EXPOSED: California Democrats’ Illegal Alien Voting Scam

by Lloyd Billingsley

“The California state budget on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk puts tens of millions of dollars into programs that could help undocumented immigrants fight federal efforts to deport them,” the Sacramento Bee reports, “including opening up $10 million to hire lawyers for unaccompanied minors trying to stay in the U.S.” For that crowd, the Democrats’ $200 billion budget has even more to give.

The budget “expands funding for immigration legal services offered through the Department of Social Services and public colleges,” and “includes $1.6 million to build a team of eight attorneys and investigators in the Labor Commissioner's office at the Department of Industrial Relations.” This team will enforce AB 430, “a state law that requires businesses to tell their employees when they’re contacted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” As the report notes, “employers face penalties of $2,000 to $10,000 if they fail to notify their workers of a pending immigration action.”

INFOGRAPHIC: What the Sanctuary State of California Really Spends on Illegal Immigration

Stunning:

"EXIT TAXES": How California Tries to Stop the Lower Middle Class From Fleeing for Texas

By Tyler Durden

California exports more than commodities such as movies, new technologies and produce. As The Sacramento Bee reports, it also exports truck drivers, cooks and cashiers.

Every year from 2000 through 2015, more people left California than moved in from other states. This migration was not spread evenly across all income groups, a Sacramento Bee review of U.S. Census Bureau data found. The people leaving tend to be relatively poor, and many lack college degrees. Move higher up the income spectrum, and slightly more people are coming than going. About 2.5 million people living close to the official poverty line left California for other states from 2005 through 2015, while 1.7 million people at that income level moved in from other states – for a net loss of 800,000. During the same period, the state experienced a net gain of about 20,000 residents earning at least five times the poverty rate – or $100,000 for a family of three...

GREAT NEWS: California Doubles Down on Fiscal Suicide

By William Teach

California is a state that miscalculated costs for the state run Medicaid program by $1.9 billion. The state is reckoned to have a $1.6 billion deficit, and Governor Jerry Brown wants to reduce the state budget by $3 billion because of these problems. The inflow of tax money is down. Jobs are leaving. Costs for businesses are up. Costs for citizens are up. The state is the 4th highest in the nation for cost of living. Covered California, the name for the Obamacare plan for the state, has the same problems as everywhere else: ever increasing premiums and deductibles, people can’t afford to use the insurance, doctors aren’t taking it, there are long waits for those doctors that do, and the state is constantly having to give the program more and more money. And, remember this?

NICE: Jerry Brown and California Democrats Pledge to Let Citizens Die so Violent Criminals Can Thrive

By Lloyd Billingsley

“Could California Become a Sanctuary State under Trump?” ran the January 26 headline in the Sacramento Bee. Readers can lose the question mark because governor Jerry Brown has been protecting violent criminals since the 1970s.

In 1973, American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks was convicted of riot and assault for a 1973 courthouse gun battle in South Dakota. Banks had been having an affair with AIM activist Anna Aquash, who in 1976 was found murdered, shot through the back of the head. That year Banks fled to California, and Governor Jerry Brown refused to extradite him.

YES, REALLY: Legacy Media Urge Illegal Aliens to Sign Their Kids Up for Medi-Cal Welfare Program

Because California is running a massive surplus and the federal government is a financial powerhouse.

In a few months, California will begin providing full Medi-Cal coverage to all low-income children – regardless of their immigration status.

Depending on whom you ask, 170,000 to 250,000 children who live in California and are in the country illegally will qualify.

