Republican Corner: Fun at the Butte County Fair!
By Post Scripts on August 27, 2010 6:00 AM | 13 Comments

By Steve Thompson, Chairman of the Butte County Republican Party

Butte County Fair – Fun for the whole herd of elephants!

I spend most weeks on here writing about government waste, government abuse of people who are trying to make a living, and the evil democrats who gave us all this gigantic mess. This week I thought I’d write about something most people enjoy, the county fair.

The Butte County Republican Party has their booth at the Butte County Fair again this year, and tonight was my night to work the closing shift. I relieved Supervisor-elect Larry Wahl and his wife, Mary, and took over for the evening. Right off the bat we had some great visitors like Wally and Pam Herger, Owen Stiles (republican city councilor from Gridley) and my own Angela Thompson, republican councilwoman from Biggs. I was informed that last night we also had a visit from local republican Doug LaMalfa, and we’ve only been open two days now.

While on shift, I had a lot of average, every day people come up and talk to me. This was pretty good considering the fair seemed to be having a slow night. Most of them wanted to talk about the bigger campaigns, like Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, two very exciting women who are likely to win their races this fall. Whitman is running against the crazy old man without a plan Jerry Brown, and Fiorina is running to take out one of the rudest and most anti-job democrats in the nation, Barbara Boxer. The people asking about these campaigns were excited, they really feel like this is a year of change and that we’re going to see our country turned around in November. At the same time though, they’re leery, and I don’t blame them.
I believe Republicans will take back Congress this year, no doubt about it, but there are some who still don’t think we deserve it. Let’s face it, when republicans had congress for too long they started acting like democrats and spent the nation’s money like there was no tomorrow. There were so many republican sex scandals it was making Bill Clinton look like a saint! In 2006 the American people got sick of it, and democrats were promising to bring a balanced budget and open government, so the people threw out the republicans and gave democrats a chance, much to their current regret. Now the democrats are pushing some of the most radical, far left policy our country has ever seen, along with deficit spending as far as the eye can see. Not to mention a President who is turning into such an abject failure that he’s making Jimmy Carter start to look good! Even David Letterman is now making jokes about Obama being a one term president!

So again, I think Republicans will win this November, but do we deserve it? I will be campaigning for this victory so I hope so. It’s crucial that once we take back congress, we have to start living up to our conservative principles. America is a nation that favors capitalism, warts and all, over the shared misery and soul-devoid socialism. American people are center-right, not radical left. But they won’t continue to give our party second chances if we don’t start earning it. We have to push for swift policy changes to get people back to work and put government on a severe spending diet.

While at the fair I also managed to look around at some of the great offerings. The Taste of Butte County event was well done and offered a variety of local made products like olive oil, sausage, beer and wine. The livestock were there, along with the pigs which reminded me of some young ladies I saw protesting Prop 23 the other day.

The temperature is supposed to come down a little this weekend, so if you have free time, come down to the Butte County Fair in Gridley. Don’t forget to stop by the Republican booth and chat with our friendly volunteers. We’re right next to the Gridley Chamber of Commerce and the people who sell some really tasty fudge. Remember, the county fair is fun for the whole herd!

Republican Corner: Keeping Our Cities in Line
By Post Scripts on August 20, 2010 6:00 AM | 7 Comments

By Steve Thompson, Chairman of the Butte County Republican Party

I recently wrote about city taxes and decentralization of power. I’m a firm believer in returning as much power back to the local level as possible, and power goes hand in hand with funding. But this is not to say that cities do not have their problems, or room for reform. In fact cities and towns are a really good example of why voters need to be better informed and vigilant.
Most cities operate with a typical five-person council and a weak mayor. By weak they just mean that the mayor does not have veto power and is usually selected by their peers. It’s the rare city that elects their mayor separately and gives them more power. All too often in smaller towns (and let me be clear that Chico is not typical here), there will be barely enough council candidates to even have elections, and usually it’s with candidates who don’t know as much as they should for the job they’re undertaking.
Smaller city councils often don’t find themselves wrapped in the usual partisan political struggles of larger cities. Instead they’re in a different struggle. Too often it’s a power struggle between the elected leaders and the city staff.
Now my small disclaimer here, is that there are some very good people working on city staffs all over. I studied at Chico State under local legend Tom Lando himself. The staff at Chico is very professional and likely wouldn’t try anything with a council as involved as Chico’s.
In smaller cities, however, it’s a different story. Inexperienced councilors find themselves outmatched with city administrators who know the ropes all too well. The Brown Act keeps them from conversing with other council members unless it’s in a public setting, usually with city staff present. Councilors rely on their staff to tell them all the options at their disposal so they can make informed choices. But what if staff tells them the virtues of option A and B, but completely leaves out the viable option C? Doesn’t seem like such a big deal when we’re talking about sidewalks, but what if it’s a general plan? Can you begin to see how the City of Bell ended up with such a grossly overpaid administrator?
Most city administrators that I know take their jobs and their responsibilities seriously. They know that their duty is to answer to the city council, who in turn answers to the people. Unfortunately there are sometimes those administrators who figure out how to turn things around. An administrator making over $100,000 in a small town has a lot of disposable income to play in local elections, and what would stop them from directing funds to candidates loyal to themselves? With a five person council, all it would take is three council members loyal to the administrator.
If this was happening in your town or city, would you know about it? Do you know how much your city administrator is paid? Or how many management positions your city has in relation to how many positions total? The strongest defense against corruption at city hall is an informed, and vigilant, electorate. That means you and me, the voter, paying attention and voting accordingly.
If we are to turn our country around, we have to learn to start locally first. We have to take a stand against the abuses of government power at all levels, even if it’s more interesting to talk about Congress and President Obama’s latest public gaffes.
I believe in decentralization, and in the empowering of local government against state and federal authority. But it would be for nothing if we let our city officials behave as they did in Bell, CA. On the local level our vote has the strongest impact, just as its misuse brings the greatest waste. Call your local council members. Meet with them, and find out what they believe in. Find out if they know what’s going on at city hall. Get involved or watch our country keep going down the drain.

I met with a bunch of them tonight at the new Republican Headquarters in Chico. We haven’t opened to the public yet, but when we announce our location, it will turn heads. We have volunteers already lined up to call voters, walk precincts and register new republicans. The people are waking up. They know their country needs to be turned around. They know our state is a disaster. They know, because they pay their own bills, that they have nothing left for the government to fleece from their pockets. They know that having scores of public employees making over $100,000 in communities where the average taxpayer only makes $35,000 is not sustainable. They know that this is a creation of the unions, of the bureaucrats, of the democrats, of liberalism.

It’s a busy time for me. I’ll do what I can to help those campaigns that need and deserve help. I’ll attend the late meeting and dinners. I’ll spend my Saturday mornings organizing neighborhood walks with my friends. I’ll miss my kids a lot. But I’m doing it for them. This is their country, and the future of their freedom is at stake. We will turn the tide back against those who believe more in government than liberty. We will turn it back and we will keep pressing forward. Government has grown too big, too powerful, and too resentful of the working class. It is time for good Americans to remind that government who is truly in charge.

Campaign season is back and conservative victory is in the air. It’s going to be a good year.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4309611/coming-up-at-4-pm-et-on-your-world/

Obama Signs $26 Billion Bailout for Cash-Strapped States

Published August 10, 2010 

| Associated Press