One of the most famous quotes from the American Revolution was uttered
by Sam Adams: "It does not take a majority to prevail … but rather an
irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the
minds of men." As fiscal conservatives in a fiscally irresponsible
state, we at Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association often find ourselves
in the minority when trying to advance pro-taxpayer principles in the
legislature – especially with our current crop of politicians.

While HJTA may be better known for our initiatives and victories in the
courtroom, some might overlook the fact that we also maintain a
fulltime lobbying presence in Sacramento. Our top legislative priority
every year, of course, is stopping the direct attacks on Prop 13.

As
part of the California Constitution, however, Prop 13 cannot be amended
or repealed by statute – only by a proposed constitutional amendment
emanating from the legislature with a two-thirds vote of each house.
While fiscal conservatives in the Legislature don’t come close to a
majority, they do constitute (barely) more than a third. Because of
that, and because hundreds of thousands of our members sign petitions
to their legislators demanding that Prop 13 be protected, we have
successfully stopped these efforts to weaken or repeal California’s
most popular law.

Jerry Brown released his first official campaign television ad and it contains a decidedly Republican theme. Following a revisit of his governorship by an announcer, Brown comes on the screen to tell voters three points of his platform: We must live within our means; power must move to the local level; and no new taxes without voter approval.

Of course, there are many Republicans who want no new taxes — period! But, generally, for years Republicans have emphasized the points expressed by Brown.

However, Brown adopting these themes raises some questions in the current political environment.

Recently, Orange County’s biggest private employer has been in the spotlight over a suit filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by Imane Boudlal, a restaurant hostess working at Disneyland citing religious discrimination. Boudlal, who has worked at Disneyland for the past two years, recently obtained her U.S. citizenship, and began wearing a hijab last week to work. She was asked to remove the headscarf or work in another job at Disneyland. She refused and went home.

Every business has the right to create guidelines, policies and regulations to better serve its customers, in addition to better protecting themselves. Companies like Disney work hard to ensure their products and services continuously meet certain standards, meet their mission and the brand that generations have grown to love over the last 55 years.

On key issues, Opinion will present a variety of timely opinions in a pro/con format to give readers a quick cross-section of viewpoints.

On Monday, Meg Whitman’s rapid response division (team doesn’t do justice to its size) unleashed a response to Jerry Brown’s ad on his gubernatorial record today.

The response used lots of data and statistics to argue that Brown didn’t leave California in the best economic and budgetary shape in 1982. But looking at the numbers, I had a reaction that I don’t think the Whitman people intended.

Take me back to 1982!

The nonpartisan National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Save America’s Free Enterprise Trust announced its endorsement of Meg Whitman for Governor. NFIB made this endorsement after balloting our nearly 20,000 members about which candidate we should support for Governor – and the choice was clear.

Meg is the only candidate who has run a business, created jobs for California and signed the front of a check.  She has the  track record, commitment and vision that we know will transform today’s Sacramento mindset from heaping huge new burdens upon Main Street to one that will finally provide struggling small businesses the incentives and support they so desperately need. 

Meg believes innovation and entrepreneurship should be encouraged, not penalized. She recognizes that small businesses are the backbone of our economy and as Governor, she will make certain California government gets out of the way of small businesses and creates the conditions for them to thrive.

As we arrive at Labor Day 2010, the job numbers remain the worst in California since World War II in California, and some of the worst in the nation since World War II. State unemployment is at 12.3%– and would be higher, except that the number of workers counted as seeking work has declined.

Payroll jobs through July 2010 stood at 13,874,900, down slightly more than14,000 jobs from July 2009-and down from a high of 15.2 million jobs in July 2007.

The severe job losses we saw in the first half of 2009 (which topped over 100,000 net jobs lost in January 2009 alone) stopped by last Labor Day, and we have not seen similar losses since. But neither have we seen any significant net job gains. The dog hasn’t barked in the night, and the past year in California employment has been characterized mainly by what has not occurred rather than what has.

For
years, the California Legislature, Governor Schwarzenegger and
environmentalists have been pushing for California’s investor-owned
utilities to get more of the power they generate and sell to their
customers from renewable energy such as wind, solar and biomass.

On paper, the efforts have produced great fanfare in the media but on the ground they are falling short.

In
2002, the legislature passed a bill requiring the investor-owned
utilities to produce 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources
by 2017. In 2003, the California Energy Commission moved it to 20
percent by 2010.

Entrepreneur always seemed like a funny word. Just say it in your head.

People
often claim to be an entrepreneur. Many like to tell other people that
they are entrepreneurs – "you seem like one heck of an entrepreneur!"
one might say at a fancy dinner, a softball game or at the local
lemonade stand.

By and large though, we all tend to forget to
recognize what these business people who operate as their own business
do for our financial system.  Entrepreneurs
are the foundation of any small business. In turn, small businesses are
the strength of the economy at the state and local levels. Here’s an
opportunity to mention a select group of Californians who were
recognized by FedEx as "Entrepreneurs of the Year."

This time of year, education takes center stage as students of all ages
return to school. Yet this is not an ordinary fall.

Higher education in
California has reduced the number of classes being offered and the
number of students being admitted due to budget cuts; and K-12 public
education is facing more students in many classrooms due to the same
budget cuts. Here in Los Angeles and across the nation, teacher
evaluations have attracted the spotlight due to President Obama’s "Race
to the Top" and a series of articles by the Los Angeles Times.

Last Friday, the president of the University of California, the
chancellor of California State University and the chancellor of the
California Community College System were at the Chamber to discuss the
state of higher education in California on the 50th anniversary of our Master Plan for Higher Education.
All three leaders emphasized the changes that budget cuts have caused
at their institutions; and at the same time they voiced appreciation
for the confidence that the public has in California’s system of higher
education, and a continued commitment to maintaining quality and
meeting the needs of as many California students as possible.