta be posh
LBJ gt soc housing bill passed after MLK KIA
RR looking for issue, fed bill (ct?) beat real est org, so he championed?
https://www.heydaybooks.com/catalog/freedom-to-discriminate/
By Gene Slater
Freedom to Discriminate uncovers realtors’ definitive role in segregating America and shaping modern conservative ideology. Drawing on confidential documents from leaders of the real estate industry, Gene Slater reveals how realtors systematically created and justified residential segregation.
To defend all-white neighborhoods against the civil rights movement, realtors put the right to discriminate at the center of individual liberty, effectively redefining and weaponizing “freedom” and providing a roadmap for conservatives nationally. This far-reaching strategy reached its peak when realtors successfully campaigned for a California constitutional amendment that would permanently prohibit fair housing. In the process they created the script of color-blind freedom that polarizes America on issue after issue today.
Slater reveals how California and its powerful realtors would shape segregation for years to come. He shows why one of the first all-white neighborhoods was created in Berkeley, why the state was the perfect place for Ronald Reagan’s political ascension, and how Reagan’s early career—drawing on the realtors’ arguments—would lay the groundwork for current conservative narratives.
A landmark history told with supreme narrative skill, Freedom to Discriminate traces the increasingly aggressive ways realtors justified their practices, and how America’s divides and current debates are rooted in the history of segregated neighborhoods. Slater makes a case that shatters preconceptions about American segregation, connecting seemingly disparate features of the nation’s history in a new and galvanizing way.
2016 HJTA Legislative Report Card
Our report card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are actually performing on taxpayer-related issues both positive and negative. Positive proposals include bills that clarify the parcel tax exemption process for seniors and create additional campaign finance transparency, negative bills include a car battery tax increase, which we chose to double-weight in our scoring, and numerous bills which serve to undercut the ballot initiative process.
Seven legislators received perfect scores in 2016: Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes, Shannon Grove, Jay Obernolte, Matt Harper and Don Wagner. They were joined on the Senate side by Ted Gaines and Jim Nielsen. Assembly Member Matt Dababneh was the highest scoring Democrat, thanks to his authoring of Assembly Bill 1891, an HJTA-sponsored proposal.
The 2016 scores stem from 22 bills. For more information about our methodology and scoring system e-mail Legislative Director David Wolfe at: david@htja.org
Search:
DISTRICT ASSEMBLY MEMBER PARTY GRADE %
35 Achadjian R C 72.3
30 Alejo D F 26.7
72 Allen R A 98.5
31 Arambula D F 23.1
78 Atkins D F 24.1
16 Baker R C 75
5 Bigelow R A 98.2
50 Bloom D F 25.9
14 Bonilla D F 21.2
18 Bonta D F 24.1
73 Brough R A 98.4
47 Brown D F 27.6
62 Burke D F 27.5
57 Calderon D F 27.8
27 Campos D F 25.9
55 Chang R B 80.4
49 Chau D F 24.1
76 Chavez R A 92.6
17 Chiu D F 26.5
25 Chu D F 25
8 Cooley D F 21.2
9 Cooper D F 14.8
45 Dababneh D C 36.2
1 Dahle R A 98.2
69 Daly D F 31
4 Dodd D F 30.4
13 Eggman D F 28.8
11 Frazier D F 25.8
6 Gaines R A 93.9
3 Gallagher R A 90.8
58 Cristina Garcia D F 29.6
56 Eduardo Garcia D F 28.6
43 Gatto D D 53.6
64 Gipson D F 27.6
51 Gomez D F 26.7
80 Gonzalez D F 25.9
24 Gordon D F 23
21 Gray D F 37
34 Grove R A 100
66 Hadley R B 80
74 Harper R A 100
48 Hernandez D F 28.5
41 Holden D F 25
44 Irwin D F 25.9
71 Jones R A 96.6
59 Jones-Sawyer D F 26.9
65 Kim R A 91.7
36 Lackey R B 84.6
10 Levine D F 19.2
60 Linder R C 75.7
39 Lopez D F 22.4
28 Low D F 25.8
77 Maienschein R B 87
26 Mathis R A 94.9
42 Mayes R A 100
7 McCarty D F 23.2
61 Medina D F 27.6
67 Melendez R A 96.5
22 Mullin D F 18.9
46 Nazarian D F 24.9
33 Obernolte R A 100
70 O'Donnell D F 27.3
12 Olsen R C 71.3
23 Patterson R A 98.4
20 Quirk D F 21.7
63 Rendon D F 25.9
54 Ridley-Thomas D F 30
52 Rodriguez D F 25
32 Salas D F 33.3
53 Santiago D F 25
40 Steinorth R A 91.1
29 Stone D F 25.9
15 Thurmond D F 24.1
19 Ting D F 25.9
68 Wagner R A 100
75 Waldron R B 86.3
79 Weber D F 27.2
38 Wilk R B 85.2
37 Williams D F 20.4
2 Wood D F 25
DISTRICT SENATOR PARTY GRADE %
26 Allen D F 19.1
38 Anderson R A 93.3
36 Bates R A 96.5
15 Beall D F 25.7
8 Berryhill R B 84.8
39 Block D F 26.1
12 Cannella R D 55.6
24 De Leon D F 26.1
16 Fuller R A 97.9
1 Gaines R A 100
5 Galgiani D F 33.3
7 Glazer D F 21.7
35 Hall D F 18.8
9 Hancock D F 17.2
22 Hernandez D F 26.7
18 Hertzberg D F 22.3
13 Hill D F 24
40 Hueso D F 31.2
29 Huff R D 60.8
19 Jackson D F 23.1
33 Lara D F 26.7
11 Leno D F 24
20 Leyva D F 25.9
25 Liu D F 25
2 McGuire D F 20.7
32 Mendoza D F 22.2
30 Mitchell D F 23.9
17 Monning D F 27.1
37 Moorlach R B 85.5
23 Morrell R A 91.7
34 Nguyen R A 93.4
4 Nielsen R A 100
6 Pan D F 22.9
27 Pavley D F 26.6
31 Roth D F 31.5
21 Runner R N/A 0
28 Stone R A 95.8
14 Vidak R A 99.4
10 Wieckowski D F 24.1
3 Wolk D F 20.8
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bs
STOCKTON (CBS13) – California’s cash crisis isn’t stopping state worker salaries from growing three times faster than the private sector.
Stockton is the largest city to file for bankruptcy. Part of that has to do with pensions, and new research really shows how much state workers are making.
“There is this expectation, or entitlement mentality, among many public employees,” said John Coupal with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is releasing findings after poring over state worker pay between 2005 and 2010. It shows public workers’ pay and benefits grew three times faster than average Californians. If state workers’ salaries grew at the same rate as the private sector, the report claims the state would’ve saved $2.1 billion.
That savings could have paid for 25,000 teachers, or even housed 42,000 more prisoners.
The report finds even during a recession the number of state workers grew faster than the state population.
“We’re not making sensible decisions,” taxpayer Carolyn Andal said. “We are going on emotions. We are trying to please everybody. We need to get tough — say no when we have to.”
Watchdogs warn that the state needs to change its financial course to save inevitable disaster.
“You can only do that for so long and ultimately you run out of money; and somewhere along the line, the issue has to be resolved one way or another,” said Steve Frates, president of the Center for Government Analysis.
Also, if the state didn’t increase the number of state workers, it would have saved another $900 million, according to the report.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2012/10/17/study-finds-state-workers-benefits-grow-3-times-faster-than-private-sector/
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SVTA
:{
}:
Mark Hinkle, President
Omar Chatty, Vice President
Anthony Diepenbrock, Director
John Roeder, Past President
Pete Constant, Director
Aaron Neighbor, Director
Steven Haug, Treasurer
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bs
David Wolfe has worked for five years with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers' Association. In this capacity, he monitors the Legislature closely, writing position letters and testifying on hundreds of bills. At least ten of these would have severely undercut Propositions 13 and 218, the main priorities of the Association. His other responsibilities include writing a "Piglet" book detailing wasteful spending, fraud, and abuse in state and local government, putting together an annual Report Card for all 120 legislators, and contributing to the HJTA quarterly publication "Taxing Times." He has also worked on a variety of initiative campaigns including to defeat taxes and advocate for property rights.
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v bowen prop 49
http://scocablog.com/a-look-forward-to-arguments-in-howard-jarvis-taxpayers-association-v-bowen/
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https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/954239620
HOWARD JARVIS TAXPAYERS ASSOCIATION
111 PACIFICA STE 270, IRVINE, CA 92618-7427 | TAX-EXEMPT SINCE APRIL 1990
- EIN: 95-4239620
- 2013 7 mil $ goes up steadily, profits from CU 2010
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Anti-tax group's support can come with a price
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. says it endorses only issues in line with its fiscal conservatism. But it is also the face of numerous campaigns bankrolled by less popular interests.
October 30, 2012|By Anthony York, Los Angeles t
Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., is shown at left at a news conference in 2009.
SACRAMENTO — Perhaps the most formidable opponent Gov. Jerry Brown faces in his crusade for tax hikes has been the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., the group that fought property taxes the first time he was governor and has since become famous as the voice of middle-class Californians beleaguered by costly big government.
But in addition to the group's battles against taxes of all kinds, the name of 1978's Proposition 13 author serves a variety of deep-pocketed interests in need of a populist sheen. Far from its humble activist roots, the organization renowned for its quest to protect pocketbooks and foil government waste has turned tax fighting into big business for a handful of political strategists who make their living on its name.
The nonprofit, which claims 200,000 donors and eight full-time employees in a small Sacramento office, has an annual budget of more than $5.7 million, according to 2010 tax records, the most recent available. Critics of the group say its imprimatur is often for sale to the highest bidder.
Chris Bertelli, a Republican education advocate, tangled with the association over a ballot-measure endorsement. "They sent us a letter saying they had not taken a position, but they could if we gave them enough money," he said.
The Jarvis group said it endorses only issues in line with its fiscal conservatism. But it is also the face of numerous campaigns bankrolled by less popular interests. In 2010 its longtime president, Jon Coupal, was the pitch man for aballot initiative financed by $10 million from oil companiesthat would have rolled back key state environmental laws if it had passed.
"The polluters didn't want to be front and center in the campaign to repeal the state's clean air standards," said Steve Maviglio, a Democratic consultant who worked against the measure. "So they hid behind something that tested better in their polling: a 'tax-fighting' group."
Coupal said in an interview that such partnerships are entirely appropriate. "If there's an issue that fits within our sphere of concern, and it's also in the sphere of a major donor or interest, that's fine," he said. "Politics is all about alliances."
In 2004, the association backed a ballot measure to remove limits on the number of slot machines at California Indian casinos. The group's campaign fund was labeled a "project of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn.," but it was financed by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.
The tribe supplied almost all of the fund's cash — more than $1.8 million, according to campaign records filed with the state. The fund then paid the Jarvis association's network of consultants and media firms for television and mail ads that featured Coupal's endorsement.
In 2000, a consultant for the Jarvis group sent a letter to leaders on both sides of the ballot measure Bertelli was advocating, which promoted private-school vouchers. The letter advised that the anti-tax group could go either way on the measure and gave the outlines of a mail campaign; $850,000 would be required of whichever side got the nod.
That turned out to be teachers' unions, which abhorred the voucher idea, put up the money and won the fight by defeating the measure. The consultant, Bill Lord-Butcher, earned $220,000 in fees that year from mail carrying the Jarvis name, according to campaign finance records
"They supported our position and, yes, there was a cost involved," said Gale Kaufman, who ran the No campaign for the teachers' unions.
Jarvis officials said that both groups offered to pay the money — a claim Bertelli denied — but that the endorsement was made strictly on the merits of the issue.
