February I0, 2010
California Commentary
Checking In For Pay;
Checking Out of Reality
by Jon Coupal
How would you like to go to
work at 9 a.m., wave to your boss
and say "Hi, I'm here. Bye," and
then immediately turn around,
walk out the door and go home
or play a round of golf - and,
here's the best part, still get a
paycheck instead of being fired?
And suppose to make it easier on
you, you could just drive by your
place of employment and check
in at the curb?
If this does not sound like
your job, you are not alone.
This describes the work of a
small minority of Californians
- 120 lucky folks - who, before
every long weekend, go through
this tedious routine to assure
themselves of $567.84 in
additional pay. And since the
total obligation of time is about
5 minutes, it works out to about
$6,814.08 if the rate is applied to
a full hour of work.
So how do these 120 privileged
individuals pull this off? Here is
their trick: They are members of
the state Legislature and they
make their own rules.
Although lawmakers received
a pay cut from the Compensation
Commission at the beginning of
the year, they are still the highest
paid legislators in all 50 states
and they know how to game the
system to guarantee that the
money keeps flowing.
In addition to their nearly
six figure salaries, lawmakers
receive a tax-free allotment of
$141.86 per day that is intended
to compensate for the cost
of living in Sacramento while
performing their jobs. However,
if they go more than four days
without meeting they lose this
bonus, and so, to make sure they
get this generous stipend while
enjoying a long weekend, they
have a "check-in" session on the
day before. As was described by
the Sacramento Bee, the process
"... can be as simple as driving
through the parking garage in the
R,F.D. °
Capitol basement and checking
in momentarily with a Sergeant
of their house."
Although this practice has
been going on for decades and is
embraced by members from both
political parties, it finally made
news when someone leaked an
e-mail from the office of Senate
Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg that
was sent to Senate members
urging them to show up and
check in on Friday before Martin
Luther King day, so that all could
collect their per-diem payments
over the long holiday weekend.
Now, California is a big state,
almost 800 miles from Crescent
City to Chula Vista, and few
taxpayers expect lawmakers
to go through a daily commute
from far flung home districts
to Sacramento. But what
is galling is that while many
Californians are suffering severe
financial hardship, members
of the Assembly and Senate
are checking in at work to do
nothing but assure themselves
of "walking-around money" for a
long weekend.
• Lawmaker abuse of these
"check-in" sessions for the sole
purpose of collecting their per
diem is just one of many stories
that contribute to the public's
disdain for our elected state
representatives. Recent polls
show the approval rate for the
Legislature at a near all-time low
of 16%. This means that 84%
of Californians do not have a
positive view of its performance.
And it a safe,bet, considering our
12.4% unemployment, record
foreclosure rates and crushing
tax burden, that many of those
who do not approve of the
Legislature actually despise it as
a self-serving body that has no
sympathy for the concerns of its
constituents.
Jan Coupal is the president
of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers
Association.
by Mike Marland
'MAN. (~4~ 1
PLOV,/IN' T~EcoE-.
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A delicious vegetable you canpresent to your kids is the sweetpotato. Sweet
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Web site, www.sweetpotato.org.
Weekly SUDOKU
by Linda Thistle
3 4 9
1 2 6
2 8 7
5 4 7
6
3 2 4
9 3
5 8 . 9
4 1 2
9 5 6
Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way
that each row across, each column down and
each small 9-box square contains all of the
numbers from one to nine.
DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: * * *-
* Moderate ** Challenging
*** HOO BOY!
© 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.
Secretary of
State Reports
One in Five
Voters Now
Registered
Decline-to-State
More Total Voters Since
Last Statewide Primary
in a Gubernatorial
Election Year
SACRAMENTO - Heading
into the 2010 election year, 20.2
percent of California voters
identify themselves as "decline-
to-state" (DTS), an all-time
high as a percentage of total
registered voters, according
to the Secretary of State's
latest Report of Registration
released today. The report also
shows more than 16.9 million
Californians are registered
voters, up from 15.8 million at
this same time four years ago.
The report includes data
gathered 154 days before the
June 8 Statewide Direct Primary
Election and reflects updates to
voter registration rolls, including
the removal of registrants who
have passed away, moved out of
state, or have been determined
to be ineligible to vote, as well as
the addition of new registrants.
The percentage of DTS voters
- sometimes called nonpartisan
or unaffiliated voters - has more
than doubled in the last 20 years.
In four years, the percentage
of people registered with the
Democratic Party has increased
from 42.7 percent to 44.6 percent,
while the percentage of people
registered with the Republican
Party has decreased from 34.7
percent to 30.8 percent.
