Ron Largent’s Gingerbread House Contest at Christmas Spectacular (edit/delete)

This was in the Record Searchlight web and paper today:

A Shasta County assessor-recorder candidate is splitting proceeds from a gingerbread house competition with a children’s charity and his campaign, a tactic his competitor says is misleading families by using their holiday goodwill to inadvertently bolster his political war chest.

“Gosh, that’s families, you know,” Leslie Morgan, the incumbent assessor-recorder, said Thursday of Ron Largent’s “Gingerbread Magic” competition at the Christmas Holiday Spectacular display at the Shasta District Fair grounds in Anderson. “It’s going to hit a whole different vein of life (outside the political arena) – you know, the whole ‘here we are sitting on Santa’s knee.’ “

But Largent, a longtime local real estate professional, says the unusual fundraising tactic is completely legal and anyone who participates in the gingerbread competition will know they’re giving to a political campaign.

They’ll also know that half of the cash generated will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Sacramento & Northeastern California, he said.

Documents

• Gingerbread Magic fundraiser flyer

He acknowledges that the tactic is unusual, but that’s one of the reasons it will be an effective fundraiser for both sick children and his campaign, he said.

Such creative thinking also is why he makes an appealing candidate, Largent said.

“I’m sick and tired of traditional thinking,” he said. “That’s why I’m getting involved.”

The gingerbread house competition has a $10 entry fee for individuals and a $25 fee for businesses or groups. The competition runs from today to Dec. 18. Winners will be announced Dec. 19.

Winners will be chosen based on votes at a ballot box at the fairgrounds, through votes on Largent’s campaign Web site, www.largent2010.com, and by “guest judges” who will be announced this weekend, said Terry Barnes, Largent’s campaign manager.

Largent said his campaign has gone out of its way to make sure everything is legal and disclosed, and a participant in the competition must first sign a form that spells out who’s getting their money.

Online entrants using Largent’s Web site must click a box saying they acknowledge they’re giving to his campaign.

“It’s very clearly stated,” he said.

Largent said he also checked with the Fair Political Practices Commission and got the all-clear on legal matters.

“This definitely is an unusual approach to fundraising,” said commission spokesman Roman Porter. “Unfortunately, court decisions don’t allow the FPPC to regulate the content of solicitations, only require that there’s certain disclosures.”

The campaign likewise got approval from Make-A-Wish to include the organization on promotional materials, under the condition that fliers clearly state the foundation isn’t supporting the campaign – just taking the money.

“We asked that the disclaimer be included so that it would be known that no endorsement of the candidate was being made,” said Melinda Carson, the executive director of the Sacramento-based charity, which provides trips or other gifts to sick children.

Morgan said she thought that she originally assumed using a charity as a way to get donors to give to a campaign was illegal because tax-exempt charities generally stay out of political fundraising.

It’s not illegal in this instance, said campaign ethics expert Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies and the FPPC’s former general counsel.

But Stern, who reviewed Largent’s fundraiser flier, said he thinks that “people are going to be very surprised” that by entering the holiday competition they’re also donating to a candidate.

“I’ve been doing this for about 40 years,” Stern said. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it.”

Additional details can be found at     www.largent2010.com

This is the question in Redding these days….so here is the latest on the City Council decisions from the Redding Record Searchlight…..

Redding will have to find room in its eviscerated general fund for $1 million more in higher pension costs through 2012.

The city devoted $9.4 million, or about 14 percent, of its general fund to pay for California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) pensions this year, said Steve Strong, finance director.

The general fund covers salaries and benefits for police, firefighters, planners, engineers, accountants, clerks and secretaries, among other workers.

The city has cut more than $13 million from its general fund since 2008 to bring spending in line with steeply declining tax and fee revenues spawned by the ongoing recession.

CalPERS rate increases will add $250,000 in pension costs to the general fund next year, Strong said.

Public safety pensions – the most generous and expensive of the several CalPERS formulae the city uses – account for most of that increase, Strong said.

Climbing pension rates are projected to cost the general fund $800,000 more in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Strong said. CalPERS actuaries will produce definite rates for 2012 next year.

City Manager Kurt Starman said the city has not identified any specific funds to cover the higher CalPERS rates.

A $250,000 cost increase is not huge in the context of the city’s $68 million general fund, Starman said. But the $800,000 increase projected for 2012 will be much harder to absorb, given the budget cuts the city has already made, he said.

“We will have to deal with that (the CalPERS rate increase) along with other issues that will change for good or bad over the next couple years,” Starman said. “Things change all the time. Unfortunately, over the last 18 months things have had a tendency to change for the bad.”

