After decades of violent religious and political persecutions it seems odd that the US has not invaded Syria. The absence of US intervention is only made more poignant when we have aircraft over half a dozen or more middle eastern cities and troop s in as many.
Over and over reporters from various news agencies tell the horrors of men, women, and children who are tortured and murdered at the hands of the Syrian government.
Syrian troops using terror tactics on protesters
More brutality in Syria as refugee camps swell
Syria's latest crackdown kills 33; girl dies
Syrian boy's brutal death rouses protesters
It is heartbreaking to hear about innocent civilians being tortured and murdered, but when it is a child that suffers, the father in me wants to chase down and destroy the evil.
Our soldiers are fighting throughout the world. I can think of no more important mission than the safeguarding of the defenseless against an unimaginable evil.
Children are God's greatest gift. Please say a prayer for all of them.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Congressman Tom McClintock Calls for End to Redevelopment Agencies
(from www.StopTheMoneyPit.com)
Joining a chorus of organizations representing private property rights, taxpayers and faith based organizations, conservative stalwart Congressman Tom McClintock is calling for an end to California's 425 redevelopment agencies. In a YouTube video, the Congressman calls out RDAs for abusing private property rights and wasteful government spending, including $6.9 million for a mermaid bar. He points out that local taxpayer dollars that would otherwise go to local police and fire protection are going into the pockets of politically connected interests.
Click Here to Watch!
In recent weeks, conservative leaders and organizations have been calling on Republican legislators to abandon their support for RDAs. In March of this year, Governor Brown's effort to abolish RDAs failed due to Republican opposition, despite independent analysis that concluded that there is no reliable evidence that redevelopment creates net new jobs.
A website, www.StopTheMoneyPit.com, was launched to build public support for SB 77 and AB 101, legislation that abolishes RDAs.
Congressman McClintock urges you to contact your state legislator! Click here to find out who represents you in the California State Legislature.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Controller Releases More Local Government Payroll Figures
SACRAMENTO – State Controller John Chiang today updated his website showing the salary, pension benefits and other employee compensation for several hundred special districts including Library, Mosquito Abatement, Conservation, Air Quality and Airport agencies.
Last October, the Controller collected and posted wage information for more than 600,000 city and county employees. He then ordered special districts across the State to report the same information, and the first 1,925 districts were loaded between February and April of this year.
Compensation information for employees of special districts is being collected and posted on the website in four phases. The fourth and final phase – launched today – includes almost $457 million in payroll reported by 454 local agencies.
The Controller's government compensation reporting website covers elected officials as well as public employees. It includes the following information for each position:
• Minimum and maximum salary ranges;
• Actual wages paid;
• The applicable retirement formula;
• Any contributions by the employer to the employee’s share of pension costs;
• Any contributions by the employer to the employee’s deferred compensation plan; and
• Any employer payments for the employee’s health, vision and dental premium benefits.
In addition, the website shows employees who hold multiple positions within a single local government. Postings are updated weekly with any new information received.
80 percent of all special districts in the final phase followed the new reporting requirements. A list of agencies that failed to file in time for today’s launch can also be found on this website. Each non-complying agency could face a penalty of $5,000. The Controller anticipates loading similar information for state employees later this month.
Last October, the Controller collected and posted wage information for more than 600,000 city and county employees. He then ordered special districts across the State to report the same information, and the first 1,925 districts were loaded between February and April of this year.
Compensation information for employees of special districts is being collected and posted on the website in four phases. The fourth and final phase – launched today – includes almost $457 million in payroll reported by 454 local agencies.
The Controller's government compensation reporting website covers elected officials as well as public employees. It includes the following information for each position:
• Minimum and maximum salary ranges;
• Actual wages paid;
• The applicable retirement formula;
• Any contributions by the employer to the employee’s share of pension costs;
• Any contributions by the employer to the employee’s deferred compensation plan; and
• Any employer payments for the employee’s health, vision and dental premium benefits.
In addition, the website shows employees who hold multiple positions within a single local government. Postings are updated weekly with any new information received.
80 percent of all special districts in the final phase followed the new reporting requirements. A list of agencies that failed to file in time for today’s launch can also be found on this website. Each non-complying agency could face a penalty of $5,000. The Controller anticipates loading similar information for state employees later this month.
