Sometimes you just can’t make this shit up.  Here’s your Voter Fraud – involving false registration by an OC Republican elected official.

The Chair of the California State Senate Committee on Legislative Ethics is Orange County State Senator Mimi Walters.

After legislative redistricting, State Senator Walters chose to run in a neighboring district, and registered to vote at a 570 square foot studio apartment in Irvine.

One problem. Mimi, her husband and their four kids continue to live in their 14,000 square foot home in Laguna Niguel in a gated community that is not in her new district

And there’s a pesky law that you must actually live in the district. Mimi swore that she did, under penalty of perjury.

Today her opponent, Democrat Steve Young, filed suit with Secretary of State Deborah Bowen to have Mimi’s name removed from the ballot.

You can read about it at the local blog Orange Juice or at the right-wing OC Register.

The lawsuit asks that Walters’ name be removed from the ballot. Under the new jungle primary rules in California, there is no provision for replacing her by the local Republican party.

If the law is successful, it could prove pivotal in the effort to get a 2/3 vote in the State Senate, a move that could eliminate the ability for Republicans to obstruct certain votes where a super majority is required.

Below the squiggle, you can see the aerial shot of her home at 3 Inspiration Point in Laguna Niguel.

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Every year when the budget comes around, there is always some sort of “hostage” that the GOP gets together and decide that’s they want to take out.  In previous years it was things like workplace safety regulations, lunchtime regulations, and on and on.  You name a piece of progressive legislation, and there has been an attempt on its life during the budget season.

Well, on the plus side, we’ll be seeing fewer of those under the new Prop 25 simple majority vote on the budget. But, as you likely know, we didn’t get the whole enchilada with Prop 25. So, if we are going to go the easy route on getting taxes on the ballot, that is to say getting 2/3 vote to place them on the ballot, then we are once again open to the annual hostage situation.

Now, this year, it seems that the wizards of the GOP caucus(es) have once again focused on pension reform.  A reasonable subject to discuss. After all, we have an enormous outstanding pension obligation, much of which is underfunded.  But, a cordial conversation, some committee hearings and the like isn’t how Mimi Walters wants to roll. Oh no, it’s going to happen by the middle of March or there will be no GOP votes for putting revenue on the ballot:

Sen. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Hills, is preparing a package of pension reform bills she said must be addressed before taking up taxes. Among her reforms is legislation requiring all new state employees to enter 401(k)-style benefit plans.

“We want reforms in place before there’s any discussion about tax increases,” said Walters, the GOP’s nominee in the fall for state treasurer who was trounced by incumbent Bill Lockyer. “I do know there’s not support at all to even put it on the ballot without significant pension reforms.”  (MediaNews/Steve Harmon)

Now, you see the framing there? That’s classic move the goalposts framing.  If you are a Democratic leader at this point, your ears should be perked up, just waiting for the next demand.  See, there’s no support for placing the measure on the ballot sans pension reforms. And after you get your way? What then? Notice that she’s hardly promising any votes.  Of course, she would then cross into the murky waters of vote trading, but you know, that’s how the GOP rolls.

Of course, as Dan Walters pointed out a while back, there are ways to put these measures on the ballot sans GOP support.  There is certainly a lot of inherent risk in that approach, both politically and policy-wise, but the Democratic legislators will have to make up their minds on which odds they’ll take.

UPDATE: One more thing that I wanted to mention. Before the Right pours on about the pension system, let’s look at one critical fact.  The average annual pension for a state worker is $30,000. While it isn’t a pittance, we can’t simply portray all state workers as hogs on the system and end the conversation there. We need to ensure a stable future for all Californians, and part of that includes retired state workers.

Here’s an article showing kind of a silly trumped-up sanctimony on behalf of the Yacht Party.

California voters said no, but Democratic lawmakers are pushing to do it anyhow.

The issue involves billions of dollars and a ballot measure so important to schools that the California Teachers Association spent more than $7 million in a failed attempt to pass Proposition 1B.

