Few people know what “cryptid” means, but everyone has heard of a cryptid: Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Mothman. We should include in that list the Sacramento subspecies of another mythical creature: the moderate or “business” Democrat.
The business Democrat is largely the embodiment of wish-fulfillment, mainly by a business community dispirited by existence in anti-business state dominated by Democratic super-majorities that are hostile to free enterprise.
Although evidence contradicting the existence of the Sacramento business Democrat is overwhelming, it is regularly cancelled out by the desire for such creatures to exist – a desire cynically manipulated by Democrat candidates who tell business interests what they want to hear in order to secure support.
Orange County’s Democratic legislators go to great pains to paint themselves a pro-business.
The end of session legislative scramble is churning up yet more evidence that when the chips are down, these self-designated “moderates” vote Left.
Example: SB 799, which makes striking workers eligible for unemployment benefits. This is the brainchild of California Labor Federation boss Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher. The backdrop is ongoing strikes by hospitality and entertainment unions are straining the finances of those unions, so they want to conscript taxpayers finance their strike battles.
EDITORIAL: Union Bosses Want to Turn Unemployment Insurance Into A Taxpayer-Funded Strike Fund. How Will OC Legislators Vote?
Unemployment insurance’s “intent is partly to compensate a worker for loss of wages while unemployed” and is funded by taxes on employers. Strikers are not unemployed. What SB 799 does is transforms the practically bankrupt unemployment insurance trust fund into a taxpayer-funded strike fund. It literally forces employers to subsidize union strikes against employers. It is the definition of anti-business legislation.
Not a single OC Democrat voted against SB 799. Here’s roll call of yesterday’s Assembly vote:
Assemblymembers Sharon Quirk-Silva and Avelino Valencia voted to turn the purpose of unemployment insurance on its heads and turn it into a strike fund. Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris – who never misses an opportunity to present herself as a support of business – could have voted “no” but chose to duck the vote altogether. A profile in courage.
The state’s landmark taxpayer protection law, Proposition 13, is a perennial target for dismantling by progressives. “Business” Democrats strive to distinguish themselves from the left-wing co-partisans by promising business interests that they will not tamper with Prop. 13 protections.
This month, the acid test of the pledges came in the form of votes on two state constitutional amendments designed to substantially weaken Proposition 13. These are ACA 1 and ACA 13.
ACA 1 lowers the voter approval threshold for local government bonds and special taxes from the current two-thirds to just 55%. As Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and Sara Catalan of the OC Taxpayers Association pointed out in a recent op-ed:
“There is no limit to the range of special taxes that would be authorized under ACA 1: local sales taxes, parcel taxes (special property tax levies not limited to Prop 13’s 1% limit), real estate transfer taxes, and many more.”
“Even worse ACA 1 lowers the two-thirds vote for local bonds repaid only by property owners. That two-thirds vote requirement has existed since 1879! For more than 140 years, it has been a check against excessive property taxes and bonded indebtedness that creates a lien on real property.”
Sharon Quirk-Silva voted “yes” on this direct assault on taxpayers, while Cottie Petrie-Norris and Avelino Valencia ducked voting. This is especially galling from Petrie-Norris, who first campaigned for the Assembly as a champion of Prop. 13 and received an award a couple of years ago from the OC Taxpayers Association (maybe they should request it back). Senator Tom Umberg also voted in favor of ACA 1.
Ironically, only OC Democrat to oppose ACA 1 was certifiable progressive Sen. Dave Min:
The other prong in the current attack on Prop. 13 is ACA 13, which specifically worded to prevent passage of a constitutional amendment on the November 2024 called the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act, which repair various erosions of Proposition 13’s taxpayer protections that have occurred over the years.
ACA 13 is a masterwork of Orwellian doublespeak. While proclaiming its intent “majority vote requirement to pass statewide initiative statutes and referenda” it would require a two-thirds supermajority for passage of the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act.
OC Senators Tom Umberg and Dave Min voted for ACA 13, as did “moderate Democrat Assemblymembers Avelino Valencia and Cottie Petrie-Norris. Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, to her credit, voted “no.”
The combined effect of these two measures is to make it easier to raise taxes while making it harder for voters to protect themselves from tax increases.
