California gubernatorial candidate Tom Campbell today endorsed the Citizen Power Initiative as one of the most important reforms for turning around California’s troubled state government. Campbell is the first gubernatorial candidate of either party to endorse the measure, which will end the practice of allowing taxpayer money to be funneled to political causes through public employee unions’ paychecks. “Fixing our broken state government is priority one,” he said. “That’s why I am running for governor.” The Citizen Power Campaign issued the following press release:
Tustin, CA [December 30, 2009] – California gubernatorial candidate Tom Campbell today endorsed the Citizen Power Initiative as one of the most important reforms for turning around California’s troubled state government. The Citizen Power Initiative is a California ballot measure and proposed constitutional amendment that will end the practice of allowing taxpayer money to be funneled to political causes through public employee unions’ paychecks.
Campbell is the first gubernatorial candidate of either party to endorse the Citizen Power Initiative. “Fixing our broken state government is priority one,” he said. “That’s why I am running for governor. Our state budget is broken. Our state pensions are broken. They’re broken because Sacramento is broken — dominated by a political machine where the public employee unions have excessive power in influencing legislation and budgets.”
“I saw how they worked to defeat the budget-balancing initiative in 2005 and funneled millions of state employees’ dollars into attacking the best hope we had to prevent the budget melt down we are now suffering,” says Campbell, “If state employees want to make political contributions, that’s their right, but their unions should not be able to make that decision for them without their explicit approval. In Sacramento, however, that’s how the system works. Once in a while, those who aspire to lead our state have to show they’re not afraid actually to show leadership. That’s why I’m helping lead the charge for the Citizen Power Initiative.”
The Citizen Power Campaign www.UnplugThePoliticalMachine.org) is currently collecting signatures to qualify the Citizen Power Initiative for the November 2010 ballot. The proponents have until mid-April to render nearly 700,000 valid signatures to the Secretary of State.
“Tom Campbell’s endorsement shows there are politicians with the courage to do what’s right, even in the face of immense public employee union pressure. We truly appreciate his willingness to take a stand for what he believes,” said Mark Meckler, one of the measure’s five proponents. Meckler, who also serves as the California co-coordinator and a National Coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, explained, “In 2005, a similar initiative was placed on the state ballot and was narrowly defeated because the public employee unions and their corrupt political machine spent millions to do so.”
“Now, California is in a worse crisis and needs this reform even more,” says Meckler, “But today, the electorate is much more informed, much angrier at government irresponsibility, and thanks to the tea parties, much more activated. People from all walks of life in California now understand the institutional corruption in Sacramento is caused by all the political money flowing to the unions from the state government, and they are actively working to stop it through the Citizen Power Initiative.”
“California is at a tipping point,” Campbell explains, “Now is the time to repair our broken democracy and make California governable again. The Citizen Power Initiative is a necessary first step. We can’t fix anything while the public employee unions are able to defend the system that got us to our present crisis. Even now, these unions are filing lawsuits to block the spending cuts we need to balance our budget. And they’re paying for this with money that comes from their members, who are paid out of taxpayer’s pockets. The Citizen Power Initiative fixes this. That’s the kind of change I hope to bring to Sacramento.”
To read the full text of the initiative and to learn more, visit www.UnplugThePoliticalMachine.org and click on “The Solution.”
To download petitions and join the Citizen Power Campaign’s online community, visit www.UnplugThePoliticalMachine.ning.com.
THE CITIZEN POWER CAMPAIGN
The Citizen Power Campaign combines grassroots taxpayer organizers, retirees, and political veterans. The initiative’s official proponents are Mark Meckler and Dawn Wildman, California’s Tea Party Patriot state coordinators; Larry Sand, retired public school teacher and founder of the California Teacher Empowerment Network; Allan Mansoor, Costa Mesa Mayor and Orange County Deputy Sheriff; and Mark Bucher, Orange County attorney and author of the 1998 ‘paycheck protection’ initiative, Proposition 226. The Lincoln Club of Orange County, a group of about 200 business owners and executives who believe in limited government, lower taxes, and the promotion of free enterprise, has been an early supporter and financial contributor to the Citizen Power Campaign.
It isn’t taxpayer money that’s being used. That gives people the impression that money from non-union members is being used for political purposes.
In fact, it is money from union members. Hello….people join a union so that their political interests are protected. To campaign for political causes requires money!
This BS law is just a way to neutralize working people like cops, nurses, teachers, etc. and keep them out of the political process.
According to Republicans, only corrupt Wall St corporations and the pharmeceutical industry should be allowed to participate in the political system.
Even more deceptive, they are using Orwellian language like “Citizen Initiative” to cover up the fact this is a bill to limit the right of the average citizen to participate in government.
“Hello….people join a union so that their political interests are protected.” Wrong – State and local workers are forced to join unions, and taxpayers are forced to pay the bill.
“This BS law is just a way to neutralize working people … and keep them out of the political process.” Wrong – they are free to donate to labor causes and unions are free to solicit their donations.
