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The Middle Ground on Face Coverings

Face coverings has been a contentious issue in our nation in dealing with the Covid-19 situation. One side believes that by covering ourselves up we will help prevent infection, while others are saying that face coverings are a threat to personal liberty.

Just because infections increased a day after the decision of San Bernardino County in late April does not mean we need to immediately go to a Los Angeles County type policy where you must have a face covering 24/7 except for driving your car when you are out of your home, but there should be a time and a place for face coverings. Exercising with a face covering is stupid because it inhibits your breathing, working a manual labor job with face coverings can also do the same thing. Perhaps quotas in warehouses could be reduced slightly to compensate for the wearing of face coverings if employer or state/county government mandates them.

Judge Georgia’s re-opening or San Bernardino County’s change of policy three or four weeks after before making a rash judgement.

There should be a time and a place for the utilization of face coverings. If you are working in a space shared with other people such as a cashier at a retail store, getting a haircut, or you might be under the weather wear one.

Also, there needs to be protection against discrimination against the disabled. Expecting a severely autistic person to wear a facemask is an absurd prospect due to sensory issues. A Wal-Mart in Riverside also faced negative backlash on this issue recently when they turned away a customer with a disabled adult child.

Simply tossing your coverings due to guidelines from San Bernardino and Riverside County is not a good idea, but we should be tactful in how we interact with society.

Labor Abuses Need to End with Changes to Law

I have had a weird experience with my former employer who flouted so many labor law regulations during my tenure before I was laid off in her process to relocate to Texas where the land is affordable, and the labor regulations are paper thin.

One of the issues is dealing with the policy where you need to clock out to get a drink of water or use the restroom from my former employer. This issue was one that was not part of my state complaint because I did not see any regulations in state law, but I realized that there was relevance in federal regulations in the Fair Labor Standards Act where breaks under 20 minutes are covered.

There is a case that was dealt with in 2017 called Acosta versus American Future Systems which had a similar situation where they allowed for unpaid “flex time” for employees to use the restroom, get a drink of water or have a smoke. If an employee is abusing the regulations of the FLSA where restroom breaks that should take three minutes end up being sixteen minutes or the water breaks are too frequent then an employer should discipline or terminate the employee instead of denying the lost time that the employee is clocking out for. The case made it where policies American Future Systems used were illegal contrary to FLSA rules.

The tragedy was that our Surpreme Court of the United States denied the request to hear this case nationwide in May of 2018, but they let the decision stand for the local circuit.

I appreciate employers who allow for reasonable restroom breaks once or twice a day separate from the paid breaks California requires, but not all employers are sensible creatures. This leads to the case of the need for regulation.

I am thinking that the Department of Labor blew me off because I am not a resident of the states that are part of the third judicial circuit where the decision is moot where I live. However, I do not have the money to bring a case all the way to the ninth circuit. So, I am looking for one of our Democratic Party members of congress in California to carry a bill to codify the decision from the third circuit nationwide.

City of Ontario Tax Increase 2020

It seems that due to my frequent voting, I am one of the first to find out if local agencies want to raise taxes. I am here to sound the alarm that my city of Ontario wants to raise the sales tax another half cent. The irony is we are blessed with industry and we are not exactly built out like our neighboring cities that may have a pressing need for the tax increase.

I understand the city wants to improve features such as our library system but is the issue of improving the library system seems to be a sweetener to increase our sales tax rate in perception. Taxpayers have been abused statewide where it leads to skepticism to trust the elected leaders from our state leaders down to our city council that new tax revenues will be spent responsibly before they come knocking for more money.

Republican Reconstruction Time Again

We are in the cellar more worse than the 2018 Baltimore Orioles and we need to get back to a slightly more marginal team for the next cycle in the California Republican Party.

The first goal is a vision. Without a vision there is no mission for us. We need to tell people why they should choose us over the governing state Democratic Party. What better ideas could we provide to solve the pain points of the California resident and business owner?

After the chairman election we have to get the next platform draft written, the next draft should be a fresh and new platform draft so we can show that we are a new party. Average voters do not pay attention to the document, but the news media and the rabid base in both parties do watch the platform.

The second goal is taking care of the brand, we have to restore the brand after the Democratic Party saying we are a bunch of racists and other pejorative titles. Even though there are people of ethnic communities who may have traditionalist values, they still vote for the Democratic Party even though they don’t like the new graphic sexual education law passed in Sacramento that their state legislator voted for as an example.

The third goal is money, without money we die harder than an airplane test pilot. We have to get people to help register voters, canvass neighborhoods and over ballot collection services with the new legalized harvesting of ballots. 5 or 10 dollars a month, if you are fed up with how our state is going we need to be investors. Democrats donated like there was no tomorrow and we have to do the same. Look into Carl DeMaio’s Reform California or the state Republican Party voter registration effort fund if Travis Allen or Steve Frank win the office in late February.

Stop the Harris Takeover of Our Mountains

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris introduces her first local conservation bill that would protect the San Gabriel River and add more than 100,000 acres to the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Find more information about the bill here.

This bill is most likely going to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and should be dumped in committee. Find the Republicans on this committee and tell them you do not want this moved out.

Even though we may not live in their states, we live in the state affected by the bill and we do not want further control of our lands by the federal government.

The End

The results were not as good as 2014, but I tried my best to give the voters of the 20th State Senate District a choice. I thank those who did vote for me. It does take money and a boat load of time to make the race competitive, but it will take more development for the party and other interested parties to find someone who can do this again in 2022. It does take at least 10-16k to have a campaign with a bit more visibility.