Coupal says the Jarvis group is not directly affiliated with a specific slate of endorsements, though he lends his name and commentary to every issue of the Save Prop. 13 Newsletter, produced by consultant James Lacy, a former director of the association. More than a million copies of the publication, which endorses candidates and causes, are mailed out each election season.
The publication features Howard Jarvis' picture, fist raised, on its cover. Though it has the appearance of a grass-roots newsletter, candidates and issue campaigns pay a premium to be included.
Lacy's company this month sued Republican U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Emken, accusing her of failing to pay more than half the $110,000 she was charged for one of the newsletter endorsements.
The complaint, filed in Orange County Superior Court, says Lacy's firm and its partners "gave up opportunities to enter into agreements with other candidates, including other U.S. Senate candidates, whose campaign advertisements could have and would have appeared on Plaintiff's slate mailer and who would have paid Plaintiff the sums due."
Lacy did not return calls, and Emken's campaign declined to comment.
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2016
BALLOT RECOMMENDATIONS**
The following are the only official recommendations made by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee. (Please note that HJTA and HJTA-PAC do not provide recommendations on all initiative measures or in all candidate elections.)
November 8, 2016 BALLOT RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TAXPAYERS
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association takes positions on issues of direct concern to taxpayers. We also may take positions on ballot measures that will impact the economy because, we know from hard experience, that when government revenues decline, officials are quick to react with higher taxes.
This elections cycle, HJTA has taken a stand on four of the 17 statewide ballot measures.
Prop. 53, Stop Blank Checks: VOTE YES
Stop Blank Checks will close loopholes that allow politicians to commit to revenue bond debt without voter approval. No Blank Checks will ensure that California voters will have a say on all major state bond-funded projects over $2 billion.
Prop. 54, Legislature Transparency Act: VOTE YES
This measure would prohibit lawmakers from passing any bills until they are published on the Internet and in print for at least 72 hours before the vote occurs.
Prop. 55, Extension of Income taxes: VOTE NO
When voters approved an income tax increase in 2012, the politicians promised the increase would be temporary. Now, with Prop. 55, they want to extend the highest marginal income rates in all 50 states, for another 13 years.
Prop. 56, Tobacco Tax Increase: VOTE NO
Another effort to funnel more money into efforts overseen by government entities, which excel at squandering much of the taxpayer money they already receive.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Political Action Committeeendorses candidates based on their support for Proposition 13 and taxpayers’ rights. The primary focus of HJTA-PAC is on candidates for the State Legislature, which is the source of most of the attacks on Proposition 13.
HJTA-PAC is non-partisan, but we find that Republican candidates tend to be more supportive of Proposition 13 than are Democrats.
HJTA-PAC does not endorse in all races. Among the reasons can be: There is more than one qualified candidate; there are no qualified candidates; no candidate was interested in an HJTA-PAC endorsement. Choices in many races will be more clear in the general election.
Here are the only officially HJTA-PAC endorsed candidates for the November 8, General Election.
House of Representatives
CD 1 Doug Lamalfa
CD 6 Robert Evans
CD 23 Kevin McCarthy
CD 26 Rafael A. Dagnesses
CD 31 Paul Chabot
CD 36 Jeff Stone
CD 45Mimi Walters
CD 47Andrew Whallon
State Senate
SD 5 Alan Nakanishi
SD 17 Palmer Kain
SD 21 Scott Wilk
SD 23Mike Morrell
SD 25 Mike Antonovich
SD 27 Steve Fazio
SD 29 Ling Ling Chang
SD 31 Richard Reed
SD 37 John Moorlach
State Assembly
AD 3 James Gallagher
AD 6 Kevin Kiley
AD 8 Nick Bloise
AD 9 Tim Gorsulowsky
AD 12 Ken Vogel
AD 23 Jim Patterson
AD 26 Devon Mathis
AD 33 Jay Obernolte
AD 34 Vincent Fong
AD 35 Jordan Cunningham
AD 38 Dante Acosta
AD 40 Marc Steinorth
AD 42 Chad Mayes
AD 44 Kerry Nelson
AD 48 Cory Ellenson
AD 55 Phil Chen
AD 60 Eric Linder
AD 65 Young Kim
AD 66 David Hadley
AD 67 Melissa Melendez
AD 68 Steven Choi
AD 70 Martha Flores-Gibson
AD 71Randy Voepel
AD 73 Bill Brough
AD 75 Marie Waldron
AD 79John Moore
Local
(Because of thousands of local candidates, HJTA-PAC does not endorse unless the office seeker can demonstrate a clear and lengthy record of working on behalf of taxpayers, or if they have worked directly with HJTA on a taxpayer related project.)
Fresno Co. Dist. 5 Alex Ott
Orange Co. Dist. 1 Andrew Do
Riverside Co. Dist. 1 Keven Jeffries
Riverside Co. Dist. 3 Shellie Milne
Sacramento Co. Dist. 4 Sue Frost
San Luis Obispo Co. Dist. 1 John Peschong
Sutter Co. Dist. 5 Barbara LeVake, Mat Conant (dual endorsement)
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/30/local/la-me-howard-jarvis-20121031
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pal of floyd brown:
James V. Lacy is a frequent guest on Fox News Channel’s “Varney and Company” and is author of “Taxifornia: Liberal’s Laboratory to Bankrupt America.”
An attorney, Jim has been recognized by the American Association of Political Consultants with their “Pollie Award” for his service and knowledge in the field ofpostal law in election campaigns. Jim’s law firm “Wewer and Lacy, LLP” represents political action committees, initiative committees, and candidates by handling their campaign finance law matters, serving as committee Treasurer, and representing these clients in litigation. Jim also owns with his wife, Janice, Landslide Communications, Inc., which is thelargest publisher of slate mail in California, estimated at 14,000,000 pieces of mail in the 2014 elections.
Jim is admitted to practice in California, the District of Columbia, and the U. S. Supreme Court. Jim served as Chief Counsel for Technology at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. from 1989-91 during the Bush I Administration, and as General Counsel to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (1987-89) during the Reagan Administration. He also served as Director of Export Trading Company Affairs in the International Trade Administration (1984-87), where he managed an antitrust certification program for U.S. exporters; and as a business liaison aide to the late Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige (1981-84). In 1976, Jim was a delegate from California to the Republican National Convention for Ronald Reagan.
In 1978, Jim was a co-founding director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, with California’s Proposition 13 author, the late Howard Jarvis, which has grown to have the largest membership of any taxpayer organization in California. He was instrumental in opening the negotiations which resulted in the Young America’s Foundation’s acquisition of the Reagan Western White House, in Santa Barbara. He currently serves as a member of the Republican State Central Committee of California,appointed by Congressman Darrell Issa. Jim received his Juris Doctorate degree from Pepperdine University and his undergraduate degree in International Relations from the University of Southern California. Jim lives in the coastal community of Dana Point, California, where he served on the City Council, with his wife, Janice, and their German Shepard, “Ibo”.
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JAMES V. LACY, a frequent guest on Fox Business News Channel’s “Varney & Company,” is a third generation native Californian. Born in Oakland, he is a graduate of Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, received his undergraduate degree at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and his Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine University School of Law at Malibu. Lacy is admitted to practice law in California and the District of Columbia, and has served as a member of the Board of Visitors of Pepperdine University School of Law.
He was a delegate from California to the 1976 Republican National Convention, pledged to Ronald Reagan for President. In 1978, he served as an aide to Howard Jarvis, the author of Proposition 13. Lacy worked for Reagan’s election again in 1980 and after Reagan’s victory, joined the Administration in Washington, D.C., where he served all eight years, including as a senior executive at the Commerce Department and as General Counsel to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Lacy and his wife Janice, a former Deputy Chief Counsel of the Republican National Committee, are partners in their law firm and a political communications company.
The Lacys live in Dana Point, California, where Jim has served as Chairman of the Planning Commission and was elected to the City Council. Jim Lacy is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Conservative Union,and the publisher of the California Political Review, www.capoliticalreview.com.
http://www.conservativebookclub.com/book/taxifornia-liberals-laboratory-to-bankrupt-america
2014 book
Liberalism is to blame for California’s rotting economy.
The biggest and most important state in America was once a land of opportunity in a wonderful climate. But times have surely changed. Things have never been worse for California and its citizens. California’s “one-party” domination of the liberal faction of the California Democratic Party and their union and environmental lobby cronies have wrecked havoc on California, and all Americans are losing as a result.
In Taxifornia, James V. Lacy identifies and examines the true causes of California’s decline.
Californians are victims of the heaviest taxation in all of America, and those high taxes are now steadily destroying the state’s economy. Tax-and-spend liberals who are in control have created a state that taxes and regulates more than any other state in the country, and have engineered a rotting economy with among the highest unemployment of any state in the nation. Its high taxes hurt all Californians by making the state too expensive for business to turn profitable. Business flight has become endemic. California’s over-regulation of businesses depresses employment in the state. A widely accepted tenet among liberal politicians, political science academics, and the media in California is that no development at all is a good thing.
It is a state that educates the worst but pays the best to its teachers, a place that is widely considered by most CEOs to be one of the worst locations in the nation to run a business, where local governments are going bankrupt, and where an out-of-control public employee pay and pension system threatens to gobble up and divert almost all available taxpayer resources to a point where cities and counties simply cannot afford to pay for police, fire, or road maintenance anymore.
California has an outdated environmental policy and an energy policy that makes the state almost totally dependent on one source of power: imported natural gas. It is a place where the public employee union worker who controls traffic in the Bay Area Rapid Transit District maintenance yard in poverty-stricken and near bankrupt Oakland is paid more annually than the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
Top leaders of the California Republican Party readily acknowledge their party is in very deep trouble. Jim Brulte, the state chairman of the GOP and a respected veteran of the California Legislature, has identified the source of the GOP’s sorry condition as a “failure to recognize changing demographics” and has said that Republicans have been too reluctant to venture into communities outside of their traditional power base. “If we want to be successful, we have to get outside of our comfort zone,” Brulte said. “Too many Republican Party leaders or Republican elected officials spend all their time talking to the choir.”
Having identified the problems correctly, Lacy offers observations–with over 800 footnotes–about what can be done to restore political balance in the state, as well as some rational ideas for how California can fix its economic problems. But the economic and political situation in California today is at such an extreme, whether California can ever return to the broad prosperity of the past and once again lead the nation, is a very open question.
https://drowndinginmail.wordpress.com/tag/superpac/page/8/
junk mail scam site protection
11 from Policy Issues Institute. Opt-out here: james.lacy.@wewerlacy.com
4 with a similar look and PO boxes in Houston TX. OMG one of them is The Western Center for Journalism run by Floyd Brown! How many of these things does he have his fingers in?
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Republican Party of Orange County (Federal)
Lincoln Club of Orange County Federal PAC, the
Darrell Issa US Representative from California
Rudolph W Giuliani Mayor of New York City
Mark Steven Kirk US Senator and Representative from Illinois
San Diego County Republican Party - Fed
Dean Heller US Senator and Representative from Nevada
Dana Rohrabacher US Representative from California
==
:{**Thomas B. Edsall**:(style="box-sizing:inherit;letter-spacing:-0.01em;padding-right:2px"):}:Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor,Columbia School of Journalism9/2008:{
}:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/11/you-get-what-you-pay-for_n_118311.html
They are the loyal troops of the conservative revolution, at least 2,824 of them, almost all of them elderly, their 65th birthdays an increasingly distant memory — men and women who were middle-aged when Ronald Reagan was first elected California Governor in 1966.
Recently these Americans reached for their checkbooks in response to an undated letter signed by Michael Reagan, the son of the former president, who sent the following message on ‘The Republican Presidential Elections Committee’ letterhead:
Do you believe in a strong national defense?