One month after the initiative died, Democrats are proposing to pay schools the same $7.9 billion that was the heart of the measure and to begin payments the same year, 2011-2012.

The funding commitment is part of a massive budget-balancing plan crafted by a joint legislative conference committee and scheduled to be voted upon this week by the Senate and Assembly.

Sen. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Niguel, said the proposal to commit $7.9 billion to schools directly contradicts the people’s will.

“The voters have spoken and we need to listen,” Walters said. “Unfortunately, the majority party in Sacramento isn’t listening.”

Would that the Republicans always listen precisely to what the voters want – say, when they put 63% majorities into both houses of the Leigslature, for example.  The Republican Governor has asked for a $4.5 billion reserve at a time of economic crisis, when voters “rejected” a rainy-day fund in Prop. 1A.  You can argue the economics of a reserve fund that large on the basis that the economy still has some rough patches, but you can just as easily argue that the Governor is somehow upending the voter’s will.

The SacBee does offer the contextual reality of the Democrats’ effort here.  Before the May 19 special election, the California Federation of Teachers and associated groups sued the state for that $7.9 billion, which they feel is owed to them.  The dispute comes over how mandatory Prop. 98 funding gets calculated, and the CFT feels they have a solid argument that they actually deserved more money under the law than the state provided.  You can say that you don’t like mandates in funding generally, but the courts will eventually decide this dispute regardless of what the legislature does.  And Democrats can see the possibility – some would say probability – of CFT being able to win that lawsuit and receive payment immediately, rather than two years out (although “immediately” would probably not happen for a year or so, until the case worked its way through the courts).

Prop. 1B was essentially an attempted out-of-court settlement.  That having failed, the participants are going to court.  Incidentally, every subsequent budget cut adds to the money owed to schools under Prop. 98, which has ballooned to around $11 billion.  So the options are: either set up a future payment schedule, hope the courts rule in a way that would break with precedent, or dismantle Prop. 98 (which wouldn’t get the state off the hook for funds owed).  So when Mimi Walters argues that “the people have spoken,” she’s saying that they’ve spoken on cutting school funding to dead-last in the nation, all the while not answering the still-thorny problem of a current lawsuit.

Someone should tell her constituents that.

(crossposted from Orange County Progressive for those who wonder what the Yacht Party members do when they’re not just voting “NO”)

Oh my gawd!

Did you know that when the St. Margaret’s Episcopal School,the private school that State Senator Mimi Walters daughters attend, has a big fund-raiser at a tony restaurant, where the Governor comes, and there’s one of those 18% mandatory service charges instead of being able to figure out your own tip, did you know that the state charges you tax on the tip?

How unfair is that?

Your friendly yacht party representative knows we need to have a law to fix this.

You can’t make this shit up. There’s really a bill Mimi Walters introduced – SB 107 to eliminat taxes on mandatory service charges charged to non-profits for food and beverages.

Can you believe that a legislative initiative as important as this was “Placed on  REV. & TAX. suspense file”?

And that’s not the only huge problem in the tax code that Mimi’s trying to fix. Did you know that when you buy new car, and you have a trade-in, you pay taxes on the entire cost of the new car.

Mimi has two bills to revive our moribund economy by giving you a break on the tax on your trade-in, and giving you an exemption on the car tax for the first year.

You just know you were going to head on down to Fletcher Jones, but you didn’t want to pay that tax on your trade-in or pay that new higher Vehicle License Fee.

Your modern Yacht Party at work. A Roadmap to Recovery, one tax cut at a time.

Cross-posted from Orange County Progressive

That’s the Senate Republican budget plan, or as much of it as you can deduce.

It’s certainly cloaked in different language, talking about reform, common sense solutions, economic stimulus and their “no new taxes” pledge, but read through the Senate Republican Caucus plan, and tell me where they will cut spending without massive reductions in education and prisons.