Is Jerry Brown's hiring freeze working?
According to the SacBee's State Worker column, we're nearly four months into Jerry's state government hiring freeze. So how's it going? From Feb. 15 through May 25, the government hired 1,516 employees, according to state controller's payroll data. Here's another way to view it: If you added up the initial paychecks for those new-to-government hires, you'd have about $3 million.
The blurb is missing some important information which paints a much clearer picture and was included in the original article from the Sacramento Bee but was omitted from the CRP email. I don't like many of Brown's policies but let's call it the way it is and not the way we want it to appear.
(from SacBee)
Pretty loose hiring clamp, you say? Not really.
Hiring is down about 40 percent per month, on average, from seven months prior to the hiring freeze.
Schwarzenegger didn't order a hiring freeze during those last months. He didn't trust the bureaucracy. He also wanted the immediate payroll savings from his 2008, 2009 and 2010 furlough orders, believing that the state's fiscal crises justified the controversial policy.
Brown, no lover of furloughs, is letting the slower process of attrition take hold. So while the state was welcoming those 1,500 employees aboard – many of them part-time or at entry-level pay – it said bon voyage to 2,349 retirees, according to CalPERS data. Those employees tend to be at the high end of the pay scale.
Senior staff in Brown's office added a hiring chill factor by personally reviewing all state employment proposals after they've gone through a financial analysis.
Schwarzenegger would never have done that, said Daniel J.B. Mitchell, a state labor expert at UCLA's Anderson School of Management: "He wasn't into micromanaging. Grand themes were more his area."
With the state still trying to close a $10 billion budget gap, Brown spokeswoman Elizabeth Ashford puts it another way: "We're keeping a close eye on the shop. We have to."
So what about all those hires in corrections, the tax board and mental health?
Brown's freeze order exempts some jobs such as frontline hospital staff, public safety employees, and tax and fee collectors.
It's the kind of nuanced policymaking that sometimes eluded Schwarzenegger. He ordered furloughs for everyone but firefighters and CHP officers in 2008, then added tax collectors to the exemption list nearly two years later after seeing evidence that the state lost $7 in revenue for every $1 the furloughs saved.
Since February, just six departments account for 80 percent of the new hiring. The jobs they're filling fall into those exempt categories: licensed and vocational nurses, correctional officers, tax board seasonal clerks and the like.
Once you read the article and see the data in its entirety, you see the hiring freeze (or hiring slow-down) is becoming effective.
My suggestion to the CRP is to choose data and articles a little better. The Republican Party needs to take the high road and not promulgate misleading information. Regaining credibility needs to become a priority for the Party.
Orange County Grand Jury Compensation Survey of Water and Sanitation Districts Released
The Orange County Grand Jury has released its "COMPENSATION SURVEY OF ORANGE COUNTY WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICTS". Although the study makes no great revelation, it does suggest that these special districts may be too far removed from the hands of the constituents they serve.
Why the Grand Jury Study:
Special districts are not well understood by the public
Receive little public scrutiny
Special Water/Sanitation Districts Serving Fullerton:
Municipal Water District of Orange County
(Water only)
The District is a wholesale water management and planning agency that provides imported water to 28 water purveyors and two private water companies in a service area of over 600 square miles. These smaller entities then provide the water to residential and commercial customers. In 2001 the District consolidated with Coastal Municipal Water District of Southern California. It is the second largest member agency of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the agency that supplies Southern California with the majority of its imported water. It coordinates countywide water/wastewater emergency preparedness and response efforts.
Orange County Sanitation District
(Sewer only)
The District provides wastewater services for much of Orange County. Its boundaries cover 479 square miles, serving 21 cities and three special districts. The District has two operating facilities, one in Fountain
Valley, the other in Huntington Beach, treating wastewater from residential, commercial and industrial sources in central and northwest Orange County. Each day approximately 230 million gallons of wastewater is treated, enough water to fill Angel Stadium three times a day.
The 25 members of the District’s board of directors consist of elected representatives from each of the sewer agencies or cities within the Orange County Sanitation District. Thus the board members of the District are not elected directly, but are appointed by their respective agencies.