Do you believe in smaller government and lower taxes, instead of a massive overblown federal bureaucracy that endlessly gobbles your tax dollars?
Do you believe in strong, honorable, courageous leadership in the War on Terror?
I think I know your answer — but these are the critical issues that are at stake in Election 2008.
This is what separates John McCain from the Democrats....
Your contribution will help me and the R.P.E.C. be more effective at disseminating the Republican message and supporting John McCain for President.
This letter was in fact from the Legacy Committee Political Action Committee and similar to solicitations from its sister organization, the National Campaign Fund. Together thetwo PACs have raised at least $1.66 million (in contributions ranging from $1 to $5,000) — not a bad chunk of change for an independent expenditure drive.
In a fundraising mailing from the National Campaign Fund sent shortly before July 4, prospective donors were told:
For months now, Obama and his pals in the liberal media have been attacking John McCain. They’ve been attacking his policies. They’ve been impugning his conservative record. And the pundits are eating it up! They are predicting a sweep for Obama!
We can’t allow this to happen, my friend. We can’t let the Democrats destroy a man who has spent a lifetime honoring our country. We can’t let them defeat a man who spent five Independence Days in captivity, being tortured and starved. John McCain knows the meaning and importance of freedom....
Please help me honor our country today by doing three things: 1. Proudly display your American flag in a place of honor in your home; 2. Sign the Independence Day Certificate of Commitment, promising to help me work to elect John McCain to the White House this year; 3. Rush your signed certificate back to me along with your maximum contribution to the National Campaign Fund.
The PACs are the work of two men, **Floyd Brown** — whose Willie Horton ads won fame 20 years ago helping defeat Michael S. Dukakis; andJames V. Lacy, one of the co-founders of Howard Jarvis’ Taxpayer Association, the driving force behind California’s 1978 Proposition 13, and a board member of such groups as the American Conservative Union and the Young America Foundation.
Most of the direct mail fundraising for the two PACs has been performed by a collection of five companies run by Ron Kanfer, who, two decades ago, helped raise money to pay for the 1988 Willie Horton ads.
The contributions to the Legacy and National Campaign PACs — often ill-remembered by their aging donors — have paid for two web sites,www.exposeobama.com and www.helpJohnmcCain.com.
The ExposeObama site hosts four videos produced by Floyd Brown.
One video, titled “They Died In Chicago,” shows footage of an urban slum while the announcer describes a series of gang killings. Then the voiceover declares, “A Chicago state senator named Barack Obama voted against the death penalty for gang-related murders. When the time came to get tough, Obama chose to be weak. So the question is: Can a man so weak in the war on gangs be trusted in the war on terror?”
Another web video titled “Was Obama a Muslim,” suggests that Obama was a Muslim as a child and is now lying about it. “It does matter if he is not telling the truth now,” the announcer says at the end.
None of these four videos has received significant media attention - the key to going from the minors to the majors — and fundraising by the two PACS appears to have stalled.
As of the most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission last June, the two PACS had a combined total of $56,906.50 left in the bank, along with debts of $15,060, for a net of $41,846.50.
Lacy, the treasurer of both committees, contended that there has been little spending on actual electioneering activities for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, he said, “Neither of these two committees has gotten to the so called ‘tipping point’ where it actually has a profit. They haven’t got to that point yet.”
In addition, he said, “The entire effort of these two groups is focused on the general election in November, not earlier....Even if revenue was ten times what it is — or more — right now, these groups would not be spending any serious funds on advertising, as we are good managers and correctly conclude it would be a complete waste of the donors contributions to do so.”
Finally, according to Lacy, “The economy is in recession and as other parts of the economy have been affected, so has political giving through direct-mail. Because of the typically smaller margins on direct-mail fundraising, unless response rates and dollar amounts are high, the program can lose money. The economy has depressed both response rates and dollar amounts of contributions, at least from what we were hoping for.”
The two committees have paid the $1.12 million to five Kanfer companies, all operating from the same Vienna, Va., address: Mid-America Printing; Response Dynamics, Inc.; Fulfillment Management Services; The Best List, Inc.; and Direct Response Data Management.
Kanfer won fame by helping raise money to put the 1988 Willie Horton ad on television. Since then he and his firms have been the subject of adverse publicity.
In 2005, the College Republicans terminated a contract with Kanfer’s companies after newspaper disclosures in the Seattle Times and Durham Herald-Sun of fundraising practices using front organizations that collected huge sums, including contributions from elderly people with dementia, some of whom gave away all their savings.
“I don’t have any more money,” Cecilia Barbier, 90, a retired church worker in New York who made more than 300 donations totaling nearly $100,000, told the Seattle Times. “That was all the savings. . . . Now I’m scrounging.” Monda Jo Millsap, 68, of Van Buren, Ark., told the Times that she emptied a savings account, then got a $5,000 bank loan to give a total of $59,000.
Kanfer, in a brief interview with the Huffington Post, sought to deflect all questions to Lacy and others involved in the management of Legacy and National Campaign. “We are just one of several direct mail vendors,” Kanfer said. “They [Lacy and others] would have all the information.”
The Legacy and National Campaign committees are governed by federal campaign law and can only accept a maximum of $5,000 from any single donor.
Almost all the contributors to the two committees are listed as “retired.” Of the first 50 donors who listed occupations on the most recent Legacy filing with the FEC, 44 identified themselves as retired.
The Huffington Post contacted a dozen of the donors, and four were willing to give their ages: 92, 91, 80 and 78. None immediately recognized the name of the committee they had contributed to, although all said they give regularly to Republican and conservative causes.
One 80-year-old woman who is listed as giving a total of $240 in amounts of $50 or less said “I think I did (give) at one time. I really don’t know. I maybe just gave once.”
A 91-year-old retired homemaker in North Carolina also listed as giving numerous relatively small amounts totaling $273 said she only gave “once and it was a long time ago. I stopped when I found out I wasn’t getting what I expected.”
In fact, the organizers of Legacy and the National Campaign Fund may have set themselves up for a fall by choosing to become federally regulated PACs prohibited by law from taking contributions in excess of $5,000, instead of becoming tax-exempt groups known as 501c4s and 527s for sections of the Internal Revenue tax code which govern them.
Tax exempt groups can accept unlimited contributions, and the success of one of the most famous of these, the 2004 Swift Boat Veterans For Truth,was crucially dependent on mega-contributions from three angels, oilman-corporate raider T. Boone Pickens, who early on gave $500,000; Houston homebuilder Bob Perry,who gave $200,000; and AubreyMcClendon, founder, chair and CEO of ChesapeakeEnergy Corporation who gave $250,000.
This cash, in turn, allowed the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to make a relatively modest $546,587 buy to run its first anti-John Kerry ad on five cable channels — a buy that produced what many believe to have been a record amounts of free coverage (so called ‘earned media’) on news shows.
Chris LaCivita, the senior adviser to the Swift Boat Veterans, said during a Harvard Institute of Politics conference looking back on the 2004 election:
In June [2004] about ten of those guys [veterans opposed to Kerry] came to me and said, ‘Hey we held a press conference in May and no one bothered to give us any attention. . . .How do we get attention?’ I said, ‘the only way you can essentially get attention is if you raise enough money and put it on TV’. . . . The pure intention of that first ad was to generate earned media [free media] about the message we were conveying. And yes, it was in your face. There was no other way to communicate it.
At the moment, Legacy and the National Campaign Fund are in no position to replicate the Swift Boat Vets, and, with just over 80 days until November 4, the prospects do not look good.
“We have to raise a lot of dollars. Voters need a concrete message that is hammered and hammered again and again,” Lacy said. Because of their weak fundraising this cycle, “We can’t put together a viable budget,” he said, adding almost wistfully, “If a theme catches, then we can roll with that.”
Gourley, in a telephone interview from Sioux Falls, says the high-pressure direct mail campaign "was not a problem that I started." He blames Response Dynamics for the excesses and points out that the College Republican National Committee first signed its contract with the Virginia-based company when he was 10 years old, and, "It's sort of silly to be pointing blame." He adds that he proposed a resolution, unanimously adopted, that terminated the contract with Response Dynamicsat the College Republicans' national board meeting last year. The group is working with a new direct mail firm now.
(The College Republican National Committeeis an independent organization, having severed its formal ties with the Republican National Committee in 2001. A spokeswoman for the RNC said she had no comment about the college group's fundraising efforts.)
==
oppo res:
quick note: here be the lowlights
if you want more details you can consult the map (0r ask me; i see no obvious illegal acts: if only they'd knock over a liquor store)
https://webbrain.com/brainpage/brain/E212D5AA-EEF5-535C-9D0D-27920B094E45#-577
https://webbrain.com/brainpage/brain/E212D5AA-EEF5-535C-9D0D-27920B094E45#-562
https://webbrain.com/brainpage/brain/E212D5AA-EEF5-535C-9D0D-27920B094E45#-578
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is a political organization that helped sponsor Proposition 13 in California in 1978.[1]
It was founded by California Republican Howard Jarvis. The organization has outlived its founder, and continues to operate to the present day under the same name, opposing all new and old taxes on Californians. The organization is currently headed by Jon Coupal.
It presently supports Proposition 23 (which aims to suspend AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006)
bs :
Jon Coupalis the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA). HJTA, with offices in both Los Angeles and Sacramento, is the largest taxpayers association in California with a membership of over 200,000. Founded by the late Howard Jarvis, the author of Proposition 13, HJTA’s name is synonymous with tax relief and the uncompromising defense of the California homeowner.
From 1991 to 1998, Coupal served as Director of Legal Affairs for HJTA, overseeing the organization’s litigation and lobbying efforts...After law school, he was an attorney withPacific Legal Foundation for nine years, specializing in tax issues and political law.
Politics can be a good business. Just look at the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
Jarvis has been dead for a quarter century. But the organization that bears his names occupies a profitable niche, one that includes opposing taxes, promoting initiatives and endorsing politicians.
Jarvis was a tea partier long before the anti-government and anti-tax movement took on its current name. Now, his mad-as-hell message is part of the Republican establishment, almost always aligned with Chamber of Commerce and real estate interests, and often with tobacco, oil, gambling and other big businesses.
The rough edges are gone, but the Jarvis name is as powerful now as it was in 1978 when he championed the property tax-slashing Proposition 13, and Time magazine splashed his craggy visage on its cover.
Today, Jon Coupal is responsible for spreading the Jarvis message. A 54-year-old attorney who is as smooth as Jarvis was bombastic, Coupal has been a denizen of the political scene for more than two decades. After working for the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation he joined the Jarvis organization in 1991, ascending to its presidency in 1999, a post that paid $255,000last year....
Through e-mail and snail mail, Coupal and his staff, working from a tidy downtown office, regularly tap roughly 200,000 followers, mobilizing them to sign petitions, vote and, of course, donate. The followers are aged, averaging 60-plus years old, but are reliable voters and provide sufficient political muscle to ensure the operation is a force inside the Capitol.
Jarvis' lobbyist regularly testifies on budget and taxation issues, always on the side of big business and against taxes. Hardly an outsider, the organization spent $2.27 million on lobbying in 2009. That ranks it eighth highest, above heavyweights such as PG&E and Chevron, entities with which it sides, or the California Labor Federation, with which it invariably disagrees.
All that Republican orthodoxy may place the organization in the minority in this blue state. But its anti-tax stand is potent and helps explain California's perennial budget impasses. Like the Club for Growth, which elicits anti-tax pledges from congressional candidates, the Jarvis organization obtains pledges from legislative candidates who vow to oppose any measure deemed to undermine Proposition 13.