The steeper climb projected for the 2012 rates reflects the unprecedented investment losses CalPERS suffered in the 2008 financial meltdown, spokesman Ed Fong said.

CalPERS relies on the agencies contracting for retirement benefits – and ultimately the taxpayers – to keep its pensions whole when investments falter.

But instead of asking agencies to make up all of the 2008 losses in a single year, CalPERS will spread those losses over three years of rate increases, Fong said.

Those increases could be smaller than projected should CalPERS investments strongly recover over the next couple of years, Fong said.

CalPERS rates for Redding police and firefighters will climb from 29.483 percent of base salary this year to 30.229 percent next year and to a projected 32.1 percent in 2011-2012, said Strong, the finance director.

The city also pays the required 9 percent employee contribution for its police officers and firefighters. So public safety pensions in 2012 will actually cost 41.1 percent of an employee’s base salary.

Those are some of the highest CalPERS public safety rates for the city on records dating back to the early 1970s, documents show.

But the projected 2012 rates are still short of the 2005 peak, when public safety pensions cost the city 45.5 percent of an employee’s base salary, including the employee contribution pickup.

On the other hand, CalPERS rates (excluding the employee pickup) for public safety were zero from 1999 to 2002, when Redding approved the more generous 3 percent at 50 formula. Pension rates also shot up around that time as CalPERS investments took a hit after the dot-com crash.

CalPERS rates for Redding’s non-public safety workers will go from 13.491 percent this year to 13.794 percent next year, Strong said. CalPERS rates for non-pubic safety or so-called miscellaneous workers will go to a projected 15.4 percent in 2012.

These rates for miscellaneous employees are the highest Redding has faced since the mid-1980s, documents show. But they are short of the 1980 peak, when miscellaneous rates hit 18.523 percent.

Redding also picks up the 7 percent employee contribution for miscellaneous workers. That means the city’s pension payments next year really will be 20.794 percent of a miscellaneous worker’s base salary.

Redding started picking up the employee share of CalPERS in the early 1980s, when the city and its employees stopped paying into Social Security.

The city and its unions negotiated the CalPERS contribution pickups in exchange for larger raises over the years, documents show.

A narrow City Council majority earlier this fall voted to explore the idea of asking voters to pass a ballot measure requiring city workers to pay all or most of their employee pension contribution.

The ballot measure could go before voters in June, should the council give final approval.

But city officials may defer to a statewide measure that would limit benefits for new employees and require them to pay at least a portion of their pension contributions

More info can be seen at   www.redding.com

2009 Christmas at the Cascade – A Review

 The Cascade Christmas Show, the 6^th annual production by James Santos’ Redding Dance Project exceeded all of our expectations. This show was, again, outstanding in every respect. If you have not seen the show this year, you still have this next weekend, and if you have never seen a Redding Dance Project Christmas presentation, you are in for a great holiday treat.

To name the highlights, start with the entire cast. Precision dancing and creative choreography is seen in every one of the fourteen (14) scenes. The full company routines are exciting, fast paced, and beautifully presented, with costuming, under the superb leadership of Cindy Sumsion, surpassing all that one might ever expect to see on Broadway, or even Las Vegas. The strong women’s group dance presentations are full of energy, and the final “kick” number reminds you of the famous Rockettes, and their world-renown Christmas shows in New York City.

This year, James has introduced a large Toyland segment, and with the addition of the very accomplished Student Cast, both young and old in the full house audience were so impressed with the various children’s characters that this scene became one of the favorite offerings. From the opening Christmastime in the City to the concluding A Victorian Christmas and The Nativity, this 2009 presentation could fit right in to any show running in Las Vegas, Branson, or even off-Broadway. This is Redding area talent at its best.

Shows like Cascade Christmas just “do not happen”. Thanks to the many dance schools, each of the area high schools and their strong music and theater arts programs, and the seemingly endless hours of preparation, rehearsals, and  behind-the-scenes efforts to make the scenes a reality,  Cascade Christmas is  becoming “the Christmas tradition” for Redding and the North State. This show, in the magnificent Cascade Theater in downtown Redding, is a truly outstanding presentation. You still have time to get tickets, but they are going fast. You do not want to miss this show, and thanks, James, for making this happen. You can get tickets and info at   www.cascadetheater.org