Orange County Water District
(Water only)
Despite its name, the Orange County Water District is not a water provider in the usually understood sense. Its function is to manage the underground water in Orange County, called the aquifer. Agencies pumping water from the ground in Orange County are regulated and charged by this district. The Orange County Water District also operates the Groundwater Replenishment System, a state of the art plant in Fountain Valley that purifies wastewater and injects it back into the ground for reuse.
The board of directors for this district is a hybrid of elected and appointed officials. Of the 10 board members, 7 are elected from defined service areas within the district, and 3 are appointed representatives of
the cities of Fullerton, Anaheim and Santa Ana.
Findings:
Lack of interest by the public
Some districts offer board members fulltime benefits for part-time work
Suggests minimum standards for information access on district websites
Facts:
Combined total annual revenues for the 18 water and sanitation special districts in Orange County exceed $1.3 billion.
California state law defines a special district as “any agency of the state for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries (Government Code Section 16271 (d)).
Compensation for the board of directors of water districts must be set in accordance with the California Water Code Section 20202 and for the board of directors of Sanitation Districts, in accordance with the Health and Safety Code, Section 6489.
Board of director meeting stipends for water and sanitation special districts are capped by the state. Other compensation packages for the board of directors and the general manager are set by the board of directors in each district.
Elected or appointed officers of a special district, commission or board elected or appointed after June 30, 1994 are prohibited from participating in the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS).
Recommendations:
Provide in an easily accessible format on the district’s website, data on compensation for the board of directors and general manager, as well as current budget and financial reports.
Maintain and update agendas, minutes, meeting schedules and location on the district’s website.
Why the Grand Jury Study:
Special districts are not well understood by the public
Receive little public scrutiny
Special Water/Sanitation Districts Serving Fullerton:
Municipal Water District of Orange County
(Water only)
The District is a wholesale water management and planning agency that provides imported water to 28 water purveyors and two private water companies in a service area of over 600 square miles. These smaller entities then provide the water to residential and commercial customers. In 2001 the District consolidated with Coastal Municipal Water District of Southern California. It is the second largest member agency of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the agency that supplies Southern California with the majority of its imported water. It coordinates countywide water/wastewater emergency preparedness and response efforts.
Orange County Sanitation District
(Sewer only)
The District provides wastewater services for much of Orange County. Its boundaries cover 479 square miles, serving 21 cities and three special districts. The District has two operating facilities, one in Fountain
Valley, the other in Huntington Beach, treating wastewater from residential, commercial and industrial sources in central and northwest Orange County. Each day approximately 230 million gallons of wastewater is treated, enough water to fill Angel Stadium three times a day.
The 25 members of the District’s board of directors consist of elected representatives from each of the sewer agencies or cities within the Orange County Sanitation District. Thus the board members of the District are not elected directly, but are appointed by their respective agencies.
Orange County Water District
(Water only)
Despite its name, the Orange County Water District is not a water provider in the usually understood sense. Its function is to manage the underground water in Orange County, called the aquifer. Agencies pumping water from the ground in Orange County are regulated and charged by this district. The Orange County Water District also operates the Groundwater Replenishment System, a state of the art plant in Fountain Valley that purifies wastewater and injects it back into the ground for reuse.
The board of directors for this district is a hybrid of elected and appointed officials. Of the 10 board members, 7 are elected from defined service areas within the district, and 3 are appointed representatives of
the cities of Fullerton, Anaheim and Santa Ana.
Findings:
Lack of interest by the public
Some districts offer board members fulltime benefits for part-time work
Suggests minimum standards for information access on district websites
Facts:
Combined total annual revenues for the 18 water and sanitation special districts in Orange County exceed $1.3 billion.
California state law defines a special district as “any agency of the state for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries (Government Code Section 16271 (d)).
Compensation for the board of directors of water districts must be set in accordance with the California Water Code Section 20202 and for the board of directors of Sanitation Districts, in accordance with the Health and Safety Code, Section 6489.
Board of director meeting stipends for water and sanitation special districts are capped by the state. Other compensation packages for the board of directors and the general manager are set by the board of directors in each district.
Elected or appointed officers of a special district, commission or board elected or appointed after June 30, 1994 are prohibited from participating in the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS).
Recommendations:
Provide in an easily accessible format on the district’s website, data on compensation for the board of directors and general manager, as well as current budget and financial reports.
Maintain and update agendas, minutes, meeting schedules and location on the district’s website.