The pledge is not to be trifled with, as Assemblyman Anthony Adams, a San Bernardino County Republican, learned when he broke from the pack and voted for a tax increase last year.
Coupal minced no words when he announced his support of the effort to oust Adams: "Recalling a legislator who stabbed us in the back is a good way to remind other legislators that there are certain acts which are unforgivable and punishable by the political death penalty known as recall."
Adams survived. But the tax vote derailed his career in Republican politics. He will quit the Legislature when this session ends. The message was clear; there cannot be the "slightest deviation from blinding purity," Adams told me.
The meaning of purity depends on who does the defining. Coupal promotes initiatives to limit campaign spending by labor and is a critic of public employee unions and their pensions, even as the organization has accepted $42,000 from the California Teachers Association and $10,000 from the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. Both donations were earmarked for Jarvis-backed initiative fights.
Millions pass through the Jarvis organization each year. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the main umbrella organization, disclosed that it raised $12 million in 2008.
Alleged impact on rent control laws
Regarding the motives of Jarvis in promoting Proposition 13 and the role its passage had in rent control subsequently being enacted in most large cities in California, Greg Katz has written: "There was little doubt from his rhetoric that Howard Jarvis, who penned Prop. 13 with his on-again-off-again political ally Paul Gann, hated taxes of all kinds. But his intentions were, at best, turbid; Jarvis was at the time employed by the Los Angeles Apartment Owners Association as a lobbyist. In a fundraising letter to the landlords that employed him, he claimed, 'We are the biggest losers' if Prop. 13 fails. (Not to mention: TheYes on 13 headquarters were located in a Los Angeles Apartment Owners Association office.) He tried to persuade renters to vote for Prop. 13 by saying it would drive down rents, by decreasing the property taxes that landlords paid. Post-13 news reports found rents weren’t going down, despite Jarvis’s promises – apparently landlords were just pocketing their property tax savings. That revelation prompted many of the rent controls still in effect around California."[5] San Francisco community activist Calvin Welch has stated "Jarvis was the father of rent control."[6][7] Mark Evanier has dubbed him a "horrible man" and summed up Jarvis' years as a lobbyist for landlords with these words: "He spent a lot of time 'n' money trying to ram through bills that said, in essence, that if I'm your landlord, I can do any damn thing I want to you, including tearing up contracts and raising your rent or evicting you whenever I feel like it." [8]
==
HJTA supported pacific legal alum:
In 1994 Harmer authored the book School choice: why you need it — how you get it published by the Cato Institute.[7] One of Harmer's op-ed articles on school choice, titled "Abolish the Public Schools", stated that the government should "exit the business of running and funding schools." [8]
==
Often works w/ GOP political operatives:
Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk's
Did astroturf hijacking Tea Party
Killed prop 37
recalled Gray Davis (whose claims about Enron proved true)
tobacco
Pombo tried to repeal Endangered Species Act
[Vulture capitalist Singer: “I contributed to the Take Initiative America because I believe in proportional voting in the Electoral College,” Singer said in a statement e-mailed to The News.
The ballot initiative, if approved, would have changed how California apportions its electoral college votes. Under the states’ current winner-take-all system, the Democratic nominee has traditionally pocketed all 55 electoral votes in the left-leaning state — the nation’s largest electoral prize.
Instead, electoral votes would be apportioned to the winner in each congressional district —a change likely to shift up to 22 of those 55 votes into the GOP column, given the number of safely Republican districts in the state.]
clients include:
California Tribal Business Alliance—"an 'Indian Gaming' organization" whose "mission statement is 'to safeguard and enhance the success of the business enterprises of our tribal government members' ....... and 'will foster business development and coalition building with like minded government and business leaders in California.'" (Also see this.)
"Californians for Paycheck Protection—yet another front group—this one sponsoring a California anti-union ballot initiative. (Their major funders in 2005 (go see how much) included the Chamber of Commerce and the California Republican Party.)" (Also see this.)
"notorious anti-environmental Congressman Richard Pombo." (See here.)
"big tobacco", with BM&H as "Philip Morris Outside Counsel" (See this.)
"A different partner at this firm, Thomas Hiltachk, filed the 'Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006'—a stealth attempt to get rid of California's overtime rules."
Walmart
Oppose high speed rail
Dr Suess on Prop 13:
Such as the lamentable instability of your fast-shrinking dollars
And the current crisis in the marketability of kangaroo collars
Though we’re faced with the problems of modern entreaties
And would Bruce Jenner have won the Olympics if he had failed to eat his Wheaties
Oh the problems of urban renewal and zoning
I must point out the fact that while zones are zoning
Cloning also goes on
And while clones are cloning
There’s no legal way you can unzone the clones
Until the Supreme Court speaks out and de-unclones the zoners
And the problem of corrupt government and who to impeach
And should an anthropoid mate with a star-bellied leech?
And where is the answer out there on Black’s Beach?
I must speak of the shamrock shortage in Belfast
:{And how all over the world things are going to hell fast
And how due to Mr. Jarvis and Proposition 13}:
There’ll be no one to keep the gym locker room clean
Which brings us to Solzhenitsyn and moral decay
And how pot affects hens and the eggs that they lay
I could go on and depress you for the rest of the day
But I’m so depressed that I’m not going to stay
I’m throwing the rest of my compendium away
And I’ll say the one single good thing I can say
As you leave on your horses to enter the fray
I just wish you good luck and hasta luego
From UC La Jolla – I mean, San Diego
==
Union Watch (updated regularly) KOCH http://conservativetransparency.org/recipient/california-public-policy-center/
:{
}:
http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Lobbying/
http://ourfuture.org/20120813/discover-the-network-out-to-crush-our-public-workers
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/California_Public_Policy_Center
Oppose 49 in court and on ballot:
other problems; broken schools, drought, 70 cent gas tax, crime rising, unemployment, jobs leaving
==
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is a political organization that helped sponsor Proposition 13 in California in 1978.[1]
It was founded by California Republican Howard Jarvis. The organization has outlived its founder, and continues to operate to the present day under the same name, opposing all new and old taxes on Californians. The organization is currently headed byJon Coupal.
It presently supports Proposition 23 (which aims to suspend AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006).[2] It was the plaintiff in a lawsuit to change the ballot wording of Proposition 23.
Political Endorsements, 2010:
David Harmer, Republican Congressional nominee in California's 11th District (mormon, hatch)
Political Endorsements, 2012:{:{:}:
Jeff Miller, Republican State Senator in California's 31st District
Ed Adkinson, Candidate for Mayer, City of Riverside, California
References
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "Howard Jarvis Taxpayer's Association Website". Retrieved 2012-08-09.
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ [1][dead link]
==
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000026530&cycle=A
178K$ lobbying since 1992
2010 TP
Devore, Chuck (R-CA) Senate $5,000
Fiorina, Carly (R-CA) Senate $3,000
Angle, Sharron (R-NV) Senate $1,000
Harmer, David Jeffrey (R-CA) House $1,000
O'Donnell, Christine (R-DE) Senate $1,000
Rossi, Dino (R-WA) Senate $1,000
Toomey, Pat (R-PA) Senate $1,000
Tran, Van (R-CA) House $1,000
==
may 2014
slight dip
The first quarter marked both the beginning of a new legislative session and the start of an election year, and because things are just beginning to ramp up in the Capitol, spending on lobbying took a slight dip from the prior quarter.
Lobbyist employers spent about $294,000 less than in the final quarter of 2013. The total money paid was $7.39 million, according to reports published Wednesday by the California Secretary of State.
Sacramento’s lobbying firms took in about $369,000 less than in the prior quarter, for a total of $11.2 million.
As has become custom in the Capitol, thetop five lobbyist employers represented oil, labor unions, business interests, hospitals and the anti-tax :{Howard Jarvis:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:Taxpayers Association.
The Western States Petroleum Association was the top lobbyist employer, making payments of $1.45 million in the first quarter. The association is currently fighting a Democrat proposal to establish California’s first oil severance tax.
Right behind the oil and gas heavyweight was the California State Council of Service Employees, which paid $1.37 million, and after the union, the California Chamber of Commerce, which paid out approximately $900,000 in the first quarter.
The highest paid lobbying firm, Lang Hansen O’Malley and Miller, claimed the top position from KP Public Affairs this quarter.
The top firm, which made $1.44 million in the first quarter, represents airlines, retailers and truckers, to name a few.
Lang Hansen O’Malley and Miller also represents the telecom industry, which helped defeat a bill that would have forced cellphone carriers to provide anti-theft software on smartphones.
==
prop 23:
Supporters
The California Secretary of State's website lists Thomas W. Hiltachk as the initiative's proponent.[13]
The SuspendAB32.org website lists proponents of the effort as U.S. Congressman Tom McClintock and California Assemblyman Dan Logue.[14]
Ted Costa, CEO of People's Advocate, had also been listed as a proponent until he turned against the effort in March 2010 due to its "country club" organization and unreported oil industry funding.[15]
Committee
The committee supporting this effort is the California Jobs Initiative Committee; its officers are[16],[17]:
- Sponsor: Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
- Treasurer: Colleen C. McAndrews of**Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk,**LLP
- "Other Principal Officer" Scott Folwarkow, Valero's director of government affairs in California
==
The liberal news Web site AlterNet shows that a very small number of wealthy, influential donors are driving campaign efforts to pass Proposition 23, a California ballot initiative that would suspend state legislation designed to help reduce carbon emissions and hold polluters accountable. The legislation, AB 32, is already in effect, and requires California to decrease global warming emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, beginning in 2012.Prop 23, as it is called, would suspend AB 32 until the state’s unemployment rate drops below 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters.
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Currently unemployment in California is around 12 percent. AlterNet provides data showing that AB 32 will actually create jobs developing “clean” technologies and energies, an industry sometimes called “green tech.”Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla recently said: “AB 32 created markets. Prop. 23 will kill the market and the single largest source of job growth in California in the last two years.”
:{
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The funding for the advertising and other political activities pushing Prop 23 comes from two primary sources: Texas oil giant Valero Energy Corporation and Tesoro Corporation. Both companies have refineries in California that make them two of the state’s biggest polluters. The two oil companies are aided by large donations from the Koch brothers, who own oil conglomerate Koch Industries (see 1977-Present, 1979-1980, 1981-2010, 1984 and After, May 6, 2006, April 15, 2009, May 29, 2009, December 6, 2009, November 2009, July 3-4, 2010, August 28, 2010, August 30, 2010, and September 24, 2010).
:{
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Valero has spent $5 million to bolster Prop 23 and Tesoro has spent $2 million. Flint Hill Resources, a Koch Industries subsidiary, has spent $1 million. Marathon Petroleum has spent $500,000, as has the conservative Adam Smith Foundation of Missouri. Occidental Petroleum has spent $300,000; Tower Energy Group, $200,000; CVR Energy, $150,000; and about $100,000 each has been spent by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, and World Oil Corporation.
Of the $10.6 million raised so far to push Proposition 23, only 30 percent of it comes from inside California. In contrast, opponents to Proposition 23 have raised $30.6 million to defeat it, with 70 percent of that money coming from inside California. Jorge Madrid of Climate Progress recently warned: “If we allow Prop 23 to succeed, big oil refineries in the state could continue to spew greenhouse gases without strict regulation. Even worse, a victory for big oil in California could mean certain death for greenhouse gas regulation for the rest of the nation.” [ALTERNET, 10/30/2010; LOS ANGELES TIMES, 11/2/2010] Prop 23 will lose by a 61-39 margin, with analysts noting that the anti-proposition forces gained ground by pointing out the support for the proposition coming primarily from Texas oil interests. Even many of California’s largest oil companies either stayed neutral or opposed the initiative.