Ron Largent

November 30, 2009

Earlier this evening, I spoke to the American Legion Post in Shasta Lake, CA on property taxes, the current real estate market, and what they can do to be heard in the year to come. It was a very enlightening meeting with good questions, and, although I know the history of the Legion, I thought it might be of interest to give some “background” on the Legion and how and why it was formed. Here is some info:

The Legion is an organization of U.S. war veterans. It was founded in Paris on March 15–17, 1919, by delegates from combat and service units of the American Expeditionary Force. A national charter was granted to it by the U.S. Congress on September 16, 1919; the charter was later amended to admit veterans ofWorld War II (1942), the Korean War (1950), the Vietnam War (1966), the Lebanon, Grenada, and Panama hostilities (1990), and Operation Desert Shield/Storm (1991). Nonpolitical and nonsectarian, the American Legion’s membership requirement is honourable service and an honourable discharge. Its annual conventions are among the largest volunteer group meetings in the United States. The national headquarters are in Indianapolis, Indiana.

One of the Legion’s major concerns has always been care of disabled and sick veterans; it was instrumental in establishing hospitals and other services forWorld War I veterans, services that have been expanded to meet the needs of veterans of later wars. It champions compensation and pensions for the disabled and for widows and orphans. The Legion successfully sponsored the creation of the U.S. Veterans Administration in 1930. In 1944 it played an important role in the enactment of the GI Bill of Rights for World War II veterans, and later in supporting similar legislation for Korean War veterans. These measures afforded college or vocational training to more than 10,500,000 veterans and enabled more than 5,600,000 veterans to purchase homes under the loan provisions of the act.

The Legion’s Americanism and youth programs include projects in which young people are given practical instruction in the functions of democratic government. It also sponsors thousands of Boy Scout troops and junior baseball teams. At the turn of the 21st century the total membership of the Legion was about 3,000,000 enrolled in 15,000 local posts, or groups.

Hats off to the many vets that are members of the Legion….you have made a difference in our lives in the past, and you will continue to do so in the future. Thanks to all Legionaires.

Ron Largent

Candidate for Shasta County Assessor-Recorder in 2010.

The Relay will be in Redding this coming Saturday at the Win River Casino Event Center from 9 AM to 2 PM. Here is info on the event from the www.reddingteaparty.com  web page.

Farmer Relief & Freedom Relay to partner with Saving the Valley that Hope Forgot – A Tea Party Patriots™ relief relay across the nation to assist the farmers of California’s Central Valley

In actions that can only be described as lacking the most basic humanity, the U.S. Congress has turned off the water to Central Valley farmers, leaving their land dry, their fields fallow, and their dreams and ambitions scattered in the dust. Tens of thousands are unemployed and waiting in food lines because of the federal government, proving once again that the government is the problem, not the solution.

In the Central Valley of California, local groups including the Central Valley Tea Party, Water for All, Families Protecting the Valley, and local valley farmers have banded together to provide immediate and direct assistance to the suffering communities. The Central Valley Tea Party naturally reached out to their nationwide network through the Tea Party Patriots™, and across the nation the response was overwhelmingly positive. From this nationwide web, the Farmer Relief & Freedom Relay was formed.

Mission:
Tea Party Patriots™ from across the nation are organizing three relief lines from east to west, and driving across the country with food, clothing, gift cards and other donations to assist the farmers who have been forsaken by their own government in what has become California’s Katrina. Along the way we will pressure the U.S. Congress to pass the necessary legislation immediately to turn on the water, and keep it on. And we will bring attention to the economic devastation, and personal hardship caused by thirty years of mismanagement and tyranny at the federal, state and local levels.

Note: The relay ends in Fresno on November 22, 2009 at 2:00 pm at the Fresno Fairgrounds. The organizers in the Central Valley have extended an invitation to all of us in the state to come out and welcome the caravan of cars into Fresno on that date and to see the devastation for yourself. We have people coming in from Florida, Texas, Maine, Georgia and several other states. It will be a fun day and a memorable one to see all of these Americans coming together in our state to help!! I can’t think of a better way to spend a day so please come if you can and be a part of history! If you want to donate to the foundation that has been set up to help our farmers, please go to, www.savingthevalley.org

As a Board member of Shasta Voices, I wanted to share the November Newsletter from Mary Machado, our director, as it really reflects the attitude of the Board, and the 800 member organization in general.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving season, Shasta VOICES would like to take this opportunity to say “thank you” to the people and events that helped us all get through another rough economic year in our community.

