Author: Joel Fox

You’ve probably seen the gubernatorial campaign ad of Steve Poizner pulling a car back from going over a cliff like George Reeves as Superman in the 1950s TV show.

Poizner’s campaign calls the ad “Liberal Failure” and in the first eight seconds of the 30-second spot a quote from Washington Post columnist and TV pundit, George Will, appears on the screen: “…Liberalism has Tarnished California Gold.”

The quote is actually the title of a Will piece published January 10.

I found the article among my papers in cleaning up my desk the other day. I had saved it and marked some of Will’s observations.

Will was writing about the student and union-member protests at UC Berkeley over the 32-percent student fee increase. Certainly, an increase of that magnitude was a shock to the budget of the students, although as Will pointed out, the new tuition was “still 70 percent below student costs at Stanford and other private institutions in California that Berkeley considers no better than it is.”

States are considering new taxes on virtually everything to close their budget gaps according to a New York Times article. The focus of these efforts is taxing services. The big test states are Michigan and Pennsylvania, with governors of both states pushing service tax measures. Where voters stand may be reflected in a June ballot measure in Maine.

Will an effort to tax services in California be far behind?

Recall that the Commission on the 21st Century Economy, often referred to as the Parsky Commission after its chairman Gerald Parsky, toyed with the idea of a tax on services before settling on a Business Net Receipts Tax as the major reform of the state tax structure.

Like the top-heavy, grand 17th Century Swedish Warship, Vasa, the commission’s proposal sank as soon as it was launched. However, individual members of the commission, along with others seeking more revenue for California treasuries, insist that service taxes must be employed to help balance the budget. The idea that California is now a service-oriented economy is echoed by the proponents of service taxes in other states.

According to the new Public Policy Institute Poll, disgusted voters are ready for a third party in California. Fifty-five percent of likely voters think a third party is needed. This reflects a similar finding in September 2008. There is no warmth from likely voters for the two major parties. Forty-one percent of likely voters have a favorable impression of the Democratic Party; 31% have a favorable impression of the Republicans. Interestingly, those numbers pretty much reflect party registration in California.

Surprisingly, the unorganized Tea Party reflects better than the Republicans with 34% of likely voters recording a favorable impression. It is not just Republican Party supporters who gave thumbs up to the Tea Party. A good number of those who sing the praises of the Tea Party do not embrace the Republicans. The PPIC poll found that 58% of those voters who have an unfavorable impression of the Republican Party think positively about the Tea Party.

Global warming may not be so powerful as a political issue. That’s what I take from the results of the Field Poll, that released a list of issues rated by the voters as to what is most important to them in the upcoming gubernatorial election. Global warming finished last of 12 issues queried.

The voters’ attitude toward global warming may very well determine the outcome of the proposed ballot initiative to suspend AB 32, California’s anti-global warming measure. The issue that topped all other concerns for poll respondents was jobs. Nearly 69% said jobs is the prime issue for gubernatorial candidates to focus their attention.

Given that supporters of suspending AB 32 argue that continuing to implement the measure would mean a loss of jobs, the combination of concern for jobs and the relative lack of concern for global warming as an issue could be good news for the measure’s backers.

Ignoring reams of material that suggest dangerous taxpayer liabilities have been created by public employee benefit programs, Jerry Brown appealed to the public unions to back his campaign for governor declaring California’s fiscal problems are not the unions’ fault but that of Wall Street and corporations.

As governor his first time around, Brown created the strength of the modern public labor union in the state by signing into law collective bargaining. He did not shy away from that action this past weekend. As reported by Jack Chang in the Sacramento Bee, Brown said, “I’m very proud to have created this system that gave workers a choice.”

That statement is in contrast to the regret Brown has supposedly expressed in private over the years for his previous action. True or not, he made it clear that it’s his intention to escort the public unions to the big election dance this year. Brown needs the political power of the unions to battle his wealthy GOP opponents and he is embracing his deal with the unions dearly.

One of the concerns of the business community and taxpayers is that the legislature is calling taxes “fees” to get around the constitutional two-thirds vote requirement to pass a tax.

This deceptive practice has caused an initiative to be launched in an effort to put a check on this procedure, which is adding to the economic burden of California businesses and citizens. The California Taxpayers Association and the California Chamber of Commerce head up the Stop Hidden Taxes Coalition. The Small Business Action Committee is a member.

The coalition expects to qualify the initiative for the November ballot. For more information on the initiative and the effort to stop hidden taxes, visit www.nomorehiddentaxes.com.

Cal Tax recently highlighted four such “fees.”

Recently, Allan Zaremberg penned
a piece for Fox & Hounds announcing the launch of a new website, CalChamber2010.com, for the upcoming
gubernatorial election.

I think the one thing that struck me most about this site,
which any true politico should visit regardless of political stripe, was the
way that the site presents a depth of information in a highly organized and
approachable way. (Full disclosure: one
of my partners in Fox & Hounds, Bryan Merica, heads up the digital creative
shop that built the Chamber’s 2010 site.)

In particular, there are two really original features that I
haven’t seen anywhere else. Both of these features (Video Vault and
Head-to-Head comparison) can be accessed using the Chamber’s "widget" posted
below:

Momentum, thy name is Meg Whitman. The newly released Field Poll caps an extraordinary surge in energy for the Republican gubernatorial candidate in less than one week.

Just a week ago, Whitman was being excoriated by the media for holding a press availability and then would not talk to the press. Questions were asked whether she could handle the heat of a political campaign and the knock-about, unscripted situations that test one’s mettle during a campaign.

She quickly turned those doubts around with two steady performances in front of the media microphones at the state Republican convention and topped it off with a confident turn at the Monday debate with Republican gubernatorial rival, Steve Poizner.

Now the Field Poll finds Whitman pulling away and trouncing Poizner by 63% to 14%. For good measure, the poll revealed for the first time Whitman was ahead of Democratic gubernatorial opponent, Jerry Brown, 46% to 43%.

Republican gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner spoke talking points and policy for the most part in their first debate last night in Orange County. The two candidates tried to cut each other but there were no big bombs hurled at the debate after weeks of nasty charges made back and forth.

The focus of the debate centered on two major issues that Poizner emphasized to separate himself from Whitman: an-all-out tough stand on illegal immigration and across-the-board tax cuts.

Poizner attempted to distinguish himself as a bold reformer taking the path that few are too squeamish to follow. Cut taxes across-the-board and pull the benefit rug out from under all illegal immigrants. “Turn the magnets off” that draw illegal immigrants to California, he demanded.

Whitman would not go as far putting out a plan to control illegal immigration by eliminating sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants and requiring verification to determine workers are in the country properly.