The anti-proposition forces were fueled primarily by financiers such as San Francisco hedge fund managerTom Steyer, the National Wildlife Federation and the ClimateWorks Foundation, and green-tech moguls such as Khosla and John Doerr. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) stumped in opposition to the initiative, attacking the “self-serving greed” of Valero and Tesoro. The Environmental Defense Fund’s Fred Krupp says of the defeat: “It is the largest public referendum in history on climate and clean energy policy. Almost 10 million Californians got a chance to vote and sent a clear message that they want a clean energy future. And this was in an economic downturn. There has never been anything this big. It is going to send a signal to other parts of the country and beyond.” [LOS ANGELES TIMES, 11/2/2010]
Entity Tags: Fred Krupp, David Koch, World Oil Corporation, Charles Koch, CVR Energy,Arnold Schwarzenegger, Valero Energy Corporation, Adam Smith Foundation, AlterNet (.org), Tower Energy Group, Vinod Khosla, Tesoro Corporation, Marathon Petroleum,National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, Koch Industries, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Jorge Madrid, National Wildlife Federation, Proposition 23 (California), ClimateWorks Foundation, Tom Steyer, Occidental Petroleum
Timeline Tags: Civil Liberties
hist commons
==
bs
Jon Coupal is the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA). HJTA, with offices in both Los Angeles and Sacramento, is the largest taxpayers association in California with a membership of over 200,000. Founded by the late Howard Jarvis, the author of Proposition 13, HJTA’s name is synonymous with tax relief and the uncompromising defense of the California homeowner.
From 1991 to 1998, Coupal served as Director of Legal Affairs for HJTA, overseeing the organization’s litigation and lobbying efforts. He is a recognized expert in California fiscal affairs and has argued numerous tax cases before the courts. Coupal also successfully defended Proposition 140, the state's term limit initiative, before the California Supreme Court. In 1995, he won a major ruling before the Supreme Court when it upheld the validity of Proposition 62, an HJTA sponsored initiative guaranteeing the right to vote on local taxes. He is also the principal drafter of Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act, [bruan jones opposed prop 30/32] a measure passed by the voters in November 1996. He has served as chairman of several initiative campaigns representing the interests of taxpayers including his most recent battle against Proposition 88, the statewide parcel tax initiative, defeated by the voters in November of 2006. Coupal is also Chairman of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Foundation which provides funding for taxpayer rights litigation and educational studies.
Coupal is a graduate of the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary, where he received his J.D. degree in 1982. After law school, he was an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation for nine years, specializing in tax issues and political law. He resides in Sacramento, California with his wife Catherine, daughter Elena and son Adam.
==
$12 mil 2008, #8 up there w/ PG&E
Dan Morain: Jarvis group evolves into a money machine
By Dan Morain, Senior editor
dmorain@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Sunday, Mar. 7, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1E
Last Modified: Sunday, Mar. 7, 2010 - 12:15 pm
Politics can be a good business. Just look at the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
Jarvis has been dead for a quarter century. But the organization that bears his names occupies a profitable niche, one that includes opposing taxes, promoting initiatives and endorsing politicians.
Jarvis was a tea partier long before the anti-government and anti-tax movement took on its current name. Now, his mad-as-hell message is part of the Republican establishment, almost always aligned with Chamber of Commerce and real estate interests, and often with tobacco, oil, gambling and other big businesses.
The rough edges are gone, but the Jarvis name is as powerful now as it was in 1978 when he championed the property tax-slashing Proposition 13, and Time magazine splashed his craggy visage on its cover.
Today, Jon Coupal is responsible for spreading the Jarvis message. A 54-year-old attorney who is as smooth as Jarvis was bombastic, Coupal has been a denizen of the political scene for more than two decades. After working for the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation he joined the Jarvis organization in 1991, ascending to its presidency in 1999, a post that paid $255,000 last year.
Coupal is making the rounds of conservative talk shows touting the endorsement of billionaire Republican Meg Whitman's candidacy for governor over Steve Poizner, and slapping at Democrat Jerry Brown.
If it ever was, the organization long ago ceased being a curmudgeonly old man's domain. Now, it is a sophisticated series of nonprofit corporations and political action committees, built around opposition to tax increases or expansion of government, though it does veer into other lucrative areas when the price seems right.
Through e-mail and snail mail, Coupal and his staff, working from a tidy downtown office, regularly tap roughly 200,000 followers, mobilizing them to sign petitions, vote and, of course, donate. The followers are aged, averaging 60-plus years old, but are reliable voters and provide sufficient political muscle to ensure the operation is a force inside the Capitol.
Jarvis' lobbyist regularly testifies on budget and taxation issues, always on the side of big business and against taxes. Hardly an outsider, theorganization spent $2.27 million on lobbying in 2009. That ranks it eighth highest, above heavyweights such as PG&E and Chevron,entities with which it sides, or the California Labor Federation, with which it invariably disagrees.
All that Republican orthodoxy may place the organization in the minority in this blue state. But its anti-tax stand is potent and helps explain California's perennial budget impasses. Like the Club for Growth, which elicits anti-tax pledges from congressional candidates, the Jarvis organization obtainspledges from legislative candidates who vow to oppose any measure deemed to undermine Proposition 13.
The pledge is not to be trifled with, as Assemblyman Anthony Adams, a San Bernardino County Republican, learned when he broke from the pack and voted for a tax increase last year.
Coupal minced no words when he announced his support of the effort to oust Adams: "Recalling a legislator who stabbed us in the back is a good way to remind other legislators that there arecertain acts which are unforgivable and punishable by the political death penalty known as recall."
Adams survived. But the tax vote derailed his career in Republican politics. He will quit the Legislature when this session ends. The message was clear; there cannot be the "slightest deviation from blinding purity," Adams told me.
The meaning of purity depends on who does the defining. Coupal promotes initiatives to limit campaign spending by labor and is a critic of public employee unions and their pensions, even as the organization has accepted $42,000 from the California Teachers Association and $10,000 from the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. Both donations were earmarked for Jarvis-backed initiative fights.
Millions pass through the Jarvis organization each year. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the main umbrella organization, disclosed that it raised $12 million in 2008.
That was the year Coupal joined with mobile home park owners to push an initiative to restrict government's ability to use eminent domain to take over property.
To my mind, the initiative placed the organization in an odd position. Old man Jarvis' main goal was to roll back ever-rising property taxes to help longtime homeowners hang onto their houses.
One goal of the eminent domain initiative was to overturn local rent control ordinances governing mobile home parks. That would have allowed mobile home park owners to raise rents, which would have forced residents from their homes. Voters rejected the measure.
The organization has taken other stands that were more remunerative than popular. In 2004, Coupal appeared on television commercials attesting to the wisdom of an initiative sponsored by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, which owns two casinos in downtown Palm Springs and in the outskirts.
The initiative, Proposition 70, sought to give tribes unlimited authority to expand their casinos on their reservations so long as they paid the state part of their earnings.
"With Proposition 70," Coupal said on the commercials, "casinos help share the burden for schools, health care and public safety."
Voters rejected the measure, but it was not a total loss. Agua Caliente donated $1.825 million to one of Jarvis' political committees.
Politics is not recession-proof. But the 2010 outlook is promising for the Howard Jarvis organization.
It is pushing to place on the November ballot an initiative sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce that would make it harder for lawmakers to impose fees, and likely one backed by oil companies and others to overturn Assembly Bill 32, the landmark 2006 state law requiring that businesses cut greenhouse gases.
The power of Jarvis' name won't wane any time soon. The Public Policy Institute of California last polled on Proposition 13 in September, finding that its appeal crosses party lines and voters support it by a 2-to-1 ratio.
No politician understands that better than Jerry Brown, the Democratic candidate for governor. Brown initially opposed Proposition 13 but so wrapped himself up in its implementation that Jarvis endorsed his re-election in 1978.
As he announced his 2010 candidacy for the office he held back in 1978, Brown channeled his old "frenemy," promising not to raise taxes unless voters give specific approval. That pledge was not enough for a Jarvis endorsement.
Whitman secured that coveted stamp of approval. Coupal said there is no agreement that Whitman will donate to his group. But she is a billionaire, and Coupal is in the business of promoting initiatives and causes. The question lingers: Will the Jarvis name hew to its populist past or be used to tout the causes of the highest bidder?
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/07/2586559/jarvis-group-evolves-into-a-money.html
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/07/2586559/jarvis-group-evolves-into-a-money.html#ixzz13CjKxlww
wiki
Howard Arnold Jarvis (September 22, 1903 – August 11, 1986) was an American businessman, lobbyist, and politician. He was an anti-tax activist responsible for passage of California's Proposition 13 in 1978.
Contents
- 1 Early life and education
- 2 Political career and Proposition 13
- 3 Alleged impact on rent control laws
- 4 Awards
- 5 Film appearance
- 6 Bibliography
- 7 References
- 8 Notes
- 9 External links
Early life and education:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Jarvis was born in Magna, Utah, and died in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from Utah State University. In Utah he had some political involvement working with his father's campaigns and his own. His father was a state Supreme Court judge and, unlike Jarvis, a member of the Democratic Party. Howard Jarvis was active in theRepublican Party and also ran small town newspapers. Although raised Mormon, he smoked cigars and drank vodka as an adult. He moved to California in the 1930s due to a suggestion by Earl Warren.[2] Jarvis bought his home at 515 North Crescent Heights Boulevard in Los Angeles for $8,000 in 1941.[3] By 1976, it was assessed at $80,000.[2] He married his third wife, Estelle Garcia, around 1965.[1]
Political career and Proposition 13:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Jarvis was a Republican primary candidate for the U.S. Senate in California in 1962, but the nomination and the election went to the liberal Republican Thomas Kuchel. Subsequently, he ran several times for Mayor of Los Angeles on an anti-tax platform and gained a reputation as a harsh critic of government. An Orange County businessman, he went on to lead the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and spearheaded Proposition 13,[4] the California property tax-cutting initiative passed in 1978 which slashed property taxes by 57% and initiated a national tax revolt.
Jarvis and his wife collected tens of thousands of signatures to enable Prop. 13 to appear on a statewide ballot, for which he garnered national attention.[4] The ballot measure passed with nearly two-thirds of the vote.[4] Two years later, voters in Massachusetts enacted a similar measure.[4]
Alleged impact on rent control laws:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Regarding the motives of Jarvis in promoting Proposition 13 and the role its passage had in rent control subsequently being enacted in most large cities in California, Greg Katz has written: "There was little doubt from his rhetoric that Howard Jarvis, who penned Prop. 13 with his on-again-off-again political ally Paul Gann, hated taxes of all kinds. But his intentions were, at best, turbid; Jarvis was at the time employed by the Los Angeles Apartment Owners Association as a lobbyist. In a fundraising letter to the landlords that employed him, he claimed, 'We are the biggest losers' if Prop. 13 fails. (Not to mention: The Yes on 13 headquarters were located in a Los Angeles Apartment Owners Association office.) He tried to persuade renters to vote for Prop. 13 by saying it would drive down rents, by decreasing the property taxes that landlords paid. Post-13 news reports found rents weren’t going down, despite Jarvis’s promises – apparently landlords were just pocketing their property tax savings. That revelation prompted many of the rent controls still in effect around California."[5] San Francisco community activist Calvin Welch has stated "Jarvis was the father of rent control."[6][7] Mark Evanier has dubbed him a "horrible man" and summed up Jarvis' years as a lobbyist for landlords with these words: "He spent a lot of time 'n' money trying to ram through bills that said, in essence, that if I'm your landlord, I can do any damn thing I want to you, including tearing up contracts and raising your rent or evicting you whenever I feel like it." [8]
Awards:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
In 1979, Jarvis received the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.[9]
Film appearance:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
In 1980, he had a cameo appearance in the film Airplane!,playing an incredibly patient taxicab passenger. This was an inside joke that people outside California were probably unaware of since Jarvis, a champion of fiscal responsibility, spent the entire movie sitting in an empty cab waiting for the driver to return, with the meter running all the while. Jarvis had the final line in the movie, which he said after the end credits. Still sitting in the cab with the fare at $113 and still rising (equivalent to $323 in 2014), having not moved at all, he looks at his watch and says "Well, I'll give him another twenty minutes, but that's it!"
