I am certain that you have heard the news of California state Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) and his arrest on suspicion of DUI, or DWI, this past week.
Yes, the story is that Sen. Ashburn was with another man and leaving a gay-oriented bar in the Sacramento area.
FTR, my beef with Sen. Ashburn is not his possible closeted homosexuality. That is between him, his family and God.
But, my issue is that Sen. Ashburn is the classic "moderate" Republican that runs as some kind of conservative, but when push comes to shove, never actually does anything to stem the tide of rising government.
And rising government, my friends, is a real thing.
Unlike Globaloney Warming.
Sen. Ashburn was drinking and driving. In a state car. A Chevy Tahoe to be exact. Good to see the senator buys American. I guess.
But, why does this state senator need a state car? Is the $116, 208 annual salary not enough for Sen. Ashburn to buy his own car? Oh, and yes, on top of that $116,208 annual salary, Sen Ashburn also gets a $173 per diem allowance. And, since California is a full-time legislature, well, you figure that out, good readers.
The real outrage is that Sen. Ashburn was one of the Republican sellouts that voted to assist Gov. Benedict Arnold to raise taxes last year. Sen. Ashburn even used Ronald Reagan to justify such a vote.
But here is the thing.
Maybe if the state government was not so huge and bloated, and that bloating being added by the likes of Sen. Ashburn, there would not be this horrendous budget mess in the first place.
Again, this brings to mind the need for the good people of this state to rein in the people making this mess in the first place.
A return to a part-time legislature is one thing that is needed yesterday.
Consider that if these clowns only had 45 days a year to wreak their havoc, so many pointless laws would not be passed. So many pet projects of, name the legislator, would not see the light of day. And that 45 day legislative meeting would primarily deal with budgetary matters. No more or less. And that would be a two-year budget. In the next year, the legislature can take up other legislation not dealt with in the budget-only session. And again, all that would be needed is 45 days.
Consider that if the legislature is part-time, the majority of the time these clowns would have to actually live under the laws that they pass. These clowns would be driven as crazy as we are by what such legislation hath wrought.
Back to Sen. Ashburn.
Sen. Ashburn has a history of voting for tax hikes.
As a member of the Kern County board of supervisors, then Sup. Ashburn voted for tax hikes 12 times.
And Sen. Ashburn is a Republican. He claims to be a conservative. And yet he seems to not have a problem voting for tax hikes that increase the size of government. And of bureaucracy, by default.
Had Sen. Ashburn voted against the tax hikes, he would be a hero.
Instead, he is a goat. And one that seems to have a lot more problems than whether or not he can be a legislator of any kind.
When we get a chance to vote on making the California state legislator a part-time one, keep Sen. Roy Ashburn in mind. Not for being arrested for DUI or DWI leaving a gay-oriented night club. But for raising your taxes. And abusing his power.
2 comments:
Well it certainly seems someone had a beef with (and for) Sen. Ashburn
Nyuck nyuck.
What frankly irritates the hell out of me is the fact (as you pointed out) that a person making in excess of 100,000 Civil Worker dollars per year needs to drive a car paid for and owned by the state of CA.
I was going to say something about this not happening in the private sector, but actually it does happen there too. Ridiculous.
“Family Values” California state senator representing Kern County, Republican Roy Ashburn (guess how he votes on gay issues?), goes to a gay bar near the Capital, picks up a scantily clad buddy, gets drunk, drives and receives a DUI. In my opinion the Republican Party has been taken over small portions of the republican party of “birthers, baggers and blowhards” (people who love to push their beliefs on others while trying to take away rights of those they just hate) and that’s who they need to extract from their party if they real want to win. Good Luck, because as they said in WACO, “We Ain’t Coming Out”. They are good at “Follow the Leader”. They listen to their dullard leaders Beck, Hedgecock, Hannity, O’Reilly, Rush and Savage and the rest of the Blowhards. The world is complicated and most republicans (Hamiliton, Lincoln, Roosevelt) believe that we should use government a little to increase social mobility, now its about dancing around the claim that government is the problem. The sainted Reagan passed the biggest tax increase in American history and as a result federal employment increased, but facts are lost when mired in mysticism and superstition. Although most republicans are trying to distant themselves from this fringe they have a long way to go. I guess Ashburn is the first on the list “2010 Republican Summer of Love”. Remember last year list of “2009 Republican Summer of Love”: state assemblyman, Michael D. Duvall (CA), Senator John Ensign (NV), Senator Paul Stanley (TN), Governor Mark Stanford (SC), SC Board of Ed Chair, Kristin Maguire (AKA Bridget Keeney). Do I hear Tammy Wynette, “Stand By Your Man” playing in the background? I remember not so long ago that other Orange County song favorite, “Stand By Your Tan” (for Tan Nguyen). But that’s another Orange County fool.
Post a Comment