As to the first question: Craig agreed to disclose Eye on Sacramento's funding in our conversation, and I will follow-up with him. He indicated that it is largely self-funded.

So how do our state wide officers and legislature members compare with our locals regarding amounts of money coming in by "behest"?

http://www.fppc.ca.gov/index.php?id=499

CA statewide senators, 2012...total so far $978,478 Dollars....You know, people like Darrel, Blakeslee, Yee etc.

Outside of the Governor......Republican Seantor Sam Blakeslee's single charitable "behest" payment from the California Reform Institute of $750,000 Dollars for a C3 chairtable reform think tank.....is the only thing remotely similar to what the mayor has done. At least Blakeslee's report was filed on time.....remembering Heistand's quote...."only what the law requires"...or something like that.

So doesn't the law require that behest payments at the local level be filed within 30 days of the payment being rec'd?

So Cosmo, prodded by your challenge to dig deeper if one felt like it,
Here are some quick facts, based on filings on-line for behest payments to the Sacramento Public Policy Foundation...

2010
$67,500 Dollars reported yet $231,500 actually came in that calendar year, $164,000 was not filed until calendar years 2011

2011
$344,000 Dollars reported of which $164,000 should have been reported in 2010 and an additional $383,000 should have been reported in 2011 but was not, until 2012. The corrected adjusted amount for 2011 should be 563,000

2012
923,223 Dollars reported so far.....however $383,000 should have been reported in 2011, and it's more than just "Kings" money.

When you take into account the 30 day filing period requirement, the situations even worse in the last two years.

So when Hiltachk's office was the mayor's book keeper in 2008-2009 and Kevin rec'd "behest" payments totaling $110,000 dollars for his mayoral election celebration party....at least they managed to file the reports on time....even though nobody apparently noticed. Didn't some wise guys have something else going on then? Oh Right, that unconstitutional Power Grab.... seems to me, I recall a rolling out of that power grab initiative at that very "party".

No candidate for this particular assembly seat has ever won without the support of the Sacramento County Democratic Party's Central Committee. Ashby will never receive that endorsement. The seat will go to McCarty.

Or "Corporate Burglary". Usually not discovered until after the fact, or in this case way after the fact.

But its a-okay for unions and their city council pawns to push through a sales tax initiative? Because of course the unions are only focused on the greater good over their own self interest.

If not Craig, then who? If we have to pick sides, I guess I'd rather be on the side of the outspoken small businessman. The fact that he has put his money where his mouth is and invested in property in this city is a credit to his message, not a detraction.

Your alternative is hand your wallet over to the unions to protect the bloated pensions for the select few

Look, Craig is to the right of me too. But (IMO) he's the kind of conservative we really need more of: the kind who wants government to be more accountable for what it does with its money before asking for more. And seriously, as progressives (i.e., people who believe in government) shouldn't we be asking many of the same questions he is? In a different tone sure and with a different goal in mind sure but the same questions nonetheless.

I mean look.. what is wrong with government providing...... Services?

Hey, fair enough question. I too can understand the attraction of the Scandanavian model of progressive public policy. They pay high taxes, but they also get a high level of service. Government service attracts the best and the brightest and there is certain institutional austerity in the use of the peoples resources.

However that is not our situation here. Here local government is first and foremost a vehicle to deliver benefits and job security far in excess of what is the norm for the community. Austerity is a dirty word, as evidenced by the 7 years and counting of budget drama, beginning well ahead of the 2007 economic crisis that is often blamed.

When the institution can't be fixed, then a logical response is to limit the institution to just the core services that can't practically be delivered any other way, and hold the remaining core services to high degree of accountability. That is where I am at, and I suspect Craig is too.