Thanks go out to the City Council members from Anderson and Redding, and the Shasta County Supervisors who finally killed the “Fix 5/SCRIP” proposed impact fees in April. After considering all sides of the issue, they just said no to the idea that local new homebuyers should foot the bill for adding a lane in each direction on I-5.  As suggested by Shasta VOICES from the beginning, the federal government has agreed that this is, in fact, their responsibility.  Federal funding is now being sought for this project. 

Redding City Manager Kurt Starman deserves a round of applause for proposing a commercial construction incentive program that helps provide flexible cash flow and a financing option by deferring impact fee payments.  This was approved by the City Council in April.

A special thank you to Redding City Manager Kurt Starman, Shasta County CAO Larry Lees, public employee union representatives Chris Darker and Steve Allen for their support and participation in the Shasta VOICES “Privatization of Public Services Study” which was completed in August, and the “Public Pension Forum”  held on September 24th.  Their input has been and will continue to be invaluable going forward.

Thanks also go out to our Shasta County Regional Transportation Agency, together with all its jurisdictions, for aggressively pursuing any and all Obama Stimulus funds (called ARRA funds) available to our community.  Approximately $25 million has been received so far for transportation related projects, with more pending approval. 

Other ARRA funds totaling about $3.3 million have also been received in the area for “workforce services” and “weatherization” based on the combined efforts of the Shasta Builders Exchange, The SMART center, and Shasta College.

Everyone who drives Bechelli Lane is very appreciative of the recent repaving and other improvements made to the road from Cypress Avenue to Bonneyview Road.  During this great recession, it’s reassuring to know that the City of Redding is willing and able to maintain its streets.

Thank you to the Redding firefighters who have made wage and benefit concessions that not only offer real money savings in these dire times, but demonstrate the leadership necessary to actually put public safety first.

Lastly, thank you to all the supporters of Shasta VOICES.   We are making a positive difference to the economic opportunity in the community because of you.  We are looking forward to another successful year in 2010.  Happy Thanksgiving!

This came to me from  www.savecalifornia.com  and presents an interesting view of the water and dam situation in California.

The California Legislature and Governor Arnold Schwarzegger have approved a convoluted “water deal” that is supposed to quench the thirst of California individuals, farmers and local governments.

Yet beyond the hype, this water deal — which goes to the voters on the November 2010 ballot — will not build more dams and doesn’t fix California’s worsening water crisis. At its core, the water deal is fiscally irresponsible. It would mean more bureaucracy and more government ownership of land. It would actually remove existing dams without providing guarantees to build new ones. It gives $6.4 BILLION in our taxpayer dollars to liberal environmentalists’ projects. And it raises the price of water on us all, taxing us for overuse.

Sacramento’s bad water deal will raise your rates if you have a yard or children. Regular users will suffer, the government will control more land, and the environmental wackos will control more government. Why don’t we have enough water? It because, under pressure from utopia-seeking environmentalist groups, the liberal Democrats who run the California Legislature and our liberal Republican governor refuse to build more dams to store water year-round.

Having water throughout the year requires storage during the dry months. Yet California hasn’t built a new dam since 1968, despite the population doubling since that time. What’s in the new water plan you get to vote on next year? Pork for the same environmental groups that oppose new dams!

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin says she’s back on Twitter. 

Palin took to the social networking site earlier this year, tweeting about state government, national politics, and everything in between. When she quit as Alaska’s governor in July, she promised to keep her fans updated through tweets. But that didn’t happen, and Palin instead posted regular updates on her Facebook page, which has nearly 1 million followers. In a Facebook posting Monday announcing more dates on her book tour, Palin said she’ll provide Twitter updates from the tour. Her Twitter feed is SarahPalinUSA. 

Her book, “Going Rogue,” will be published Nov. 17. Her tour starts the next day in Grand Rapids, Mich. There are 13 stops planned before Thanksgiving, including three Florida visits Nov. 24 in Jacksonville, The Villages, and Orlando.

So, if you are a “twitterer” on Twitter…check this out. It will be interesting to see how many followers she has, and gets, on Twitter. If you are not a Twitter…check Sarah out at Facebook. Social networking is just incredible.

As we celebrate Veteran’s Day 2009, I looked up a definition, and here is what I came up with:

First, one would think that the  question would be an easy one to answer. In the millions of laws passed over two centuries by Congress, you would think that at least one of them would define the term “military veteran.”

Most dictionaries define “veteran” as (1) A person who has served in the armed forces, or (2) An old soldier who has seen long service.

Using the dictionary definition, one would be a military veteran with just one day of military service, even with a dishonorable discharge.