"Whether or not you choose to
register with a particular political
party, the most important choice
is to register to vote and then
to make your voice heard on
Election Day," said Secretary of
State Debra Bowen, the state's
chief elections officer. "While
there is still plenty of time - until
May 24 - to register to vote in the
June 8 primary, why wait?"
The complete January 5, 2010,
Report of Registration can be
found on the Secretary of State's
website at www.sos.ca.gov/
elections/ror/ror-pages/154day-
prim-10/index.htm.
California has a "modified
closed primary" system that
permits each party to determine
whether it will allow DTS voters
to participate in their primary
The Julian News 13
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election. The Democratic and
Republican parties will permit
DTS voters to request their
ballots in the June 8 primary; the
The registration totals for the six qualified political parties and
voters who have declined to state their political affiliation are:
American Independent 382,380 2.26 %
Democratic 7,545,617 44.62 %
Green 111,395 0.66 %
Libertarian 84,462 0.50 %
Peace and Freedom 55,036 0.33 %
Republican 5,199,961 30.75 %
Miscellaneous 118,194 0.70 %
Decline to State 3,412,529 20.18 %
TOTAL 16,909,574
The last day to register to vote in the June 8 primary election is
May 24. The last day to request a vote-by-mail ballot is June 1.
iction employee
8 Inhumane 33 South
9 Possesses Korean
10 Capades site capital
11 Homer's 35 Symbolof
neighbor intrigue
Flanders 36 Basis for
16 Of the upper grits
hipbone 38 "The Biggest
20 Huge --"
23 Places 39 "Real Time"
24 History moderator
chapters 42 Punch
25 Musical 43 Architect
based on Saarinen
"La Boheme" 44 Plumbing
King Crossword
ACROSS 1 "Humbug!"
4 Trade
8 Leno's
feature
12 Expert
13 Gyro holder
14 Fight the
clock
15 Michael
Jackson
album
17 Previously
owned
18 Shadow
location
19 Honest
politician?
21 Chemical
suffix
22 Comic
"married" to
Fang
26 Sired
29 Visibility
hindrance
30 Galena, e.g.
31 Ear-related
32 Indulge in
pugilism
33 Check bar
codes
34 "-- Town"
35 Tussaud's
medium
36 Stickup job
37 Extremely
impressive
39 Bovine
utterance
40 Sapporo
sash
41 Entertained
45 Piece of
work
48 German
poet/
1 2
12
15
18
26 27
31
34
37
45 46
5O
53
dramatist
50 Leak slowly
51 Sub-
sequently
52 Swiss
canton
53 Will
beneficiary
54 Ethereal
55 19-Across'
party
DOWN 1 Decrease
2 Needing
liniment
3 Roll call
reply
4 Immobilizer
5 Dorian
Gray's
creator
6 Corroded
7 Seeming
contrad-
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26 Amazon.cam problem
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quintuplets 47 Submachine
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© 20t0 King Features Synd., lnc,
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other four qualified parties will
not permit DTS voters.
By law, voter registration
updates must occur 154, 60 and
15 days before each primary
election, and 60 days and
15 days before each general
election. There is one "off-year"
update released in February of
years with no regularly scheduled
statewide election.
© As Heard On The
Streets Of Julian ©
by Eric Stamets
-- ICing Crossword -
Answers
Solution time: 27 mins.
Presidents Day
Where did the nonsense
1-E-~1"-- of combining a weekend in
~ February and a Monday into
"Presidents Day" come from?
Most people immediately point
to the stores that do massive
advertising trying to get rid of
24 25 all the old merchandise they
~ couldn't unload on Christmas
~ shoppers. Some say from dune
buggy participants who could
--- also call in sick for a few days
and get an extended vacation in
the desert out of it. Some people
43 44 still remember that there were
~ two holidays to honor our two
~ most beloved presidents, George
Washington and Abraham
~ Lincoln and they occurred on
their actual birthdays. But
to make it seem like we are
honoring all presidents and lump
them in with Andrew Johnson,
Calvin Coolidge, Richard Nixon,
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
is ludicrous. One of the major
problems is that no one can
remember which birthday comes
first in the month (Lincoln then
Washington) and you can't look
at the average calendar anymore
because it just says "Presidents
Day." Plus both Lincoln and
Washington each have more than
one syllable and people don't like
the effort in pronouncing long
words. So now many people
are referring to them as "this
birthday" and "that birthday" and
if you don't know which is which,
you better just move your fat
fingers down to Wikipedia and
find out.
FOODS
1. Tomatoes
2. Broccoli
Sprouts
3. Berries
4. Soybeans
5.Tea
6. Pumpkin
7. Spinach
8. Garlic
9. Pineapple
10. Apple
Source:
www.thedietchannel.com
© 2010 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
World dghts reserved.
Weekly SUDOKU
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