Walters and Harman are craven liars who won’t admit that state spending, adjusted for inflation and population, has been flat for the last ten years, while Republicans have voted to eliminate over seven billion dollars a year in revenue.

Of course they’re still talking about finding waste in government and eliminating it, but frankly, Tom Harman and Arnold Schwarzenegger have been singing this song almost as long as OJ has been looking for the real killer.

At Orange County Progressive, we’re all in favor of cutting waste, balancing budgets, and efficiency in government contracting. But here’s what’s on the front page of their caucus website as we blog,

“No one would disagree that California’s economy is struggling and this state is clearly in a recession. As California searches for effective ways to close a projected $42 billion deficit over the next 18 months, several proposals have been put on the table. One proposal is to cut the number of paid holidays, or 1 holiday plus a personal day, given to state employees. Cutting 2 holidays would reduce the number from 13 to 11.

“Keep in mind most employees in the private workforce get six paid federal holidays.

“The proposal would combine Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays into one paid holiday in February and eliminate Columbus Day. That proposal would save the state an estimated $75 million a year.

State employees have been at the bargaining table with the governor, and have already agreed to a twelve day a year furlough. They understand the gravity of the problem, and are at the table.

But Harman, Walters are clueless. In Harman’s case, it’s an aging Faux RINO who is looking for a gubmint pension, and scared shitless of the “heads-on-a-stick” crowd. Mimi, well, her kids are in private school. She may be dumb enough to believe this tripe.

And when they talk about the five billion in surplus properties, here’s part of what was identified.

The state owns 190 acres in the City of Costa Mesa, located in Orange County. The land is used to hold the annual Orange County Fair, a summertime agricultural fair. Preliminary discussions with local brokers and appraisers active in the Orange County area indicate that its highest and best use would be for housing. They estimate the property would be worth $27-$30/per square foot, or about $230 million, if it were properly zoned, approved for development, and clear of all hazardous materials and existing improvements. [14] If the land were developed to accommodate four to six single family detached homes per acre, it would allow about 1,000 homes to be built. Higher densities of more than four to six housing units per acre along with other development including retail, apartments and office space, for example, are possible with the cooperation of local government in the zoning and development process.

Mimi Walters appears to be running one of the wingnuttiest campaigns in California history in her bid to get elected to the State Senate. Last week we told you of her proud affiliation with the Howard Jarvis Association at the expense of California schools. Now she is touting her anti-immigrant credentials, even at the cost of fiscal responsibility on the state budget.

Republicans who have made immigration a campaign centerpiece have fared pretty poorly at the ballot box. So while that might suggest silence while California Republicans prepare another immigration-focused campaign, my respect for common sense and human rights forces me to speak up.

Mimi has sent out two pieces of mail to her constituents in recent days playing up her anti-immigrant stance. In a glossy mailer she not only lists her support for various immigrant-bashing measures such as cutting off social services and forbidding something like the DREAM Act – but she also engages in an overtly racist attack on Latinos.

The mailer includes an image from the 2006 immigrant rights’ protests of a Latino holding a sign reading – in English – “Today March, Tomorrow Vote.” The caption to the photo reads “Illegal aliens are demanding more and more rights. Even the right to vote in our elections!” even though there’s no evidence to suggest the protester was an undocumented immigrant.

The other piece of mail was a letter claiming that “it has been estimated illegal aliens cost California taxpayers $10 billion every year.” Not only does she provide no supporting evidence for this extraordinary claim, it flies in the face of evidence to the contrary. Undocumented immigrants contribute at least $9 billion to Social Security, and they also pay numerous state and local taxes, such as sales taxes, gas taxes, excise taxes, and (indirectly) property taxes.

The irony of Mimi Walters’ immigrant-bashing plan is that it seeks to drive taxpaying Californians either underground or out of the state entirely, right at the moment when we need all the tax revenue we can get. It’s an inhuman, reckless plan, but then what else can one expect from one of the most far-right members of the Yacht Party?