Kids do it when they’re in trouble. Husbands do it when they want to watch a game instead of doing chores. Dogs do it when they bring you a toy after they’ve had an “accident.” Even army generals do it when they want to disguise their retreat or find a devious way to win. And, according to Machiavelli, so do politicians.

That’s what is happening with the California Forward budget reform proposals introduced by Democrat legislative leaders - they are a distraction to facilitate deception.

Maybe we should call the proposal a diversion - a game or smokescreen - instead of reform. The real goal of this effort is to allow Democrats to raise taxes with a majority vote and eliminate the power Republicans have to stop their overspending.

The proposed “reforms” are riddled with loopholes that will render them useless, but the major hole in budget policy - the reduced vote count to raise taxes - will allow Democrats to carry on with their drunken spending barrier free--despite what voters have said they want in every poll taken since Proposition 13 was passed in 1978.

At a time when all state leaders should be focused on getting people back to work and cutting the amount of money government takes out of each Californian’s pocket, Democrats are doing nothing but distracting us from the real problem - a budget bulging with dysfunctional programs and unreasonable expenses.

Democrats have done nothing to address California’s fiscal problems. They have not reduced burdensome regulations on businesses to make it easier for the state’s employers to retain or hire more workers. They have not offered tax policy revisions that would make California more competitive with other states and countries in bringing to the state new businesses and jobs, both of which produce revenue.

All the Democrats have done is propose creating additional government jobs and funding extravagent programs with higher taxes.

Democrats did just one thing in the special budget session. They ended it without making even a surface scratch on the state’s deficit. Their budget ploy masqueraded as budget cuts, but really was just a diversion to hide their real agenda - raising taxes!

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Hyperbole Aside, California prisons simply don’t house that many invalid inmates

First the good news: J. Clark Kelso, the federally appointed prison receiver, wants to reduce prison health care costs.

And now the bad news: He wants to release upwards of 1,000 supposed invalid prisoners – many of whom might have committed such acts as rape, 2nd degree murder and other dangerous felonies. But does California really have a high level of invalid prisoners to warrant this legislation?

Probably not.

But painting the picture of one or two comatose inmates makes for good political theatre. Though it does not tell the real story, which is: We have some incapacitated inmates AND California already has a law that deals with this issue – on a case-by-case basis.

Therefore, the Kelso-sponsored legislation (including Sen. Mark Leno’s Senate Bill 1399) does nothing to address the problem of sky-high health care costs for California prisoners, which is currently $17,000 per prisoner per year!

(Other large states spend a fraction of that: New York spends $5,800. Florida spends $4,300. The federal government spends only $4,400. It may be the opinion of a liberal federal judge that California’s prison healthcare is inadequate, but these numbers contradict that belief).

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, the real savings can be found in reducing the overall cost of health care for ALL prisoners. I don’t believe that incarcerated felons should have better healthcare than law-abiding citizens of California. That’s why I in the past I have introduced the idea that California would not spend anymore of money on inmate’s health care than it does on Medi-Cal recipients.

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Donate Life

Donate Life California is a nonprofit Organ and Tissue Donor Registry dedicated to saving the lives of thousands of Californians awaiting life-saving transplants.

Established in 2004 after being authorized by law, the program is committed to giving every person waiting for a transplant a second chance at life.

The current waiting list for an organ transplant is approximately 21,000. Tragically, one third of them will die - waiting.

Visit this site to sign up for the Donate Life program.

Click here to watch a short video that deals with some common misconceptions about organ and tissue donation.