Bibliography:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
- Jarvis, Howard; Robert Pack (1979). I'm mad as hell : the exclusive story of the tax revolt and its leader. New York: Times Books. pp. 310 pp. ISBN 0-8129-0858-9. OCLC 5170210.
References:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
- Smith, David A. (Summer 1999). "Howard Jarvis, Populist Entrepreneur: Reevaluating the Causes of Proposition 13". Social Science History (Duke University Press) 23 (2): 173–210. doi:10.2307/1171520.JSTOR 1171520.
Notes:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
- ^ :{Jump up to::(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^a b(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Jarvis#cite_ref-Estelle_1-1) "Estelle Jarvis, 91; Aided Husband's Effort to Put Proposition 13 on Ballot". Los Angeles Times. May 2, 2006. pp. B–10. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
- ^ :{Jump up to::(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^a b(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Jarvis#cite_ref-Maniac_2-1) "Maniac or Messiah?". Time. June 19, 1978. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ Curwen, Thomas (April 30, 2006). "A history of paradise". Los Angeles Times. pp. S–16. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
- ^ :{Jump up to::(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^a b(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Jarvis#cite_ref-.2770s_325_4-1) c(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Jarvis#cite_ref-.2770s_325_4-2) d(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Jarvis#cite_ref-.2770s_325_4-3) Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York, New York: Basic Books. p. 325. ISBN 0-465-04195-7.
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ The Crushing Blow of Howard Jarvis, *Los Angeles CityBeat* Jan. 23, 2008
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ The Birth of Rent Control in San Francisco, *San Francisco Apartment Magazine* June 1999
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ Smith, David A. (Summer 1999). "Howard Jarvis, Populist Entrepreneur: Reevaluating the Causes of Proposition 13". Social Science History (Duke University Press) 23 (2): 173–210. doi:10.2307/1171520. Retrieved April 18, 2009.
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ California Rolled *News From me* (blog) July 9, 2009
http://www.newsfromme.com/?s=jarvis no evidence
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ http://www.jeffersonawards.org/pastwinners/national
External links:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
- Howard Jarvis at Find-A-Grave
- Howard Jarvis at the Internet Movie Database
- When Jarvis Stormed the Capitol
- Jarvis group evolves into a money machine Contra Costa Times March 10, 2010.
==
http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/page/about-fox-hounds-daily
Joel Fox
Joel Fox operates Joel Fox Consulting, a public affairs/political consulting firm. Fox also currently serves as president of the Small Business Action Committee, founded in 2003 to battle for small business on important political issues. Prior to starting his own firm in January 1999, Fox worked for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association for 19 years, serving as the association's president from 1986 to 1998.
Fox has authored hundreds of opinion articles which have been published in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union, Sacramento Bee, Indianapolis Star, National Review Online, and Manchester (NH) Union-Leader, as well as other newspapers. He also wrote a piece for National Public Radio and had an essay published in a Time Warner-Baseball Hall of Fame sponsored book, What Baseball Means to Me. Fox's book, The Legend of Proposition 13, was published in May 2003.
Fox served as a commissioner on the California Performance Review Commission (2004) appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; and the Assembly Speaker's Commission on the California Initiative Process (2000-2001) appointed by Speaker Bob Hertzberg. Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa appointed Fox a commissioner on the California Assembly Speaker's Commission on State and Local Finance (1999-2000). Governor Pete Wilson appointed Fox to both the California Citizens' Commission on Ballot Initiatives (1993), and the California Constitution Revision Commission (1996). Fox also served on the California Commission on Transportation Investment (1995); was Vice Chairman of the Los Angeles County Blue Ribbon Budget Task Force (1996) appointed by Supervisor Mike Antonovich; and in the early 1990s was a trustee of LEARN, the Los Angeles school reform project.
Fox served as a Senior Research Associate at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College; was on the Advisory Council of the Public Policy Institute of California; and is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California. He is an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University.
support:
David Harmer (born May 28, 1962)[2] is an American attorney from San Ramon, California. In 2010 Harmer ran for election to the United States House of Representativesfrom California's 11th Congressional District. Harmer became his party's nominee after winning a four-way race in the Republican primary,[3] but ultimately lost to the Democratic incumbent in the tightest Congressional race in California that year.[citation needed]
Contents
- 1 Early life, education, and early career
- 2 Congressional campaigns
- 3 Publications
- 4 Personal life
- 5 References
- 6 External links
Early life, education, and early career:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Born in Glendale, California, as the oldest of ten children, David Harmer is the son of John L. Harmer the former Lieutenant Governor of California under then Governor Ronald Reagan and Carolyn Jonas Harmer, a homemaker and English teacher.[1] He served two terms as student body president at Oakmont High School in Roseville, California, from which he graduated in 1979. Thereafter, he attended Brigham Young University, interrupting his studies to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Argentina from 1981-1983. He received his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University in December, 1984, majoring in English. He graduated from Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School in 1988.[2]
In 1988-89, Harmer worked as counsel to a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee; he was appointed by Senator Orrin Hatch.[1]
Harmer was sworn in as a member of the State Bar of California on November 22, 1989 (State Bar No. 141892).[citation needed], and that same year returned to California to work as a fellow at the College of Public Law at the non-profit Pacific Legal Foundation, where he worked in P.L.F.'s environmental law section.
Harmer began working at the law firm O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles in October, 1990, a firm he had clerked for while in law school.[1]
In 1994, Harmer returned to his Utah roots, where he managed the congressional campaign of Enid Greene Waldholtz. That campaign was victorious, and from 1995–96, he served as chief of staff to U.S. Representative Enid Greene Waldholtz.[citation needed]
Congressional campaigns:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
1996:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Harmer unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Utah's 2nd District to replace U.S. Congresswoman Enid Greene Waldholtz.
2009:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Main article: California's 10th congressional district special election, 2009
Harmer lost the election to Democrat John Garamendi by a vote of 53% to 43%.[4]
2010:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in California, 2010 § District 11
Harmer lost the election to incumbent Democrat Jerry McNerney by a vote of 49% to 46.8%.[5]
The general election was close enough that the result was not immediately known, pending a definitive count to include all absentee ballots. On November 24, the Associated Press reported that McNerney had defeated Harmer, with McNerney holding a lead of nearly 2,500 votes with fewer than 1,900 votes left to be counted, but Harmer delayed conceding so that every vote could be counted.[6] Harmer conceded the election on December 4, 2010.[citation needed]
Publications:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
In 1994 Harmer authored the book School choice: why you need it — how you get it published by the **Cato** Institute.[7] One of Harmer's op-ed articles on school choice, titled "Abolish the Public Schools", stated that the government should "exit the business of running and funding schools." [8]
Personal life:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
Harmer's wife Elayne Harmer is a native of Argentina and is a substitute teacher in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. They and their four children live in San Ramon, California where his children attend public schools.[9]
References:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
- ^ :{Jump up to::(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^a b(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Harmer#cite_ref-oakland_tribune_profile_1-1) c(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Harmer#cite_ref-oakland_tribune_profile_1-2) d(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Harmer#cite_ref-oakland_tribune_profile_1-3) "David Harmer, Republican". The Oakland Tribune. 2009-08-02. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
- ^ :{Jump up to::(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^a b(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Harmer#cite_ref-lodinews.com_2-1) http://www.lodinews.com/news/article_c140381e-0223-52ee-a975-442b785f00cd.html
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ [1]
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "Congressional District 10 Special General Election Results". Secretary of State of California. 2009-11-03. Retrieved 2009-11-03.[dead link]
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ http://www.smartvoter.org/2010/11/02/ca/state/us_legislature.html
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ Lin, Judy (November 24, 2010), "California Democrat McNerney retains House seat", San Francisco Chronicle
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "School Choice Why You Need It - How To Get It - Google Books".
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ Harmer, David (2008-08-27). "Teach Our Children Well". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-10-29.
- :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ http://www.harmerforcongress.com/about.htm
External links:{:(style="margin-right:0px;color:#555555;;margin-left:0px"):}:[edit:{]}:
- Harmer for Congress official campaign website
- David Harmer, Republican Oakland Tribune profile
- Project Vote Smart - David Harmer - Biography
==
http://www.TeaPartyExpress.org/
The Tea Party Express III: Just Vote Them Out! Tour
Join us for the biggest Tea Party Express national tour to date. Starting March 27,2010 with a Mega Rally in Searchlight, NV (hometown to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) we will take this message across the nation all the way to the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 15th:
“You, the politicians in Washington, have failed We The People with your bailouts, out-of-control deficit spending, government takeovers of sectors of the economy, Cap & Trade, government-run health care, and higher taxes! If you thought we were just going to quietly go away, or that this tea party movement would be just a passing fad, you were mistaken. We’re taking our country back!”
Join us from March 27th to April 15th, 2010
as we tell Congress and the White House: “Enough!”
5. Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn
http://www.sourcewatch.org/...
Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP (BM&H) "specializes in campaign, election and administrative law and litigation at all levels of government." [1]
***
Representing Front Groups
Dave Johnson reported in his September 15, 2006 The Huffington Post article on new MB&H client Economic Freedom Fund thatother Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk's clients include:
California Tribal Business Alliance—"an 'Indian Gaming' organization" whose "mission statement is 'to safeguard and enhance the success of the business enterprises of our tribal government members' ....... and 'will foster business development and coalition building with like minded government and business leaders in California.'" (Also see this.)
"Californians for Paycheck Protection—yet another front group—this one sponsoring a California anti-unionballot initiative. (Their major funders in 2005 (go see how much) included the Chamber of Commerce and the California Republican Party.)" (Also see this.)
"notorious anti-environmental Congressman Richard Pombo." (See here.)
"big tobacco", with BM&H as "Philip Morris Outside Counsel" (See this.)
"A different partner at this firm, Thomas Hiltachk, filed the 'Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006'—a stealth attempt to get rid of California's overtime rules."
Other Clients
Alatorre City Council Fund [20]
Beth Rogers (R-CA) [21]
Bill Jones for U.S. Senate [22]
Maureen Reagan for Congress in 1993-1994. [23]
No New Taxes, A Project of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association [24]
Rescue California from Budget Deficits, a Committee Controlled by John Campbell [25]
Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, sponsor of the "Yes on Q & R" campaign [26]
Taxpayers for Roger Niello for Assembly [27]
==
wayback
W
EDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2008
Oil, Auto, and Airline Companies vs Prop 1A?
NOTE: We've moved! Visit us at the California High Speed Rail Blog.
For several months we kept hearing there was "no funded opposition" to Proposition 1A. There are several committees spending money FOR Prop 1A, including Californians for High Speed Trains, funded by a cross-section of Californians but definitely including labor unions and engineering companies that may benefit from Prop 1A. There's nothing illegal or unethical about that - these contributions are publicly disclosed for everyone to see.
There is no committee registered with the state of California to oppose Prop 1A. But there are two groups that have been rather active in opposing Prop 1A - the HowardJarvisTaxpayers Association and the Reason Foundation. Both are right-wing think tanks determined to undermine government in the state of California through tax cuts that force reductions in government spending and other government programs. The Reason Foundation in particular promotes privatization of government services and less regulation on business, which of course worked out brilliantly with the financial industry.
