The effort to break off 13 southern and eastern counties from California and create a new state called South California is gaining momentum.

The advocates of South California have put up a web site called “California Rebellion 2012” and called for a summit meeting of potential South California supporters.

The advocates of South California cannot stand the liberal Democrat policies of a state run by Los Angeles, San Francisco and liberal coastal areas.

Sort of the opposite of what is going on in Baja Arizona.

Here is what the advocates of America’s newest state are saying:

Welcome To California Rebellion 2012!

Preamble

Local governments have been besieged by our dysfunctional State Legislature over the past decade robbing us of our traditional tax revenue streams to provide for state and federally mandated services and discretionary expenditures for public safety, not limited to but including the District Attorney, Sheriff, Probation, Public Defender, etc. After local governments have been cut to the bone, the State Legislature again passed a local government grab in their 2011-12 quasi balanced budget with the same old gimmicky and overstated revenue predictions that will not materialize. I have come to the conclusion that the State of California is too big to govern, that the political priorities of Southern California and Northern California are completely different.

We find that:

1. JOBS – California ranks 50th of the 50 states as the non-business friendly state (Best Worst States for Business Magazine, Chief Executive. net, May 3, 2011 by JP Danian). Following is a partial list of the medium to large businesses that have left or expanded out of our once golden state:

Abraxis Health, Adobr Systems, Inc. Alza Corp., American AVK, American Racing, Apple Computer Audix Corporation, Apria Healthcare Group, Assurant Inc., Barefoot Motors Bazz Houston Co., Beckman Coulter, Bild Industries Inc., Bill Miller Engineering, Ltd. BMC Select , BPI Labs, Buck Knives, CalPortland Cement California Casualty Group, CalStar Products Inc., Checks To-Go, Chivaroli & Associates CoreSite, A Carlyle Company, Creel Printing, Dassault Falcon DaVita Inc. , Denny’s Corp., Digital Domain, Ditech DuPont Fabros Technology, ebay, Inc., EDMO Distributors, Inc. Edwards Lifesciences, Electronic Arts, Inc., EMRISE Corp., Facebook Fall Line Corporation, Fidelity National Financial, First American Corp., Fluor Corp. Foxconn Electronics, Fuel System Solutions, Gregg Industries, Hewlett-Packard Hilton Hotels Corp., Hino Motor Manufacturing USA, Intel Corporation, Intuit of Mountain View J.C. Penney, Kimmie Candy Co., Klaussner Home Furnishings, Knight Protective Industries Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc., LCF Enterprises, Lennox Hearth Products Inc., Lyn-Tron, Inc. Mariah Power, Maxwell America, Miasole, MotorVac Technologies Nissan North America, Northrop Grumman, One2Believe, Patmont Motor Werks, Inc. Paragon Relocation Resources, Pixel Magic, Plastic Model Engineering, Inc. Precor, Premier Inc., Pro Cal of South Gate, Race Track Chaplaincy of Amer., Red Truck Fire & Safety Co. SAIC, Scale Computing, Schott Solar Inc., SimpleTech Smiley Industries, Solaicx, SolarWorld, Special Devices Inc. StarKist , Stasis Engineering, Stat a Corp., Tapmatic Teledesic, Telmar Network Technology Inc., Terremark, Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Toyota, True Games Interactive Inc., TTM Technologies, Understand.com US Press shifted, USAA Insurance, Yahoo and many more.

As a result of these 1000′s of jobs leaving our state, those citizens waiting for this economic cycle to turn are in for a very big disappointment. When the economy stabilizes in the United States, the existing State of California will be at a loss of thousands of high paying jobs that have fled the state. It has been estimated that many business’ can relocate to Texas and expect to save 20-40%! What will remain here is a “welfare state.”

2. Excessive and duplicative regulations -The State of California has burdened business with excessive regulations causing many businesses to either “throw in the towel” or move to business friendly states. For example, why do we need California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when we have the federal equivalent of National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA), causing duplicative environmental review of projects in California?