“This is a bill to limit the right of the average citizen to participate in government.” Wrong – the average person is not a state or local worker. (This law applies only to public employee unions.) Nor is the average person a union member, at all. (Union membership is less than 14% of workers – a minority.)
Fact: California state and local workers are the highest paid in the country. They receive pensions far better than private sector workers – resulting in a pension crisis that threatens state bankruptcy.
The public employee unions are out for themselves and are the driving force behind runaway spending. It is working families and average workers who are stuck with the bill.
Yes our workers are paid better than most places in the country, our cost of living is also overall one of the most expensive in the country. So what is the big surprise?
If you are going to restrict Unions then Wall St corporations,the pharmeceutical industry and other large community groups both liberal and conservative have to be included with equla restrictions.
I favor public funding of campaigns being available to candidates so they do not have seek donations form any of these groups to get thier message out.
I cannot support this proposal in it current unbalanced, unfair and single sided condition. If it is going to be done it needs to be rewritten so it is balanced.
This is just an attempt by the Republicans and Right wing to further restrict the rights of the majority of Californians, under the disguise of reform
Re: “California state and local workers are the highest paid in the country. They receive pensions far better than private sector workers – resulting in a pension crisis that threatens state bankruptcy.”
The public sector does not have CEOs making 30 million dollars a year while paying their workers minimum wage. That’s why the public sector can pay a middle class wage and a decent retirement. The money is not all siphoned off at the top.
CA’s budget troubles began when Bush’s friends at Enron manipulated the energy market and robbed our surplus. Then Arnold cut the car tax and began borrowing money. Add to that the housing crisis and massive bailouts for Wall St., etc
THAT is where the economic crisis comes from. It is not due to a fire fightter who gets a decent pension that he deserves!
Republicans want everybody to be working for third world wages without health care or a retirement.
Unions have become nothing but mobsters reaping the public. Most nurses including myself refused to join the union because i did not need scum on my side. I did not want my money going to left wing wack jobs.
Get rid of all unions in this country and you get rid of corruption. Anyone who states that the unions do any good, works for them!
Without unions we wouldn’t have a middle class. Read some books and find out what working conditions were like before the union movement. You take things for granted. Big things like retirement and health care, but also little things like a lunch break at work, or the right to a few days off. You can thank the union movement for that.
If you wan’t to live in a state that doesn’t have any unions or a public sector why don’t you move to Alabama or Mississippi?
Did you know that Arnold the Republican Pig tried to eliminate the right to take a lunch break? I don’t mean a paid lunch break, but any lunch break at all. Why anybody would let that buffoon govern them is pathetic.
When you cut education and blast corporate propaganda on TV and radio 24/7 you can get people to give up their own rights. It’s scary.
You know what gets me about Tom Campbell? He tries to sell himself as a moderate. LOL His voting record is the same as Newt Gingrich’s.
Sunny, if no-one else has said it, we’re really glad you are on this blog, and as more than just a Loretta apologist. (And don’t go back to “bubbles”)
Vern,
I agree. Sunny has become one of our best commenters. Gracias Sunny! Prospero Ano Nuevo…
Thank you. Happy New year!
Why-o-why must government union apologists constanly muddle the issue by talking about “union labor.” We’re talking about government employee unions’ stranglehold on local and state government, and the consequent ruination of fiscal solvency by ever-increasing salary and retirement demands.
The inevitable and tedious comparison with corporate involvement in politics is also bogus. Shareholders (who have voluntarily bought stock) elect on their board of directors who set policy. Sure the elections are all pro forma but nobody forces shareholders to keep their interest.
The business about CEOs and how much they make is yet another floater. Completely irrelevant to this discussion, but another inevitable plum to be plucked, Horneresque, out of the pie.
Without unions we wouldn’t have a middle class. Read some books and find out what working conditions were like before the union movement.
I think you need to read some books on unions and how they have developed into power houses of corruption and greed.
The CTA is the teachers thugs, plain and simple. The public school system even with the highest paid teachers in the country has been distroyed by the policies and the power of the teachers Union!
Sunny, you either work for a union or are a public servant?
If you wan’t to live in a state that doesn’t have any unions or a public sector why don’t you move to Alabama or Mississippi?
I don’t need to run away from thugs and theives, i choose to fight!
Maybe you need to live in Europe, i heard ACORN has moved!
Unions are NO LONGER NEEDED in this country. They have outgrown their initial purpose and usefulness which was to insure a fair wage and working conditions for the employee. Todays unions have become political mobsters. Did you know General Motors “union workers” made 3 times what a non union employee made. When unions flex their political muscles, our electorate system suffers. Look at the latest version of Obamacare, unions were going to be exempt for 5 years from being taxed on their cadillac plans. Apparently they DO have enough muscle to influence our electorate and it needs to stop! Because of their “special interest” being rewarded in that health care bill, unions have painted themselves as no better than Bel Nelson (cornhusker kick back)! In todays economy with todays labor laws, UNIONS ARE NO LONGER NEEDED!