Both groups were behind the thoroughly discredited Cox-Vranich report on high speed rail. The Reason Foundation in particular has been using its staffers to flood the state media with misleading claims and outright lies that find their way to both opinion pages and even news articles about Prop 1A.
Neither group discloses its donors on its website and only a few details about Reason's funders have emerged over the last few years. But what we do know suggests that the Reason Foundation's campaign against sustainable transportation is being funded by the very companies that oppose sustainable transportation - oil companies, automakers, and airlines.
Some of the most reliable information about the Reason Foundation's funding comes from Media Transparency, a watchdog on the conservative media movement. Their reports show that long-time right-wing organizations such as theKoch Foundation, founded by oil and gas billionaires, alongside groups like the Castle Rock Foundation, a project of the far-right Coors family.
The Reason Foundation also receives corporate contributions. A list of these has not been made public since the year 2000. But the most recent list, compiled by Source Watch, shows that oil, auto, and airline companies figured prominently in their funding, such as:
American Petroleum Institute
Chevron
Continental Airlines
DaimlerChrysler
Delta Air Lines
ExxonMobil
Ford Motor Company
GM
Shell Oil
Western States Petroleum Association
We don't know if that money has continued over the last 8 years, but that money has continued to seed ongoing program operations for the Reason Foundation. Right-wing foundations and oil, auto and airline companies have been paying for Reason's attack on high speed rail.
Given current campaign finance laws Reason does not have to disclose any of this as a campaign expenditure. And so the public doesn't realize that when they see misleading anti-transit propaganda spread by the Reason Foundation, that it's coming from the far-right and from the very companies whose business model depends on prolonging our dependence on oil - even when that dependence destroys our economic prosperity.
By contrast we at this blog have nothing to hide. This blog is hosted free of charge by Blogger.com, which offers free blogs to pretty much anyone who wants one. I work on this in my spare time and neither this blog or my time on it are funded by anyone. Yet we manage to get the facts right, instead of the Reason Foundation's constant misleading of voters. Funny how that works.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140313162653/http://cahsr.blogspot.com/2008/10/oil-auto-and-airline-companies-vs-prop.html
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gt am patriot site
Rev. Paul V. Scholl has studied metaphysics, ancient mystery school teachings and spirituality since 1986 and graduated from Church of Divine Man seminary in 1991. He served as spiritual counselor and pastor. He is ordained as an Interfaith Minister through International Metaphysical Ministry and the Interfaith Church of World Service. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Metaphysics. He is an honorary Doctor of Divinity & Doctor of Metaphysics. He is a member of the Association for Research and Enlightenment, the International Biogenic Society, and two Ancient Mystery Schools. He is a member of the Compassionate Care Alliance, a coalition for end-of-life issues and the American Academy of Bereavement. He serves as board member for the Sacramento chapter of DOVIA, a training organization for Volunteer Coordinators. He is also a Certified Life Coach through the Holistic Life Coaching Institute. He is a Certified Grief Counselor through The American Academy of Grief Counseling. He also serves in the hospice care field, as a chaplain, and a bereavement and volunteer coordinator in the Sacramento CA area.
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Mileage Tax Would Put Big Brother in Your Back Seat (and Within Arm’s Reach of Your Wallet)
Posted on May 28, 2014
By Jon Coupal California is known as the world capital of the car culture. The automobile played a central role in creating the California Dream, giving people the freedom to travel, to live where they choose and to experience the …Continue reading :{→:(style="border:0px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word;background:transparent"):}:
Posted in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association | Tagged California Mileage Tax
There Is No Loophole in Prop. 13
Posted on May 20, 2014
By Jon Coupal Last week, the media was all abuzz about a bill moving through the Legislature that would fix a “loophole” in Proposition 13. If this were a courtroom, I would rise to my feet and object saying, “Your …Continue reading :{→:(style="border:0px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word;background:transparent"):}:
Posted in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association | Tagged Prop 13
Howard Jarvis Would be OK with Prop 13 Related Bill
Posted on May 15, 2014
By Joel Fox Editor of Fox & Hounds and President of the Small Business Action CommitteeThe compromise bill that came out of a legislative committee to capture property re-assessment of business property that changes ownership would receive a nod …Continue reading :{→:(style="border:0px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word;background:transparent"):}:
Posted in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association | Tagged Prop 13
Endorsed Ballot Measures and Candidates
Posted on April 26, 2014
Make Your Vote Count: The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee have ballot recommendations for you. While you will not find endorsements for every race, the listed candidates have been carefully reviewed for …Continue reading :{→:(style="border:0px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word;background:transparent"):}:
Posted in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association | Tagged 2014 election
Rumsfeld’s Problem Is Our Problem
Posted on April 22, 2014
By Jon Coupal In filing his tax returns, Donald Rumsfeld included a letter to the IRS stating, “As in prior years, it is important for you to know that I have absolutely no idea whether our tax returns and our …Continue reading :{→:(style="border:0px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word;background:transparent"):}:
Posted in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association | Tagged Rumsfeld, Taxes
Just 7 Weeks to Go
Posted on April 15, 2014
By Jon Coupal It’s election season and we are hearing a lot of happy talk from the Sacramento politicians. After all, they want to be reelected so they are painting a rosy picture of their stewardship of our state. But …Continue reading :{→:(style="border:0px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word;background:transparent"):}:
Posted in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association | Tagged California economy
Upcoming Taxpayer Events
Posted on April 11, 2014
As April 15th approaches, many California taxpayers are feeling like they are taxed to the max! That’s why now is an ideal time to get involved and make yourself heard in support of Proposition 13 and tax reduction. In order …Continue reading :{→:(style="border:0px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word;background:transparent"):}:
Posted in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association | Tagged Taxes
High Speed Rail and Climate Change Nonsense
Posted on April 9, 2014
By Jon Coupal Liberals and good government advocates (“googoos”) frequently decry citizens’ mistrust in government, especially in California. Over the last decade and a half, numerous surveys have confirmed that voters distrust government on several levels including waste, corruption and …Continue reading :{→:(style="border:0px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word;background:transparent"):}:
Posted in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association | Tagged California government
Your Vote, Your Power, Your Future
Posted on April 8, 2014
The clock is ticking: 8 weeks until Election Day June 3. Millions of Californians believe our state and country are moving seriously in the wrong direction. Howard Jarvis used to say if we are being badly served by politicians it …Continue reading :{→:(style="border:0px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word;background:transparent"):}:
Posted in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association | Tagged 2014 Elections
California’s Gas Tax Nightmare
Posted on March 26, 2014
By George Runner California taxpayers don’t have to fall sleep to have a nightmare. They experience one each and every day when they encounter a costly, confusing and constantly-changing tax system. Unfortunately, most efforts to change this system only make …Continue reading :{→:(style="border:0px;margin:0px;outline:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;word-wrap:break-word;background:transparent"):}:
Posted in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
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2011-2 http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=howard+jarvis
Payback by the governor?
Are private contractors worried? It’s hard to tell. No umbrella advocacy group for state contractors exists, and several individual contractors — if even aware of the move — were unwilling to speak publicly for fear of becoming targets.
But advocates for a smaller government and lower taxes — though they agree some of the state’s work is best performed by state employees — are alarmed.
Leonard Gilroy, director of government reform for the Los Angeles-based think tank Reason Foundation, argues that this is no time to add state workers, as giant unfunded liabilities in public employee retirement and health care loom over the state. He suggests the effort is meant to bolster union ranks while such an move is still possible.
“The unions may be seeing the writing on the wall and making some changes before they have the next financial crisis,” he said.
The leader of California’s most prominent anti-tax group said that the labor union’s political strategy detracts from a more objective analysis that could be used to determine what work is better suited for the private or public sectors.
“Governor Brown was brought into office by labor and I think he is rewarding them accordingly,” said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
A national movement
Last year, AFSCME successfully pushed legislation that allows unions to review state contracts with private contractors before they are signed. The union represents about 6,000 state workers.
The law already allowed unions to challenge contracts that involve work that state employees traditionally perform....
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blogroll/links
Taxpayer Organizations
The following links go to organizations throughout the United States and Canada. If you have a link to suggest, please e-mail it to us.
California
California Taxpayers Association
Californians Against Higher Property Taxes
Calaveras County Taxpayers Association
Central Coast Taxpayers Association
Central Solano Citizen/Taxpayer Group
Contra Costa Taxpayers Association
Costa Mesa Taxpayers Association
Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers
Inland Empire Taxpayers Association (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties)
Kern County Taxpayers Association
Marin United Taxpayers Association
Napa County Taxpayers Association (Facebook page)
Placer County Taxpayers Association
Orange County Taxpayers Association
San Diego County Taxpayers Association
San Joaquin County Taxpayer's Association
Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association
Silicon Valley Taxpayers' Association
Sonoma County Taxpayers Association
Sutter County Taxpayers Association
Ventura County Taxpayers Association
Yolo County Taxpayers Association
National & State
Canadian National Taxpayers Coalition
Tax and Accounting Sites Directory
Political & Issue News Sites
CalNews.org (updated daily)
Flashreport.org (updated daily)
PensionTsunami.com (updated daily)
Rough & Tumble (updated daily)
Stateline.org (updated regularly)
Union Watch (updated regularly) KOCH http://conservativetransparency.org/recipient/california-public-policy-center/
Taxpayer-Friendly Think Tanks
California League of Bond Oversight Committees (CALBOC)
Rose Institute CMC http://roseinstitute.org/
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HJTA v. Padilla (Legislature)
Case closed LOST?
This is the case in which HJTA, represented by Bell, McAndrews, & Hiltachk,convinced the California Supreme Court, as a stop-gap measure, to pull Proposition 49 from the November 2014 ballot. Prop. 49 was to be an advisory vote on whether Congress should propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would overturn the controversial campaign finance case Citizens United.
The Supreme Court’s final decision on the merits was issued in January. The Court concluded that the Legislature has power to investigate the need for legislation and, at least for “questions pertaining to amendments to the federal Constitution,” may exercise that power by placing an advisory measure on the ballot. The decision is limited to advisory votes on amendments to the Constitution. Footnote 6 states, “Because we conclude the investigative power permits advisory questions in connection with potential federal constitutional amendments, we express no opinion about other potential sources of authority for advisory questions.” HUH?
HJTA v. California Dept. of Forestry
Currently pending
This is the “Fire Tax” case, in which HJTA is challenging the fire prevention fee imposed on owners of habitable structures within the State Responsibility Area. We assert the “fee” is actually a tax, and is thus invalid because it failed to receive two-thirds support in either house of the Legislature. After getting buried by more than 13,000 pages of documents in response to our first set of discovery requests, HJTA legal team is creating a spreadsheet index to use as a summary of the evidence produced thus far.
In August, we successfully moved for certification of the class; thus, we are permitted to continue the case as a class action, representing all persons entitled to refunds (i.e., those who paid the “fee” and filed at least one timely petition for redetermination).
In January, the Court granted our motion for approval of the form of Notice to the Class. Notice has been completed via newspaper publication, direct email, and posting on the HJTA and Fire Tax Protest websites. The opt-out deadline was March 7, 2016. Eleven parcels asked to be excluded from the class. Shortly we will file a report to show the court that notice was accomplished and that eleven parcels opted out.
HJTA v. City of Pasadena
Currently pending
In this lawsuit, HJTA is challenging Pasadena’s 25%water surcharge for nonresidents. HJTA is prosecuting this suit as a class actionas well. Our motion to certify the class was successful, and the trial court subsequently approved a joint proposal for notifying the members of the class. The notices were mailed on October 16, 2015, and by the opt-out deadline of December 2, a total of 113 parcels asked to be excluded from the class.