3. Over Taxation – Many CEO’s of companies have moved or expanded their businesses to tax friendlier States such as Texas, Nevada, Colorado, North and South Carolina to name a few. In Texas, there is no corporate or personal income tax which creates a huge incentive for wealthy entrepreneurs to create jobs in that state versus California.

4. Full Time Legislature – Why do we need legislators working full time earning $400 per day to enact more and more useless and costly laws and regulations? Prior to 1966, California functioned very well as a “part-legislature” when the State was home to aerospace, defense contractors, automobile manufacturers that have just about all fled the State!

5. Pension Reform – The pension obligation to California’s 350,000 present employees and retirees is in the billions of dollars and is unsustainable! Instead of getting union concessions, Governor Jerry Brown, in another move to shower political favors on his union supporters, approved a 4% pay increase to our State prison guards with 8 weeks paid vacation and unlimited accumulated time and vacation buyouts! This means that retired prison guards can cash out at the end of their career with $200,000 to $300,000 of taxpayer money! Our illustrious Governor also approved a new budget robbing local government of their job creating redevelopment funds and re-directing them to schools with the caveat that teachers cannot be laid off! So much for local control by our elected Boards of Education!

6. Automation – The state is more interested in preserving antiquated jobs than using existing and emerging technologies to reduce costs and expedite services to the taxpayers. Why do we need 250 offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles? Why can’t a citizen pay their fees online and renew their car registrations? Gas consumption and traffic loads would diminish and long waiting lines at DMV offices would disappear.

7. Illegal Immigrants – This is a huge cost for the taxpayers who are mandated to provide medical services, welfare services, pay the costs to incarcerate illegal immigrants, and due to recent legislation, subsidized tuition to illegal immigrants to our state colleges and universities while our taxpaying constituents pay the full share of their tuition.

Summary:

For the aforementioned reasons, it is recommended that the 13 counties congregate a local government summit at the Riverside Convention Center to discuss our future as cities, counties, and state and come up with an action plan to address the impacts we all share and must continually endure.

Proposed suggestions to form a new state would embrace the following:

1. A new part-time legislature with emphasis on governing with more local control.

2. No term limits.

3. Members of the part-time legislature would receive a $600 per month stipend and no other financial benefits except travel expenses to the new state capitol. Legislation would occur for 3 months every two years and the new legislature would pass two year budgets.

4. The new constitution would have a balanced budget provision, wherein the legislature could not spend more than it takes in revenue.

5. The new constitution would mandate the same provisions of Proposition 13 and would protect local government’s revenue from any state raids.

6. The new constitution would make it illegal to spend taxpayer money generated by South Californians on citizens not legally here in the United States.

7. A new State Capitol built for a part-time legislature.

8. Eliminate duplicative governmental agencies and fully automate government functions with the advances in technology, saving millions in taxpayer dollars and allowing government to work more efficiently.

FACTS:

1. The State of California was once the 4th largest economy in the world, now struggling to be the 8th!

2. California’s economic policies are non-business friendly have driven businesses, large and small, to other business friendly states, e.g. Texas, Nevada, Arizona, South Carolina, and others.

3. California remains over-regulated and attempts to lead a global effort by itself to reduce greenhouse gasses. This is a detriment to our local economy and creates an uneven playing field with other states that don’t have such regulations or those states that do not support the weak science of “global warming.”

4. California is not run by independent elected officials, but rather, by well financed unions selectively funding elected officials that will promote the best interest of their union employees over the best interest of the taxpayers. As a result, pension obligations are bankrupting our state, further jeopardizing our present and future financial fiscal health.

5. The state has not been able to govern politically for over a decade creating a state that is obviously too big to govern. Some state senators are representing larger populations than congressional house of representative office holders!

6. Our citizens are the most taxed of the 50 States and receive less services than most other States

7. It has been reported that up to 44% percent of Californians are on some form of government assistance. We have 30% of the nation’s welfare cases yet have only 12% of the nation’s population!

8. California, with its limited resources, gives benefits including in-state tuition to illegal immigrants minimizing the financial resources available for our legal resident taxpayers!

9. Once the darling of public education, we are now 49th of the 50 states in test scores, and yet we spend more on education than any other state!

