Contributor

John Campbell

John Campbell (R-Irvine) is an Assemblyman representing the 70th District in Orange County. Mr. Campbell is the Vice-Chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee. He is the only CPA in the California State legislature and recently received a national award as Freshman Republican Legislator of the Year. He represents the cities of Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Irvine, Costa Mesa, Tustin, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Woods and Lake Forest. He can be reached through his Assembly website and through the website for his California Senate campaign. [go to Campbell index]

Protests and Budgets
Illegals voting, illegals driving and working for a balanced budget
[John Campbell] 12/15/03

Non-Citizens Voting: On the heels of the repeal of the particularly bad and unpopular non-citizen's drivers' license bill, comes a new proposal from the institute of Chicano studies at UCLA to allow non-citizens to vote. To do otherwise, they allege, would, of course, be racist. Have they gone completely nuts? They want to allow people who have pledged allegiance to another country to determine who runs our country? Bring over a boatload of Libyans and let them vote? And this from UCLA which last year would not allow Laura Bush to speak because of her extreme views. Of course, the First Lady's husband was actually elected by the vote of citizens. And our state tax dollars are supporting this kind of near-treasonist drivel.......not if I can help it.

Protests: As I left the state capitol this afternoon there was a protest march going on near the North lawn as is often the case. This was a protest against the repeal of the driver's licenses for non-citizens bill. The most interesting part, however, was that many of these protesters were waving Mexican flags and none were waving American flags. Now I do not have a problem with a person's pride in their own country or the country of their birth. I do have a problem, however, with coming to an American seat of government to demand that this country provide you with benefits when you are not a citizen and doing it under the flag of another country. These protesters are way out of bounds here.

Bonds and Balanced Budgets: As you probably know by now, Democrats in the legislature made a deal with the Governor to put a $15 Billion deficit bond on the March ballot. This is tied to a provision requiring a balanced budget and setting up a "sinking fund" to pay the bond of early. What it absolutely is not, is a spending limit of any sort. It also would not have prevented the deficits of the last 5 years, had it been in effect for 1998. The provisions of the balanced budget agreement are not bad, they simply will not be effective in restraining spending. Therefore I voted against the bond issue.

As many of you reading these e-mails over the years know, a real "never again" spending limit has been my top policy priority. Because of this budget deal, we will not get a spending limit on the March ballot. But sweeping proposals like a spending limit often take years to achieve political success. Be assured that I will continue to work to make a real spending limit a reality, no matter how long it takes. We must eventually get the assurance that a future (God forbid) group of Davis Democrats in the Governor's office and the legislature will not be able to do this to us again.

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