I like the following definition, which was once penned by an unknown author:

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his/her life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America,” for an amount of “up to and including my life.”

In actuality, there is no standardized legal definition of “military veteran” in the United States. You see, veteran benefits weren’t created all at one time. They’ve been added one-by-one for over 200 years by Congress. Each time Congress passed a new law authorizing and creating a new veteran benefit, they included eligibility requirements for that particular benefit. Whether or not one is considered a “veteran” by the federal government depends entirely upon which veteran program or benefit one is applying for.

Well, bottom line for me is “a  military veteran served his or her country in a military organization”, and I will leave it at that. Starting last Saturday at the Veteran’s Parade in Shasta Lake City, CA….about 100 entrants showed up to parade in front of thousands, and all were extremely well received. Then on Sunday, the Shasta County Republican Party hosted the Annual Honor our Veterans Dinner, and 300 were there to celebrate Veterans and what they have done to keep our country free. Monday night, the Redding Tea Party paid tribute to Vets, and the Liberty High School of Redding sang patriotic songs…an inspiring evening for all. On Wednesday, November 11, at the new Veterans Cemetary in western Shasta County, a county-wide ceremony will be conducted with a Air Force flyover. At 2 PM, Shasta College will dedicate a Veterans Grove at the Redding campus, with the Student Body honoring Veterans. As a veteran from the Vietnam era, I am proud to call myself an Air Force veteran, and to all that have served, I say “Thanks…..you deserve every tribute that proud Americans can give”. We are all proud to be an American.

A few weeks ago, I was invited, in that I am a candidate for the Shasta County Assessor-Recorder in 2010, to take a look at the Hatchet Mountain Wind Project located on Hatchet Mountain just 7 miles west of Burney in Eastern Shasta County.  Hat Creek Construction Company, a huge construction company in Burney and one of the largest in the North State, and a key player in the entire project, was just starting ground work on the project, so my timing was good.

My briefing was almost mind-boggling, when the long range economic impact and the obvious huge source of alternative energy was explained, for although I had heard of the project, I had no idea of the overall effect to the entire north state of this project.  

California’s Pattern Energy Group LP (Pattern) had closed financing and begun construction of its  Hatchet Ridge wind project, the first large-scale wind project to begin construction this year in California. 

The project, developed by Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. (RES Americas), is located on a portion of Hatchet Mountain and  is expected to reach commercial operation before the end of 2010.

Here are some of the numbers that go with the project. Hatchet Ridge will generate power equivalent to the amount of energy needed to serve nearly 44,000 California homes annually. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) will purchase the power, including the renewable attributes, under a 15-year power purchase agreement.

In addition to providing clean, renewable energy for Californians, Hatchet Ridge will create approximately 100-200 construction jobs over the next year and six to eight permanent jobs during operations. There will also be an economic ripple effect in the area from the purchases of goods and services for the wind farm and increased business for service industries.

From an income from the projct point of view, Hatchet Ridge will invest $5 million in the local community over the life of the project through the Shasta County General Fund, the Shasta Regional Community Foundation, and the Burney Foundation Regional Education Fund as well as by paying substantial local taxes. A huge win-win for all.

Pattern selected a unique six-bank club to provide a debt facility to fund the project costs during construction, which converts to a term financing facility upon commercial operation. The lenders include Natixis, UBOC, LBBW, Calyon, SocGen and WestLB, all major international firms, needed for a project of this size.

RES America Construction, Inc. will construct the project, which will consist of 44 Siemens 2.3 MW turbines. The Siemens SWT-2.3-93 wind turbine is a proven technology with more than 2,000 operating worldwide and is well-regarded throughout the industry. This will be one of their major projects both in California and the nation.

I read the following from the CEO of the major company making the project happen, and it kind of says it all:

“We are pleased to close financing and commence construction on the Hatchet Ridge Wind Farm. We are very excited about starting construction of our first project only four months after forming Pattern Energy,” said Mike Garland, CEO of Pattern Energy. “This project is the result of years of dedication and collaboration with RES Americas, Siemens, PG&E, local government, project property-owners, and the community. We are very appreciative for the local support we received that helped make this project a reality.”

No question, the project is impressive. The Shasta Couny Planning Commission recommended approval in October 2008, and after many months of study, with both proponents and opponents represented, the project moved forward. In many respects, with this project being one of the largest economic development projects in the history of Shasta County, this renewable energy project may literally be “the wave of the future”, in the form of wind. To all that have been part of this project, congratulations…and economic benefit to the people of Shasta County will be long-lasting.