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No state employee from the Governor on down would be paid over $60,000. It didn’t matter whether it was an assemblyman, state senator, CHP, or a light bulb changer, $60,000 would be the top wage available with a de-escalating schedule in the state payroll system.
Other proposals were the decriminalization, i.e., legalization of marijuana, with permits for the growing and taxation for the purpose of raising approximately $1.5 billion yearly. Also, this would have automatically caused the cutback of showboating law enforcement programs such as CAMP. I also suggested the cutback of 15 to 25 percent of the state employees in all departments to begin taking effect immediately.
The state prison system is bloated with low-risk drug offenders, non-violent offenders, and illegal “low-risk” immigrants. The elimination of these three groups would cut the prison population by a third, thereby eliminating millions from the state budget.
I advocated the non-use of government vehicles to and from the residence of state employees. The state finances, as well as many city and county finances, are in this predicament because of public service servants taking advantage of the situations that exist. Unless we elect a strong-handed, no nonsense governor in the next election, we will continue to coddle ineffective and inefficient state employees that only show up to work on occasion.
It is important to remember that government is supposed to work and do the bidding of the taxpayer. The concept was formed in order to keep the taxpayer working full time and being productive so that his taxes could pay public safety, paper sorters, and individuals elected to provide the best living conditions for the taxpayer. Somewhere along the line, it seems as the taxpayer is supposed to produce and provide for hundreds of thousands of individuals who barely work, are barely productive and certainly want the best 4-bedroom, 2-bath, 3-car garage home, and have no shame in receiving outrageous pay for little productivity. The next governor has to whip the state into shape and get productivity out of the tax-paid employees. A new direction for the State of California is definitely needed.
Unfortunately the comparisons take a negative turn. President Obamas questionable relationships were exposed by the federal conviction of long time associate Tony Resco and the public trial of impeached Illinois Governor Robert Blagojevich. Even though many questions have gone unanswered, the election of Barack Obama has managed to wipe the slate clean.
As for Kevin Johnson, the deodorant of winning hasn’t been enough to cover the smell of misconduct by the founder of St. Hope and it’s staff.
One difference is that Johnson’s ghosts have haunted him all the way to city hall with the blockage of federal stimulus money caused by the Inspector Generals investigation of Johnson and St. Hope.
Now, the ripple has even hit the Inspector General himself, Gerald Walpin who was unexpectedly fired by the Obama white house because the president had quote “lost confidence in him”. This is the same Inspector General who’s been around since the Nixon administration. The irony is the Inspector Generals Reform Act states Inspector Generals cannot be fired without a 30 day notice, an Act co-sponsored by none other than Senator Barack Obama.
Does this bother us? Do we even care? Should we even care? Before the Mayoral election we knew Johnson had skeletons but it didn’t bother us then so why would it now? Secrets and scandals are nothing new to politics but it is unfair to drag the city of Sacramento into this crowded pool. But on the other hand, Kevin Johnson told us he would bring Sacramento national attention, so consider it done.
The political power moves don’t necessarily bother but what dose concern me is the constant sloppiness of Mayor Johnson. We’ve seen evidence of this throughout his campaign and now, beyond. First, the code violations for personal real estate investments, next was the sex scandal and now it turns out the champion of St. Hope is just hopeless.
For me, my personal “Hope” is for Mayor Johnson’s name to stop popping up in ridiculous stories of personal political gain. I’m sure his time would be best spent working on the safety and commercial development of the city. Most likely Mayor Johnson is betting his chips on two things, federal stimulus money and his strong Mayor concept in November. Of course we should keep in mind he’s been Mayor for only months and there’s 4 more years to go.
Sometimes in our rush to judge, we forget our Mayor is in his infant stage and like anyone else, needs time to grow. Time will march on, and the cities up rising or down fall will be on display and that you won’t be able to keep secret.
However, to remove and stigma for their activities, the strong mayor position should take effect only after the next mayoral election assuming it is voted in before that election.
Sacramento’s mayor should have the power to enact direction for the city. Right now, you have a City Manager (non-elected) who hires and fires and catches no heat for mistakes made by his actions. Sacramento needs the strong mayor to go forward with strong purpose and actions. To this end, I support the mayor’s position.
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The White House Candy store in full delievery mode, Obama’s election payback tour hit the Sacramento Area with the illegal Firing of Kevin Johnson’s enemy - investigator Inspector General Gerald Walpin, who uncovered the misuse of federal aid by Johnson and his nonprofit St. HOPE & the undeserved hand out to rear-end-kissing money flaunting Sacramento elitist Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis (who is also connected to crooked Don Perata)
The Johnson Spin is in!
“Obviously, I was not consulted in that decision,… I really don’t have much more of a comment.”
