Paul Cook is speaking the truth when he says he knows about government waste.  From his perspective he has had an insiders view for quite some time.  The only problem being, is that he has been the facilitator of the waste.  During his tenure in the state assembly he was the author of many bills.  One in particular, AB 2419,entered into record on August  16, 2010.  Assemblyman Cook thought it a good idea to remove the apostrophe in the “Contractors’ State License Law.”   It garnered the ire of Governor Schwarzenegger in his veto message; To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning AB 2419 without my signature …

-Number of legislative committees that took time hearing this bill: 3

-Number of pages in this bill needed to remove an apostrophe: 184

-Taxpayer dollars used to pass this bill through the Legislature: $ thousands and thousands.

-The outrage the public should have that the Legislature is spending its time “working” on bills like this instead of focusing on California’s real problems: PRICELESS.

(snip)

The author of the punctuation legislation, Republican Assemblyman Paul Cook, was not amused with Schwarzenegger’s note.

“He was certainly disappointed that the governor chose to veto the measure and in particular with the tone of his veto message,” said Sam Cannon, Cook’s chief of staff.  I too am a fan of proper grammar/punctuation, but not at the expense of my tax dollars, enough of them are already wasted in the educational system, yet we are still not achieving the grammatical excellence our legislature demands.  The irony that I see as priceless, the most liberal republican governor chastising a liberal republican assemblyman for wasting time, money and paper.

Now move forward to June of last year and AB 723. Here in California we face some of the highest electric rates in the nation.  There are those who believe the answer lies in developing alternative sources to the fossil fuels we currently use, renewable and green are some of the buzz-words we often hear used.  Who should pay for the research into these unproven technologies? Who will profit should they prove successful? Apparently,  Assemblyman Cook, siding with the democrats, thinks the tax payers should fund this research through higher rates and taxes.  It is obvious to me, that Assemblyman Cook is not on the side of the tax paying utility consumer.  It also appears he has missed the very spirit of the Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, commonly called “the general welfare clause” which simply states that no taxes shall be used to benefit a person, a group, or any industry, but shall only be spent when it benefits everyone equally.  Assemblyman Cook must not have ever read the story of Davy Crockett meeting Horatio Bunce and his “Lesson in Common Sense.” There is no equal benefit to be had here. We the tax payers will pay for research and development of technology that will provide our electricity at a lower price to produce, yet we will still pay the same or higher rates. The absurdity is over shadowed by the blatant disregard for the people. Is this our representative watching out for his constituents?  or paying back his contributors?  Is this the type of cronyism we can expect to see on the national level if he is elected to Congress?  We cannot afford to send Paul Cook to Congress, the only ones who can afford him are the special interests, high-dollar socialist contributors, lobbyists and task-masters he has been serving at the state level.  We need to break the cycle of  sending politicians to office and elect citizen representatives/statesmen.  Only then, will we the people  be safe and protected in our life, liberty and property.

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