Opinion

When you have something as important as this CaHSRA Meeting Agenda Item No. 3, we would be better off giving months' advance notice to the public, putting the whole proposal through some legal procedure like the creation of regulations in the Administrative Procedures Act, where proposals get months and months for review and analysis. Instead, we have unelected, unaccountable (not subject to voter recall) joint power authorities making these public-sector, taxpayers-can-pay-for-it proposals. The Brown Act is the wrong standard for prudent consideration of public policy decisions. They are getting away with murder of the taxpayers by merely "complying" (sometimes yes, sometimes no) with the Brown Act's brief requirements.

The Bush Tax Cuts will expire at the end of this year. The lowest tax bracket will increase 50%, from 10% to 15% of taxable income. The top tax bracket will increase only 13%, from 35% to 39.6% of taxable income.

My wife and I attended the candidates night at the Aromas Grange and were not impressed with Art Medina. Mr. Medina said he decided to run for supervisor “at the last minute.” This bothered us as the supervisors’ position is not one you just step into as the learning curve is too steep, particularly now. For a candidate expressing a need for transparency in government, his answers to questions involved “political speak,” were vague in nature, and some were filled with innuendo rather than facts. For instance, he said he “knows someone in the position to know” that there are several large developments ready to be started. He mentioned one that is on board and a couple that have been stalled, or stopped, for years. One project he mentioned is not on anyone’s radar and is probably nonexistent. Transparency?

On May 18, Cheryl Busch, who shot and killed her 19-month-old daughter Donna in November 2008, received a sentence of 25 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder. It seemed about right. In any case, the crime did not qualify for the death penalty under California law according to District Attorney Candice Hooper. As I read that senseless law, if Busch had poisoned her daughter or shot her from a motor vehicle instead, she could have been charged with capital murder. I’d bet most people never heard of some of the death penalty provisions – no one can explain them.