10. The state legislature has raided the gas taxes (former Proposition 42) paid by our citizens, and used the monies to pay for non-infrastructure programs resulting in more crowded freeways, and crumbling infrastructure. Why does our state legislature continuingly enact legislation circumventing the will of the taxpayers? This must stop!

11. The state’s recent budget action is balanced on the backs of local governments potentially causing many cities to become fiscally insolvent. This will have a ripple effect on the finances of their respective counties.

12. It is time to take corrective and decisive action!

Such a meeting would be coordinated by the Riverside County Executive office to be held at the Riverside Convention Center as soon as logistically possible. The meeting would also present the findings of the collective opinion of the County Counsels of each respective County as to the process to forming the 51 5t State, testimony for County’s support or opposition to such a formation, and, testimony from Cities within each County, and finally the collective desire to move forward, or not, with this bold but important consideration.

“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” -Albert Einstein

Ignoring our continuing repetitive plight can only be characterized as “Insane.”

COMMENTARY: The effort to Free Baja Arizona from the clutches of the ultra conservation Maricopa-dominated Arizona state legislature has no chance of getting anywhere by itself…bnecause there is no way Congress will ever allow a new state to be formed if it adds 2 more Democratic Senators.

But South California my be a blessing in disguise for Baja Arizona statehood efforts because South California…if admitted to the Union as a new state…would nullify the Baja Arizona impat on the US Senate.

So maybe Baja Arizona is not the 51st state…maybe the 52nd?

Then again…there’s Puerto Rico which wants statehood and is Democratic. Going to need another conservative off-setting state…East Texas? West Texas? (Note—Texas allegedly has the right to split into 5 states based on its admission deal)….Northern New York?

The real irony would be that if Baja Arizona was actually created as a new state…and it turned out to be more libertarian than liberal or Democrat.

One of the original concepts for Baja Arizona was to limit the size of the state government into what would fit in an RV, and move the state capitol RV from town to town every 6 weeks.

Another concept for Baja Arizona as far as economic development was concerned was to have a permanent state capitol in Tucson which would justify a huge construction boom of hotels downtown to house all the lobbyists that would descend on the place.

Baja Arizona..if it emcompassed the original Gadsden Purchase, would take away the border from Arizona…leaving all those politicians in Phoenix needing to find another issue to scare the residents of Maricopa County about.

Baja Arizona is a state which would probably legailze marijuana and then tax the heck out of it to run the state government. Would give a new meaning to “high” taxes.

Then again as one of California Governor Jerry Brown’s staff suggested…if those unhappy with California’s government wanted a conservative paradise they could move to Arizona.

Those of us unhappy with Arizona’s state government could move to South California…. Maybe we could work out house trades…I’ll give you my adobe in Tubac for a nice little house in La Jolla…. problem is none of us want to live in San Bernardino County.

Neither new state is likely to happen…but creates great fodder for bloggers.

From LA Times:

‘South California’ proposed as 51st state by Republican supervisor

The 51st state should be named South California, says Jeff Stone, a Republican on the the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. But the proposed 13 southern California counties that would split off from the Golden State would not include Los Angeles.

Stone told the Times’ Phil Willon that the ommission is intentional and is part of a plan that would make for a new conservative Californian state.

“Los Angeles is purposely excluded because they have the same liberal policies that Sacramento does. The last thing I want to do is create a state that’s a carbon copy of what we have now,” Stone said.

“Los Angeles just enacted a ban on plastic grocery bags. That put three or four manufacturers out of business,” Stone, a pharmacist from Temecula, said.

Stone plans on formally proposing secession Tuesday during a meeting of the Board of Supervisors.

South California would encompass  Fresno, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Tulare counties, totaling approximately 13 million people.

The proposed 51st state would be the fifth largest by population, more populous than Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania. South California would take nearly a third of the population away from California, making the Golden State the second-largest state after Texas.

More….

From Time Magazine:

Politician Campaigns to Make ‘South California’ Into Our 51st State

A California politician is proposing that his state split in half as a way to address political and logistical issues – marking yet another instance someone has proposed this idea in the Golden State.

