Daily Breeze Thottam Editorial - May 12, 2010

By Peter Luke Thottam, (JD MBA)

"TAKE BACK OUR GOVERNMENT" + The Thottam For Assembly 2010 Campaign is focused on creating quality jobs with an eye to the Pacific Rim's expected growth, reducing healthcare costs, using technology and next generation Internet technologies to greatly improve public sector efficiency and +most importantly + to demand Enforcement and Rules for Lobbyist/Legislature transparency and accountability.

California's legislative paralysis and economic implosion must end. The state has become beholden to Special Interests, entrenched political machines and their well-paid lobbyists. I am running as a concerned citizen who is + put simply + appalled at what is going on in Sacramento and determined to do something about it in order to make sure that my son (and his generational peers; Luke is 15 months) and family have a better California and better future options available to them than appear likely at the current time given the State's ongoing legislative and fiscal gridlock.

BIO: My Assembly campaign is 100% Anti-Lobbyist and 100% Self-Financed. I am the only entirely self-financed candidate in this race and the only prior candidate (I received over 3,000 votes in 2006). Every dime in my campaign is coming out of my pocket. My experience includes election as a Neighborhood Council officer, over 8 years as an attorney (corporate securities & real estate), a cost/regulatory controls consultant, and a financial analyst. My professional and educational background (Yale'93; UC Berkeley Boalt School of Law '99; UCLA Anderson's School of Business `06) will be immediately helpful in helping fix the fiscal and political mess in Sacramento.

Some of our campaign's platform highlights are: (1) JOB GROWTH / EQUAL PAY & EQUAL RIGHTS: California's job base and underlying economy continue to spiral out of control with a special interest beholden legislature focused more on personal power, fundraising and partisan political ideological nonsense rather than long-term solutions and problem solving. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently put LA County's official U-6 unemployment rate (its broadest measure) at 22.6%! Manufacturing jobs continue to lead the exodus. I will also work for a California Tobin tax on financial transactions that will generate as much as $2 Billion in funds that I will push to be used for job creation throughout the Beach Cities and South Bay. Additionally, I will use my ties in business, in finance, in the California venture capital community and with various business to work every angle possible to increase the number of high paying district jobs in import/export, manufacturing, hi-tech and information technology;

(2) SINGLE PAYER HEALTHCARE: I will work to aid the passage of HR 676 and comparable resolutions. In 2010, I will work towards immediate passage and approval by California's new Governor of state level single payer healthcare. California's Legislature has twice passed a state-level single payer bill, SB 840, "The California Universal Healthcare Act" in 2006 and again in 2008 (only to have it vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger). Concurrently, as an assembly member, I will fight for comprehensive statewide health system audits audit to encourage billing and administrative simplicity for patients and providers and to reduce overhead costs & to eliminate rampant waste & inefficiency;

(3) CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION --California's Constitution is the document that establishes and describes the duties, powers, structure and function of the government of the state, including the state's Senate and Assembly. As an Assembly member, I will continue my already substantial work with the Bay Area Council (a public policy advocacy group) and with RepairCalifornia.org, California Forward & the New America Foundation to modernize and restructure California's constitution and its government with a goal of creating real transparency and accountability at all levels. I will concurrently work to modify the two-thirds requirement for budget passage, to make more rationale and rigorous the requirements for California's referendum process, and -- most importantly --to strive to roll back and minimize the corrupting influence of the State's out of control 2,400+ lobbyists (Sacramento's "Third House") and to introduce real campaign finance reform modeled on the public matching funds used in states such as Arizona and New Jersey.

THE ONGOING STATE BUDGET CRISIS - Revenues and fees will put about $89 billion into California's general fund for the fiscal year starting July 1. However, California is on track to now spend well over $120 billion this year. Closing the gap depicted in the left graphics is made harder by several mandates. Proposition 98 requires that roughly 40% of all revenue go to elementary and secondary schools and community colleges. The requirement can be suspended by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature; otherwise $37 billion is off limits to cutting in 2009-2010. Additionally, the state Constitution requires that interest on state debts, about $4 billion each year, be paid before anything else. What to do?

California's budget crisis: Revenues and fees will put about $89 billion into California's general fund for the fiscal year starting July 1. However, California is on track now to spend well over $120 billion this year. What to do?

1. Close the loophole that allows corporations to avoid reassessment of new property.

2. Prohibit corporations from using credits to offset more than 50 percent of their tax bills.

3. Repeal the tax breaks passed as part of the 2009 February budget "deal," which gives corporations untold billions. We will experience massive, permanent revenue loss without requiring that a single new job be created.

4. Repeal the law that allows California corporations to get refunds for taxes already paid for losses in previous years.

5. Rescind AB900, which would cost $600,000 per each of 13,000 prison beds and per each of 40,000 jail beds, for a savings of $31.8 billion.

I recently received the endorsement of the Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles, making it the fourth District Democratic club from which I have received endorsements and/or majority support. No other candidate has received such support from even one club. With your support, I believe I can win the June 8th Democratic Primary. I would be honored to have your vote and hope to earn your continued support in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Peter Thottam (JD MBA) Campaign Website: http://www.peterthottam.com