Well There’s a Meeting Here Tonight

The other day I went to a meeting with the newly elected Congressman from our district, Tom Mclintock. The Congressman had wanted a meeting with the organizations that represented county businesses as well as other sectors of the county. The purpose was not to listen to him speak, but primarily for him to listen to the concerns of these organizations and their associated business clients. The group, while small, was fairly representative.

The Congressman gave a small opening statement that was par with his usual talks. No notes, just straight talk that we associate with Mr. McClintock. It was informative and current. The Congressman followed by answering questions from the group for about an hour, in a very informal setting. When the meeting was over he stayed for an extra 45 minutes just talking with those who wanted to ask a question they hadn’t gotten the chance to ask earlier.

This brings me to the purpose of this article. In every meeting of this type, there are two types of people; those who are there for legitimate enlightenment, and those who are there for the furtherance of their political egos. You can always recognize these folks, as they are the ones that monopolize the questions, but right in without asking for acknowledgement, want to carry on a conversation and control the Congressman’s time. They are also the ones that, after the meeting when everyone is just conversing, want to monopolize the face time, ignoring others who are waiting, or but into a conversation with almost a childish, “look at me, look at me”. It always irritates me, but I guess when your ego needs to be stroked that badly, you will do ridiculous things. As if the Congressman had not been in office long enough to recognize this syndrome.

Who gets shorted by these folks? We do, since the Congressman gets only a portion of the information he came to get. Oh, and when the Congressman holds the next meeting, these people will be there trying to get their egos, fragile as they are, stroked again.

I’ve got news for this type, we don’t need you to interpret for us, we don’t need you to but into our conversation with your feeble attempts to stroke your own ego, we don’t like your silly little anecdotes. We can converse on our own very well, thank you. We will quickly state our information and respectfully let the Congressman move on. I suggest you do the same.

I.O.U.’s?

Wow, here we are in February of 2009 and our legislators are sniveling about the budget and a $45 billion deficit. They can’t pay their bills, they say. They may have to issue I.O.U’s for tax returns this year. Don’t you think it is time we told them, in unequivocal terms, that they should live within their budget and control their spending?

If you hired a tradesman and paid him top dollar and he produced an inferior product, would you keep him or fire him? The Department of Education does just that and they continue to ask for more money. For your information, the Department of Education last year received about 50% of the entire State budget, $64 Billion dollars and produced a student who qualifies for the bottom rungs of the ladder. And, if that’s not enough, they get an equal amount from the Feds, plus monies from local bonds, state bonds, and don’t forget the lottery. Altogether, they get about a $150 billion each year, which is three times what California is left with to run the entire state! Still, with all this money, they ask for bonds to repair roofs and fix schools. Where does the money go? Maybe there is some waste here that we could cut.

Then we could go to the medical costs of illegals in this state, which is well over $12 Billion. What about the uninsured motorist costs of our illegal population? Jail incarceration and trial costs born by the state. How much do these add up to?

Let’s turn our attention to our legislators and their perks, gas cards, travel expenses, money for extra lodging if they travel far. I have no difficulty with the per diem payment for a legislator who travels far, but there are those who live right around the capital who take the money under the reasoning that they have to stay late on occasion and return early. How many of you taxpayers who live in outlying areas and work in Sacramento have ever worked overtime and still had to return for work the following morning? Did you get an additional check for a room for the night? I’ll bet not. Maybe it is time that our “leaders” show some leadership instead of just feeding at the trough and complaining. There are a few who do, but not many.

Finally, to the I.O.U.’s. What would you do if you went to the store and purchased an item for $14.75 and gave the clerk a $20 dollar bill to which the clerk handed you an I.O.U. for $5.25 explaining that the store was out of money and did not know when it could pay the I. O.U. This is exactly what the State of California is doing to us when and if they issue I.O.U.s. They have had the use of our money all year, collected interest on it and used it. Not necessarily as we would want. Will they pay interest on our change when they finally pay it? No. If you are late with your taxes, do you pay interest? You bet, at about 1% per month.

Let’s inform our state legislators that if they issue promises to pay, we expect interest in the same amount they charge. They are sent to Sacramento by us, to represent us and do the state’s work. That means, get the budget done on time, spend our money wisely and live within the budget they created. They are to help the state turn a profit and that means get out of the way of business growth. Businesses are leaving the state in record numbers and revenues are going down. All because of unnecessary over regulation by our liberal controlled state government. Talk about change, we really need it here.