Although on a national scale, the idea of splitting up a state may seem novel, similar proposals has been made in California politics more than 220 separate times. But Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone is not letting the past failures of these proposals mute his ardor for secession.

More…

And from the Los Angeles Times:

‘South California’: The only escape from Sacramento’s sweeping failure?

“It’s a supremely ridiculous waste of everybody’s time,” Duran told The Times. “If you want to live in a Republican state with very conservative right-wing laws, then there’s a place called Arizona.”

Riverside County should probably focus on fixing its $130-million revenue gap for next year, Duran said.

Lawmakers in “South California” would not have term limits, the legislature would be part time and there would be controls on property taxes, Stone said.

But Stone’s “South California” could end up being the 52^nd state if “Baja Arizona” beats it to the punch — the southern region of Arizona is trying to escape the Republican politics its residents don’t agree with. In fact, the group “Start Our State” symbolically declared its independence as the 51st state on July 4, according to the Tucson Sentinel. The group is trying to put a petition on the ballot in 2012 that would ask for the Legislature’s permission for Pima County to ask Congress to consider making Baja Arizona its own state.

In order for a new state to be added to the nation, the state’s legislature and Congress must consent to the addition, according to Article IV of the U.S. Constitution. Proposals to split California have come up more than 220 times since the 1850s. It’s not likely to happen; a state hasn’t been split since 1863 – when West Virginia was created during the Civil War — despite hundreds of proposals across the nation.

More….

COMMENT: Baja Arizona is never going to be its own state if that means adding two more Democrats to the US Senate. But…. If South California got close to statehood and adding 2 Republican Senators…then Baja might be the “deal” in Congress for both to happen.

I loved the quote from Governor Brown’s office “It’s a supremely ridiculous waste of everybody’s time,” Duran told The Times. “If you want to live in a Republican state with very conservative right-wing laws, then there’s a place called Arizona.”

The Daily Star reports that Sarah Palin confirms she bought $1.7 million home in Arizona.

This was also reported in the New York Times.

Speculation is rampant that Palin is going to use Arizona as a base to run for the White House. The logic is it will be easier for her to run around the country from a base in Arizona than from Alaska.

There are lots of places in the lower 48 where Palin could operate from with better airline connections.

So why Arizona?

Looking at the fact she chose to buy a home in Scottsdale in the center of Arizona’s far right-ward shift, she will obviously be living among kindred spirits.

 Just as obviously she did not choose to buy a home in Tucson or Baja Arizona.

Just when we thought we had enough negative national political attention from the antics of Joe Arpaio and Russell Pearce now we have Palin to deal with as an “Arizonan”.

Word is coyotes were seen fleeing the state in fear of being hunted by airplane.

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Guide to Arizona for Sarah Palin

Just when we were celebrating the news that the world did not end Saturday….now we find this out:

From the Arizona Republic May 22, 2011:

Sarah Palin buys a house in north Scottsdale?

by Dan Nowicki and Catherine Reagor – May. 21, 2011 12:36 PM
The Arizona Republic

Has Sarah Palin bought a house in north Scottsdale?

For months, rumors have circulated in Arizona political circles that the former Alaska governor and possible 2012 presidential contender either was shopping for homes in Scottsdale or had already bought one.

A just-closed deal on a secluded luxury home in far north Scottsdale might fit the bill, and talk has begun that this may be the one. It’s an 8,000-square-foot, dark-brown stucco home with a guard gate that can keep unwanted visitors away. It has six bedrooms, five bathrooms, a six-car garage, a swimming pool and spa, and a full basement with a home theater, billiards room and wine cellar.

Safari Investments LLC paid $1.695 million cash for the home in a deal that appears designed to cloak the identity of a high-profile buyer.

Safari Investments is a Delaware limited liability firm formed May 12, the day before the deal for the Scottsdale home closed. No officers are listed on the Delaware filing, and that state doesn’t require the names of individual associated with limited liability companies to be disclosed. High-profile people often buy homes through LLCs to maintain their privacy.

Alan Kierman, an attorney with the Phoenix law firm of Mack Drucker & Watson, is listed on property records as the contact for Safari Investments. Asked point blank by The Arizona Republic if Palin and her husband Todd Palin bought the north Scottsdale house through the company, Kierman said he had no comment.