I wrote some rants on my official campaign Facebook page that I would like to post here.

The general public in California will need to be prepared to save up money for tax increases for the utopia of my former opponent and our new Governor. California will only become the playground of the poor and the rich if they don’t understand the limits of their dreams. Be prepared for a services tax where the mechanic and hair salon will also have a tax equal to the sales tax.

Voters need to be vigilant about their incumbents no matter what party they come from. Watch their votes like a hawk, even the ones that they are too embarrassed to showcase in their “Important Legislative Update” Be community organizers like former President Obama when legislation is not going in your direction.

How much more regulations, how much more taxes will people accept before they cry uncle at Governor-elect Newsom, Assemblyman Rodriguez and Senator Leyva? I could accept diversity and inclusion, but you three are suffocating the middle class.

Yes, voters in many cities did raise their sales and or utility taxes, but even when cities like Rialto done this they still are in fiscal dire straits.

I know it may be tempting to pack up and leave, but we can not surrender without a fight.

I thank the voters in the primary and the general election for voting for me and the contributors who did their best to help fund my campaign.

I will still be around as your San Bernardino and state Republican Party committee member until July of 2022.

We Deserve Fiscal Accountability In Local Government

We deserve fiscal accountability with our local governments. From the boards of education to city halls in our state there should be accountability when it comes when they ask for more money from the voters. These agencies may want money from the taxpayers, but have these agencies handled money effectively?

I am thinking if a school district is asking for a new bond above a designated amount of money while still paying on previous bonds above a figure of 500 million still owed, the district would need to be audited in its operations. Is the district masking its fiscal inefficiencies by borrowing more money as seen in Santa Ana Unified? Is there really an unmet need for these funds to be utilized in a new bond? A neutral party would be helpful for this accountability. The Proposition 39 bond advisory group does not really have much power after a bond is passed how school districts help plead voters to approve the bonds, but the goal is to provide the voters and the municipalities information before a bond is passed.

City halls would also be audited if they wanted to be bailed out by a sales tax increase or an implementation of an utility tax. If they want to increase their sales tax by a half cent or more, they would also have a forensic audit as well. We should know how our local governments could do better before they ask for the funds and after they receive the new funds approved by the voters of their communities.

Easing the Digital Divide

I do find the topic of easing the digital divide a worthy topic to discuss even though my opponent and incumbent brought the issue first. How do we make technology affordable for low income and lower middle-class families is a good issue to ponder? Do we solve it as a government solution alone or do we solve it with private industry and private charity together with government.

Many individuals can buy the latest technology, but that also does generate e-waste when we discard previous generations of desktops and laptops. However, we should do collaboration efforts with high schools and community colleges to help train students with career skills in helping to assemble and repair computers to help deploy them.

Technology from 2012 and onward can run Windows 10 at a decent level enough for students to have a computer to type reports, browse web pages, do the family budget on a spreadsheet. Those choosing to buy an 8^th or 9^th generation Intel box for example could donate their 2^nd or 3^rd generation Intel parts so we can make refurbished computers for families not able to afford a desktop computer to help enter the modern world.

Microsoft does have low cost license programs to help a potential plan for schools and non-profits to work together to license these devices because we are helping low income families and helping to advance education as well.

If we can delay the discarding of e-waste for another 4-6 years that is a win for families and the environment.

There are programs in places such as Riverside, California. However we need to open the door for these opportunities in San Bernardino County and the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County.

Campaign Update Late October

The campaign was there during the San Bernardino Yes on 6 rally on October 27th. I gave some signs to supporters in the eastern end of the 20th State Senate District which appreciated my presence.

You will likely see a video of myself shot for the Rialto Now blog about my race at that event.

Is there any undecided voters who are saying that I do not have my formal positions on the issues announced that you know of? I have my flyer available for download that you can share to your undecided friends and family so you can get a basic understanding about my campaign.

I am still answering emails from voters who want some clarification. Monday before Election Day I do expect I will get some emails and I will try my best to answer them before you head to the polls on Tuesday.

Gathering of supporters at the Yes on 6 rally.

In Closing, a Word From the Candidate

I am running for this seat to make sure the people of the 20^th State Senate District have a choice instead of having our incumbent win by default. She may have delivered the pork for the district, but many of her votes were dreadful which led me to put my hat in the ring for the second time.

I do thank the voters during my first run for voting for me, and I hope more individuals jump on board in 2018.

There are many issues that I wish our incumbent voted for the opposite position such as the water rationing law of AB 1668. The problem is we are releasing so much water to the ocean where our farmers and residents could use the water instead. I don’t think elites such as my incumbent could run her household on 55 gallons of water per day per person either. The key should be WATER STORAGE, so we can have enough water to meet our growing population and agriculture industry.

SB 620 was another stinker that my opponent supported, this law basically does not force judges to give enhancements if you use a gun in a violent crime. Kill someone in cold blood with a gun, with our weakened judicial system you will likely get a sentence half as long.

AB 398 was a disappointing indirect tax on the people of our state. Commuters will likely face another 60 cents rise in their gasoline costs in 2021. With many people commuting to make ends meet, this will hurt our working families big time. Not all destinations have convenient public transportation routes as an alternative from the now costly gasoline. Also, after working an 8-9-hour shit, many people are not that enthusiastic to take twice as long to get home after work. I know my opponent loves sustainability, but it is not fiscally sustainable for many working people of our district.

There are plenty more bills where they came from, but I do not want to bore people either.

My aspiration is to help generate a climate where more equipped candidates will run in future years in our community. We function better where a diversity of ideas is showcased.