by Steve Thompson Chairman BCRP
Dear Friends,
As some of you know, yesterday the California Republican Party held an executive committee meeting to discuss our partys stand on the propositions in the upcoming special election.
As you may also have heard, our committee voted to take a stand against all of the propositions. As I am not only your local chairman of the Butte County Republican Party, but also a member of the executive committee, I feel it is important for you to know about this.
First and foremost, our opposition to Proposition 1A was our primary concern. Proposition 1A started with a good idea, placing a spending cap on the state Legislature, but was ruined with the poison pill of tying further tax increases to it.
Let me make it absolutely clear. The Republican Party DOES NOT support tax increases. Tax increases do not raise revenue for our government. They scare businesses out of our state, they kill jobs, they make it harder for working families to make ends meet, but they do not increase revenues. Tax increases fail because they discourage the very behavior that creates tax revenue for our state. Its actually a simple concept. When the price of something goes up, you tend to buy less of it. When people spend less money, our state raises less revenues. Tax increases never work.
It is true that there are Republican legislators who do not always represent the will of our party. Because of these few there are those who will try to portray our party with a broad brush and call us hypocrites or worse. I would encourage all of you to never let our critics get you down. Taking a stand for what is right is always right, no matter what the mistakes of the past or who disagrees. Tax increases never work, and the liberals who support tax increases are dead wrong.
In Northern California we are represented by legislators who did listen to their constituencies. Senator Sam Aanestad, Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, and Assemblyman Dan Logue all voted against the recent tax increases in our state budget. They deserve our appreciation for taking that stand.
I also recognize that Proposition 1A was not the only item to be voted on in the special election. Some of the propositions presented worthy ideas and deserve their own debate, especially Proposition 1F. However, those of us in the executive committee felt it was important to have a clear message and decided that NO on everything was the best course of action.
There is also another reason for the NO on everything decision. Many of us who serve on the committee are also county party chairs from around the state. Many of us attended the recent tea parties in our respective counties. Thousands attended the parties across the state and nation. The overwhelming message we heard from the crowds at these parties was that they are sick and tired of business as usual in Sacramento and Washington D.C. The overwhelming message we heard was NO on ALL of the propositions.
I believe it is about time the Republican Party started to reflect the will of the voters it represents. It is time for the CRP to start standing with all of the voters who the democrat party has ignored for so long. The democrat party is taking California, and our nation, to the brink of economic destruction. Now more than ever the Republican Party must stand for something besides being the slightly disloyal opposition. Our party was born of conservative principles, and on those conservative principles we will prevail.
Steve Thompson, Chairman
Butte County Republican Party