In north Scottsdale’s scenic desert, the former foreclosure house was purchased by real estate agent and investor Ian Whitmore in March 2010 for $805,000. He sold it May 13 to Safari Investments, but said he doesn’t know who is behind the limited liability company. The home was half-renovated when it was taken back by the lender JP Morgan Chase Bank in 2009.

Requests seeking comment from Palin or her aides made Friday and Saturday through her political action committee, SarahPAC, were not successful.

Confirmation of a Palin house purchase in Scottsdale likely would rekindle chatter about whether Palin might run a political campaign out of Arizona, the home state of U.S. Sen. John McCain, who plucked her from relative political obscurity in 2008 to be his vice-presidential running mate.

Palin has been rumored to be considering headquartering her 2012 White House campaign, if there is one, in Scottsdale. She also has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Palin has made multiple visits to Arizona since the night in November 2008 when, at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, McCain conceded the presidential election to Democratic rival Barack Obama. Palin’s daughter, former “Dancing With the Stars” celebrity finalist Bristol Palin, last year purchased a five-bedroom house in Maricopa.

Palin’s name started coming up in Arizona in March, when state Rep. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, repeated a rumor of a possible Palin bid for the U.S. Senate in his weekly newsletter to constituents. Farley told The Republic at the time that he heard the rumor from two Republican lobbyists whom he declined to name. The same week, a Politico blogger quoted an anonymous source as saying Palin might base a potential presidential campaign in Scottsdale.

The Arizona Democratic Party’s website asked, “Is Sarah Palin moving to Arizona?” and used the rumors to try to raise money.

The speculation was enough for Public Policy Polling, a Democratic company based in North Carolina, to include some questions about Palin in its most recent automated telephone survey of Arizona voters. One question asked respondents whether they would like for Palin to move to Arizona. Fifty-seven percent said no. Another 27 percent said they would like her to relocate to the state, while 16 percent were not sure.

The poll of 623 Arizona voters was conducted April 28 to May 1 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

FaceBook message from Start Our State:

bad news about The Daily Show – the segment on our movement will not be airing. Once they got into the editing room, they realized they didn’t have enough wacky stuff about the legislature & governor. They greatly appreciated Tucson’s hospitality though and send warm regards to everyone

Maybe once Governor Brewer started vetoing some of the crazier stuff, and Russell pearce failed to get his 2011 anti-immigrant agenda through….Arizona had a brush with sanity.

Liberals in southern Arizona seek to form new state

Brad Poole : Reuters

May 10, 2011

TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) – A long-simmering movement by liberal stalwarts in southern Arizona to break away from the rest of the largely conservative state is at a boiling point as secession backers press to bring their longshot ambition to the forefront of Arizona politics.

A group of lawyers from the Democratic stronghold of Tucson and surrounding Pima County have launched a petition drive seeking support for a November 2012 ballot question on whether the 48th state should be divided in two.

The ultimate goal of the newly formed political action committee Start our State is to split Pima County off into what would become the nation’s 51st state, tentatively dubbed Baja Arizona.

Backers have until July 5 next year to collect the 48,000 signatures required to qualify for a spot on the ballot. If they succeed, it would mark only the first hurdle in a long, circuitous process that even the most determined of supporters readily acknowledge has little chance of bearing fruit.

“We at least need to get it on the ballot, as a nonbinding resolution, to ask the people of Pima County if they want to be a part of Arizona,” Tucson attorney Paul Eckerstrom, a former Pima County Democratic chairman who launched the campaign, told Reuters. “All the stars would have to align for this to happen, but it could conceivably happen by the fall of 2013.”

U.S. history is replete with efforts to carve one state from another — from the creation of Kentucky and Tennessee in the 1790s to more modern misfires like proposals to partition Long Island from New York or to split California in half.

The last successful intrastate secession movement was the formation of West Virginia during the Civil War.