WHITE HOUSE REFUSES TO ANSWER QUESTION ABOUT KJ – FIRING CONNECTION
THE BACKLASH:
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. Claire McCaskill and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista freak out, and point finger and Johnson Backscratch
“Top executives at the Corporation, Walpin explained in an hour-long interview Saturday, were unhappy with his investigation into the misuse of AmeriCorps funds by Kevin Johnson, the former NBA star who is now mayor of Sacramento, California and a prominent supporter of President Obama.”
ON THE JOHNSON’S SWEETHEART SETTLEMENT WITH THE FEDS:
“Walpin was adamantly opposed to a lifting of the suspension; after all, he had recommended that Johnson not only be suspended but be barred for receiving future federal funds….Walpin says that after that, he was cut out of the settlement talks; Brown worked directly with top officials of the Corporation, who seemed eager to work out a deal in a case involving a high-profile Obama supporter and lots of stimulus money.
Together, Brown and the top Corporation brass negotiated a deal. Johnson and St. HOPE would pay back about half of the $850,000 in AmeriCorps grant money it had received, and the suspension against Johnson would be lifted.
Walpin was very unhappy. First of all, he said it was a terrible deal for the U.S. government, because St. HOPE was essentially insolvent and would never pay the money back. Second, he felt lifting Johnson’s suspension would dilute the effectiveness of future investigations; why should grant recipients worry about their misconduct if any sanctions can be so easily lifted? In the end, Johnson was n not suspended, not debarred, and was probably not going to pay the vast majority of the money back.”
Even Kevin Johnson’s Sacramento campaign/PR/propaganda spewing blogger can’t create enough bogus spin to spin the heat off of Obama’s favor to KJ. Resorts to posting the truth: “The news just keeps on coming for KJ...centered around potential scandal, potential favoritism, potential dirty politics, potential secrecy and potential cronyism unbecoming of a public servant”
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EXCERPT:
“Not only did the evidence demonstrate that Johnson, Gonzalez, and St. HOPE misused about $850,000 in Federal grant funds, but they also acknowledged that they did not document the expenditures as required. And yet, Mr. Johnson continues to have access to Federal funds through the city of Sacramento, primarily because the settlement agreement ignored the Suspension and Debarment procedures...that the Federal Government put into place in order to prevent such grant misuse. These procedures are intended to protect Federal agencies by making the grantee’s accountable for the misuse of Federal funds under their control. Based upon the documents in my possession, it seems that the facts of this investigation were substantially disregarded and the blatant waste of federal taxpayer dollars were handled with little more than a slap on the wrist. In the St. HOPE matter, Mr. Johnson, rather than paying for legitimate expenses under the program, he used the AmeriCorps members, paid for with taxpayers’ hard-earned money, to engage in school-board political activities, run personal errands, and wash his car. Now, and because of the favorable settlement, Mr. Johnson can have access to millions of taxpayer dollars as the mayor of Sacramento.”
FLASHBACK: WATCH KJ ANSWER QUESTIONS IN MY INTERVIEW WITH HIM CONCERNING THE INVESTIGATION
first question asked on this part of interview
KEVIN JOHNSON INTERVIEWS WITH THE CAPITAL ELECTOR: “I’D GO IN AND I’D CLEAN HOUSE IF I NEEDED TO” PT.2 from Capital Elector on Vimeo.
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BONUS: MERCURY NEWS GETS SOFTCORE NASTY - ‘testicle sculpture’...err ‘flops’
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Worked hard? How hard did she really work?
NO CLASS BOXER UNREPENTANT AND UNAPOLOGETIC
Yet another example of a low rent California liberal brazenly crossing the line of fairness, decorum, and class – and never held accountable or pressured to be civil
Schwarzenegger cancels vendor contracts
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BREAKS NEWS ON HIS TWITTER FEED
abt 6:10pm
{extended} ]]>Who made the decisions that caused the fall of our economy? Risky stocks, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Countywide Loans, bonuses for greedy behavior-- management.
Cities and counties are not meant to be for-profit centers. Their mandate is to stay out of red ink, not go into debt. The graph line that goes up during good times is guaranteed to spiral down. Seasonal workers understand this boom and bust. They have to save whatever they can while they are working in order to carry them through to next year's work season.
Some cities and counties do have cash reserves and are refusing to use their cash reserves to continue providing services to their citizens. Instead, they wack peoples' heads off. I can understand consolidating, streamlining programs and then make up short falls with reserves. Oakdale has a $12 million surplus and told 7 police officers bye-bye. Another city example has $2.5 million in reserves and wants to lay off 2 police officers along with others job cuts. There are half dozen cities in the area behaving like this while sitting on cash reserves.
Just think about this for a second, you live in a city where they laid off safety employees while maintaining cash reserves. Your life, family, home and property are now vulnerable to the social ills and tragedies that befall the ungoverned and unsuspected. How will you feel after a fire, home invasion, life threatening accident, knowing that the services were cut and the city had the cash reserves to maintain current levels of service?
Many cities and counties are using this crisis to get out from what they don't like...
Bad behavior on behalf of cities and counties is non-productive behavior and anti labor.