Over the parties’ objections, the Court ordered another round of mediation, scheduled for March 16, in hopes that the case will settle. The chances of settlement are slim and none, but we are required to attend with our client and participate in good faith.
In anticipation of the case going to trial, we served another round of written discovery on February 18 (interrogatories and requests for production of documents). The parties have stipulated to not take depositions until after mediation fails to produce a settlement.
HJTA v. Amador Water Agency
Currently pending
This is a new case that was filed on March 8, 2016. It is a petition for writ of mandate asking the Court to order the Clerk and the Board of the Amador Water Agency (AWA) to process a voter referendum and place it on the June 7 Primary Election ballot.The referendum would submit to the voters, for their approval or disapproval, a new rate structure adopted by the AWA Board.The referendum complied with all statutory requirements of the Elections Code, and the County Registrar of Voters verified a sufficient number of valid signatures. Despite this, the Clerk sent a letter to the proponents detailing three legal theories which the Agency believes justify its refusal to act.In our view, none has merit.
Our March 8 filing was an ex parte application for issuance of an alternative writ, and calendar preference in setting the case for hearing. The Court obliged our request by issuing the alternative writ that same day, ordering a compressed briefing schedule, and setting the case for hearing on April 1st.
Hickenlooper v. Kerr
Currently pending
This case from the 10th Circuit involves a federal constitutional challenge to provisions of the Colorado state constitution that limit the taxing authority of the Colorado Legislature by requiring voter approval of new taxes. HJTA is involved because the challenged provisions could be deemed analogous to Prop 13. The challengers argue that, by hamstringing the Legislature, these provisions violate the Republican Form of Governance clause of the U.S. Constitution.
In late November 2014, HJTA joined an amicus brief principally authored by NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) urging the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and reverse the decision of the 10th Circuit. SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) granted certiorari on June 30, 2015, but immediately remanded the case to the 10th Circuit for reconsideration in light of the Arizona redistricting case. This development is generally considered to be a good sign for our interests.
Citizens for Fair REU Rates v. City of Redding
Currently pending
This case challenges a city-owned electrical utility surcharge imposed on its ratepayers a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) designed to capture the ad valorem property taxes that the utility would have had to pay if it was privately owned. PILOT revenue was transferred to the City’s general fund. The City did not codify the PILOT; rather, it was a line item in the municipal budget passed by the City Council biennially. The intermediate appellate court rendered a decision in favor of the ratepayers that is perfectly in line with our Roseville, Fresno, and La Habra cases.
Unfortunately, the SCOCA (Supreme Court of California) agreed to review this case for no good readily apparent reason. This is one of several Prop 218 cases that were correctly decided, and which SCOCA seems poised to overturn. The parties completed their briefing. HJTA filed an amicus brief in support of the ratepayers in August.
Jacks v. City of Santa Barbara
Currently pending
Pursuant to the terms of a franchise agreement between the City of Santa Barbara and private electrical utility Southern California Edison (“SCE”), SCE imposed on its ratepayers a 1% surcharge which it remitted to the City which placed it into its general fund. The surcharge was imposed after Prop 218 became law, and was never put before the voters for approval. The Second District concluded the franchise fee was an illegal tax masquerading as a franchise fee, and thus determined it violated Prop 218. The state Supreme Court granted review, and limited review to the following issue: Is the City of Santa Barbara’s 1 percent increase on its electricity bills (i.e., the 1 percent surcharge) a tax subject to Proposition 218’s voter approval requirement or a franchise fee that may be imposed by the City without voter consent?” This is yet another Prop. 218 case the SCOCA (Supreme Court of California) has strangely taken interest in. The parties completed their briefing in September. HJTA has filed an amicus brief in support of plaintiffs.
City of San Buenaventura v. United Water Conservation District
Currently pending
Challenge to an extraction fee imposed by a water conservation district on well users designed to encourage conservation and combat salt water intrusion from the sea caused by aquifer depletion. This fee fell primarily on the City of San Buenaventura because it used 6 major wells to provide water service to its residents. The City challenged the extraction fee on the basis that ground water management is water service within the meaning of Prop. 218, and that the fee did not satisfy the cost-of-service requirement thereof.
Court held that the extraction fee was not a fee for a property-related service within the meaning of Proposition 218. It specifically held that groundwater management is not within the meaning of water service, directly contradicting two Sixth DCA cases. The court ruled such fees are regulatory in nature, and thus subject to Proposition 26 instead. HJTA plans to file a merits amicus brief in support of plaintiffs/appellants in November.
Amicus Briefs
In addition to our own cases, HJTA regularly files amicus curiae briefs (“friend of the court” briefs) in cases brought by others where we have determined that the case could affect taxpayer rights. Courts have often expressed appreciation for our perspective, and the contribution that our legal analysis adds to the case.
Summary
These are only a sample of the cases now on the docket at HJTA’s Office of Legal Affairs. Many cases could go either way — taxpayer victory or defeat that could lead to higher taxes, or even the destruction of Proposition 13. Victory is often determined by whether or not your legal advocates have adequate resources.
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KNOW THE OPPOSITION
Opposition to Proposition 13 and to taxpayers’ interests in general comes primarily from three sources.
Politicians whose political power is based on providing transfer payments (transferring money from taxpayers to tax receivers) to their constituents.
Government-employee unions who see additional revenue as an opportunity to press for enhanced wages and benefits.
Wealthy and superwealthy political dilettantes who see new taxes as a way to compel others to fund programs that are a part of their vision for society.
POLITICIANS
At the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association we are often asked for a list of those politicians who oppose Proposition 13. Politicians are usually too wily to come right out and say they oppose Proposition 13. They can read polls and they know that the tax-limiting measure is still overwhelmingly popular with average Californians.
Often a politician will phrase their opposition to Proposition 13 indirectly. For example, they will say they support it, but that the two-thirds vote for tax increases — one of its most important protections — should be changed in the name of democratic fairness. Others may say they back Proposition 13 but it’s not fair that some owners of similar homes pay different amounts. On questioning, taxpayers usually find that these politicians’ idea of fairness is to raise everyone’s taxes to the same higher level. Usually office holders will describe their proposed changes to Proposition 13 as mere “tweaking” when, in fact, their actual goal is to gut it. These are the same folks who can be heard to say, “I hate to raise taxes, but…”
Taxpayers find the best way to gauge a lawmaker’s levels of commitment to Proposition 13 and the well-being of taxpayers is to ignore what they say and look at their voting record.
Annually, HJTA evaluates legislators’ voting records and publishes the Legislative Report Card. The latest Report Card is available by clicking here. Those lawmakers not receiving at least a “B” rating are unworthy of the taxpayers’ confidence. Those receiving a “B,” but not an “A,” are on the edge and should be carefully watched and encouraged to take more taxpayer-friendly positions on the issues.
An additional tool for evaluating lawmakers is to see who is introducing anti-taxpayer legislation. For a look at the most dangerous bills currently in the Legislature click here.
GOVERNMENT-EMPLOYEE UNIONS
While most government workers may be dedicated, the unions that represent them are interested in only one thing: More money for their members.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, California has the highest paid public employees in the nation. Still, it is never enough as far as the union leaders are concerned. For this reason, taxpayers find that these public-employee unions are usually in the forefront in promoting new taxes and damaging modifications to Proposition 13.
In 2004 it was these government unions that put Proposition 56 on the ballot. Proposition 56 would have reduced Proposition 13’s requirement that new state taxes receive a two-thirds vote of the Legislature for approval.
Fortunately for taxpayers and the economy of California, in a hard-fought campaign taxpayers defeated Proposition 56 at the polls.
One of the standout unions in the effort to undermine taxpayer protections has been the California Teachers Association (CTA). Twice in a recent two-year period the union collected signatures in an effort to qualify ballot measures to increase property taxes, although each time, for various reasons, they failed to submit the signatures they gathered.
Then CTA president, Barbara Kerr, was quoted as calling taxpayers who oppose new levies, “cheap.” To government-employee union leaders, taxpayers are a limitless source of money.
Union efforts are now under way to make higher sales tax rates permanent and to do away with Proposition 13’s requirement of a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to approve new or higher state taxes.
WEALTHY POLITICAL DILETTANTES
Wealthy and superwealthy political dilettantes have become a real menace to taxpayers in recent years. These public policy “dabblers,” whose only expertise is their checkbook, use the initiative process to try to force others to pay for implementing their expensive vision for society.
Right now, the two most prominent political dilettantes are the wealthy actor/director Rob “Meathead” Reiner and the superwealthy Reed Hastings, whose company Netflix rents DVDs over the Internet.
In many ways it is the dilettantes who pose the most severe threat to taxpayers because they swaddle their tax increase schemes with rhetoric about how their efforts are all for the children — or other sympathetic cause. They do their best to put those who have reservations about opening their wallets for programs of doubtful value, in a position of appearing to be anti-children — or whatever else in on the agenda. In this way the backers of these new taxes suppress meaningful debate while their bulging wallets buy the misleading advertising that carries the day.
Rob Reiner began by putting Proposition 10, a tobacco tax, on the ballot in 1998. The money was to go to programs for youngsters. Because smokers are about as popular as lepers were in the Middle Ages, the measure passed. Although the measure has provided billions of dollars for programs for children, Reiner was not satisfied with that. First he joined forces with the CTA in an effort to place on the ballot an increase in property taxes.
When drafting defects in the property tax increase initiative forced Reiner and the CTA to fold their efforts, Reiner decided that he would pursue his own initiative to provide universal preschool to be paid for by higher income taxes. Unfortunately for taxpayers, he used his position as Chairman of the First Five Commission, established by the Proposition 10 tax, to oversee the spending of 23 million taxpayers’ dollars on advertising to promote the preschool concept while his signature gatherers for his new initiative — Proposition 82 — were at work.
After studying Proposition 82, the Reason Foundation estimated that only a limited number of new students would be enrolled at a cost to taxpayers of $109,000 for each new preschool student.
Taxpayers put up a vigorous campaign against Proposition 82 and, fortunately, voters saw through the charade and voted it down.
Like Reiner, superwealthy Reed Hastings and his checkbook entered politics in the late 1990s. He began by gathering signatures for an initiative measure to force the state to spend more money on charter schools. When he had nearly enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, the Legislature got the message and increased funding as Hastings desired.
While this may have been good for charter schools, it also emboldened Hastings to believe that he could use the same process to make it easier to increase property taxes for school bonds. In 2000, he and a handful of sympathizers spent over $60 million to do away with the two-thirds vote for local school bonds that had protected taxpayers for 121 years. An expensive and misleading campaign that talked about accountability and never once mentioned higher taxes succeeded in passing Proposition 39. The result has been tens of billions of dollars in new bonds, the cost of which is borne exclusively by property owners.
But Hastings was not through with taxpayers. In 2006, he qualified something he called the “Classroom Learning and Accountability Act,” a first-time-ever statewide property tax, for the ballot as Proposition 88. It would have raised half-a-billion dollars by charging every parcel of property $50 to start. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell is on record favoring the establishment of a state property tax and increasing it by $50 every four years.
If passed, Hastings and his friends would have paid another $50 on their mansions and the couple struggling to buy a starter home would pay the same amount. Fortunately, a huge nonpartisan coalition led by taxpayers overwhelmed Proposition 88 with a 77 percent “no” vote.
Hastings continues to be a nuisance to taxpayers. In April 2009 he donated over $250,000 to a committee set up to support the May 19 special election propositions, which included Proposition 1A, a $16 billion tax increase. Fortunately, here too the taxpayers prevailed with a limited-budget campaign.
For a list of billionaire political dilettantes who helped pass Proposition 39 — raising property taxes on average homeowners by billions of dollars —click here.
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