More…

A 51st State? Some In Arizona Want A Split

by Ted Robbins KUAT

….Baja Arizona supporters say there’s a serious side to their quest to create a new state. They say Arizona is headed in the wrong direction — cutting education and health care funding and hurting the state’s reputation and business climate with laws like SB 1070. And they say Republicans in the Legislature are punishing Pima County for its opposition.

The Legislature tried to deny money to Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik because he doesn’t support SB 1070. It passed a law trying to change the way Tucson holds city elections, and another bill dictating how the city can bid public works projects.

More…

COMMENT:A lot of people think the goal of creating Baja Arizona is to create some kind of liberal Democrat haven.

I see it a little differently.

The far out right wing in Maricopa County have really skewed Arizona’s agenda. With leaders like Joe Arpaio and Russell Pearce calling the shots up there, they have left everyone who doesn’t put gun rights and locking up millions of illegal aliens as their first priorities out in the cold.

We have every right to point out the craziness of the Arpaio/Pearce agenda. And talking about Baja Arizona and our differences with Maricopistan is one way to do this.

But if you look hard at Baja Arizona what you see is maybe one-third of the voters are Democrats, one-third Republican and one-third Independent. Those two-thirds of the voters aren’t going to turn Baja Arizona into Massachusetts.

I see the climate of Baja Arizona is more center right with a very strong libertarian streak.

People try and define the area based on the city of Tucson’s political image…and if one day Tucson’s city council is actually directly elected by wards instead of city-wide I believe you’d see a GOP controlled city government.

But the definition of GOP or Republican down here is not the same as in Maricopistan. The social conservatives are not dominant here so a “Republican” agenda would look a lot more like something Barry Goldwater wrote. Remember…we elected one of the first openly gay Republicans to Congress over and over again. And no one would call Jim Kolbe a “liberal”.

If Baja Arizona actually was created (highly unlikely) I don’t envision the new state wasting a lot of time trying to allow guns in public buildings or on college campuses, or picking fights with the federal government over abortion  or how to harass illegal aliens.

I do see a state that would much more strongly support its public education system and the University of Arizona, a state that would not throw all its poor people and sick people under the bus, and a state that would celebrate its cultural and ethnic diversity.

The View from Baja Arizona blog was launched May 10, 2010. Over 800 posts later this has been an interesting venture.

In the last year we’ve had SB 1070 and the border issues blow up in the national news, the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the emergence of an almost tongue-in-cheek effort to create a new state called Baja Arizona and even a scandal involving the ATF “walking” guns into the hands of the murderers of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

And along the way we’ve had the rants of a peeved senior citizen, ocelot kittens for sale, and other items which caught the attention of a lot of readers.

What I’ve tried to do with this blog is several things:

–provide a view of border issues from an on-the-ground perspective since I am deeply involved in border stuff;

–share a view of Tucson area issues such as the environment and economy as well as history and traditions;

–provide a forum for intelligent debate about issues;

–occasionally offer my own opinions about things that ought to be done;

–provide access to interesting stuff I stumble on that you might not notice.

One of the things I’ve been doing is posting all the press releases I get from US Customs and Border Protection which describe the activities of the Border Patrol as well as the ports of entry folks. Cumulatively it gives readers an idea of the magnitude of what’s going on at the border.

In recent months the View from Baja Arizona has been drawing anywhere from 30,000 to over 60,000 page views a month, making it one of the top viewed blogs on TucsonCitizen.com.

Thank you readers !!!! Keep the comments coming !

Will be interesting to see what the coming year brings….

The top 25 posts in View from Baja Arizona in terms of page views the last year:

Anonymous Senior Citizen tells it like it is

More calls for an investigation into ATF’s Project Gunrunner scandal

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Note: About Hugh Holub: Originally a Texan my family moved to Tucson in 1954 so I’ve seen a lot of change in the area over the last 57 years. I graduated from the UA with a couple of degrees. I started out as a reporter for the Tucson Citizen back in 1967, changed career paths and got a law degree and worked on water issues for many years, then served as City Attorney and then acting Public Works Director for Nogales, Arizona. I’ve been writing op ed commentaries in newspapers all over the region for decades. My day job is Executive Director of the Center for Sustainable Development based in Tubac, Arizona.
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