On May 2, 2009, LaVerneOnline couldnât help but notice Sergio Herrera, a member of TheTeaPartyRevolt.com, fulminating on his megaphone on the northeast corner of Wheeler and Fruit against Proposition 1A, one of the most controversial and contentious propositions facing California voters on May 19, 2009. Sergio, a former Bonita High School graduate (class of 1989) said TeaPartyRevolt.com is a website of âconcerned California taxpayers.â LVO prevailed on Sergio to his megaphone down long enough to speak into our tape recorder and tell us why he opposes Prop 1A (âState Budget. Changes California Budget Process. Limits State Spending. Increases âRainy Dayâ Budget Stabilization Fundâ). During the impromptu interview, other members of Herreraâs group continued to occupy the other three corners of the large intersection, waving their âNo on Prop 1â signs as drivers passed by, honking their approval or disapproval.
Herrera said he works full time in information systems and is also a full-time student, with most of the funding coming âout of my pocket.â
Why are you out here railing against Proposition 1A?
I do this whenever I have a moment because this is something I really believe in, and has to be done. The message has to get out there. The opposition is spending a lot of money to push this on us. We donât have the cash to do that, so Iâm standing on a corner with a blow horn.
The problem is that most of the people who say we need it are the same people who are going to benefit from it — the Sacramento legislators, both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, the unions. All the people who are going to benefit financially from Proposition 1A are the same people spending millions of dollars to push this proposition on you.
But if you look at the polls, youâll see the taxpayers arenât being fooled by this. We all know itâs a two-year tax increase on top of some of the highest taxes we are now paying. It does not create a spending cap. It does not benefit California at all. Sacramento has been fiscally irresponsible for far too long. And the answer is not shoveling more money into the coffers of Sacramento. The answer is fiscal responsibility. Sacramento needs to learn to tighten its belt, just as you and I do during these economic downturns. And they havenât done that. And they donât want to do that. They refuse to do that.
Weâre out here standing on this corner with our signs. We donât have the budget that Sacramento has. But we are standing here with the taxpayers, spreading the word with them. Weâre getting great, positive results from this. And weâre going to continue doing this until Proposition 1A fails on May 19.
How important is this vote to the future of California?
How important is it? Right now, weâre in an economic downturn, and the answer is not taxing the taxpayers to death. Doing that is only going to result in more taxpayers fleeing the state and less money in the coffers of Sacramento, which is only going to exacerbate the whole situation weâre in. We need to do something about this. We need to stop the madness and stop the crazy spending and start putting some controls on the way we do things in California. Weâre going to need to cut.
Are you advocating across the board cuts that affect police, fire, hospitals, if thatâs what it takes to rein in the spending?
I would be, but every time we come to a situation where we start talking about taxes, everybody starts throwing in, you know, itâs for the children, the police are going to be gone, itâs going to be mayhem, fire and brimstone. Thatâs not the case. There are a lot of things going on in Sacramento, a lot of positions, a lot of duplicate jobs that are costing a lot of money. We need to look at the union pensions. We need to look at the union contracts. These contracts are out of control. If California were run as a private business, it would have been bankrupt years ago. But they can force the customers to pay more money. You and I canât do that. So we need to start looking at that. We need to really look at the way Sacramento spends their money, and what they spend it on.
Explain how a No on Prop 1A would affect the recent hike in vehicle registration fees.
It would repeal the vehicle registration increase in two years. A vote of yes increases it for two more years. The idea behind that was there was going to be a spending cap. The problem with the spending cap is the spending cap is going to be based on the highest earnings during the windfall years when the housing boom was going. Thatâs where they are going to cap it. After that, Sacramento can increase that by increasing taxes.
Their next move is to go up against the two-thirds majority vote. As soon as they have that, they can increase taxes every year without opposition, and with that, the spending cap keeps increasing. Along with this, Proposition 1B then takes the money theyâre going to put in that rainy day fund and they start funneling money back to the teachersâ union. Thatâs what Proposition 1B does.
The fact is we already spend over 50% of our budget on education. And the problems with our California schools arenât necessarily the teachers or the classroom sizes or even the amount of money we spend per student. The problem is the lack of parent involvement. Parents arenât involved like they are in other places. This is why we have the drop-out rates and the low scores we do, and shoveling money at that does not fix that. You cannot fix that problem by shoveling money at it. So, they keep thinking they can fix the problems by putting more money on it, more money on it, more money on it. All theyâre doing is theyâre bankrupting the state. We cannot sustain where our budget is now.
Why did you pick this street corner in La Verne?
Weâve been doing this in several different cities. We just did La Habra last week. We did Rancho Cucamonga. We chose La Verne for several reasons. I grew up and went to high school here (class of â89). The other reason is, this is one of Anthony Adamsâ districts (California State Assembly Republican Member Anthony Adams represents the 59th Assembly District, which includes La Verne.) Anthony Adams was the Republican who had promised not to raise taxes when he ran for election, and then turned around and voted yes on the tax increase. This was a personal one for me. Unfortunately, we had a lot more people at the last one, but because of the warnings of rain a lot of people didnât show up.
Youâve still got the megaphone though.
I would have been out here standing on the corner alone if I had, too.
As always, LaVerneOnline invites alternative arguments and points of view in the interest of helping voters make the most informed decision on May 19.Â
May 3rd, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Sergio, I made the change, thanks for sounding off. You’re an excellent spokesperson, pb
May 4th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Thank you Sergio! I was on one of the corners with my 16 yr. old Son. When asked “what’s in it for you? His Reply “I’m your future”. I pay for him to go to private school, he was failing and not being challenged in public school. I don’t mind paying for it because I know that he’s getting an education.
Kim