THE NEW CALIFORNIA CRIME WAVE: Democrat Success Story #78,012

By John Perazzo

Something amazing has happened in California. First, a brief background: Crime rates across the state, after a long period of steady decline, had reached fifty-year lows in 2014. Then, that November, a 60 percent majority of California voters—presumably incapable of accepting such good news without a measure of collective guilt—decided that it would be a really enlightened idea to pass Proposition 47, a ballot initiative bearing the cheery name “The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” The purpose of this measure was to downgrade many types of drug possession and property crimes from felonies (punishable by more than a year in prison) to misdemeanors (which often entail no prison time at all). For the benefit of squeamish skeptics, the self-assured proponents of Prop 47 condescended to explain that these reduced penalties would not only alleviate prison overcrowding, but would also make California's streets safer by placing drug offenders into warm-and-fuzzy treatment and counseling programs, rather than into disagreeable prison cells. If you think this sounds like a familiar old tune, you're quite correct. It was #1 on the left-wing hit parade throughout the 1960s, when it became the theme song of skyrocketing crime rates across the United States. And now the Golden Oldie is back, in the Golden State.

CALIFORNIA’S DROUGHT: A Democrat-Made Crisis

By Steven Greenhut

HIGH AND DRY: The lake bed where water has dried due to the drought at Big Bear Lake, Calif. California cities cut water use by a combined 31 percent in July, exceeding the governor’s statewide mandate to conserve, officials said Aug. 27. The strong water conservation figures show California residents are beginning to understand the dire need to cut back in a fourth year of drought, Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, said. (AP)

I was walking through downtown Sacramento recently when raindrops started falling. People on the street stopped dead in their tracks, looked up at the sky and began acting giddy. “What’s that?” I asked a man. “I think it’s something called rain,” he responded. Such is the gallows humor in a state that hasn’t seen substantial rainfall in years.

The obvious lack of rain is the seemingly obvious reason for the state’s lack of sufficient water. Water levels in state reservoirs are falling, officials are cracking down on “excess” water use (lawn-watering, etc.), and voters passed a water bond on the 2014 ballot to help fund more storage. The Capitol crowd is obsessed with the water issue, while local planners use the crisis to clamp down on building permits.

State officials say California’s drought is “one of the most severe droughts on record” and they warn that even an El Nino rainy season is unlikely to fix the situation. In fact, nothing seems to fix the situation. Californians have slashed their water use by 31 percent during July — well above the 25-percent reduction targeted by the governor. And there’s still not enough water.

But as this Watchdog series will show, California’s drought is largely a man-made crisis. It is caused by a series of policies — some from the past, many that are ongoing — which has prioritized environmental demands above the basic provision of water resources to the public. More than half of the state’s water resources simply flow out the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean.

14 Democrats Form the Congressional ISIS Caucus

By James Simpson

The United States allows 70,000 people from all over the world to obtain legal permanent residence through our Refugee Program--one of the most generous in the world. We also bring in another 40,000 or so through the Asylum program. Then there is the Special Immigrant Visa for people from Iraq and Afghanistan--about 10,000 in FY 2014--and a Cuban/Haitian Entrant program bringing in another 20,000 annually. That adds up to about 140,000.

Many of these "refugees" come from Islamic countries like Somalia, Iraq and Iran, bringing with them at least the potential for terrorism, in many cases a contempt for our country and the almost universal edict among Muslims to dominate. Islamic supremacist Mega Mosques are being erected all over the country, vigorously supported by the Obama Justice Department, which runs interference for them over the objections of local citizenry.

It's about to get worse. The Syrian civil war--enabled at least partially by Obama's insane foreign policy--has created a refugee crisis, with approximately 2.9 million Syrians now living in refugee camps in surrounding countries. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees wants the U.S. to accept 130,000 Syrians by the end of 2016. We have only taken 700 so far, but given the FBI's warning that it cannot guarantee ISIS or other terrorists are not among the refugees, even that is too many.

Not to be dissuaded from such silly national security concerns, a group of 14 U.S. senators, led by the indefatigable Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, have written a letter to Obama urging him to allow 65,000 Syrians in as refugees. This would require a dramatic expansion of the refugee program, and virtually guarantee that a sizable number of ISIS fighters would slip in among them. Frank Gaffney's Center for Security Policy has given them the moniker "Jihad Caucus" because practically speaking, Jihad is what this request will bring.

The 14 senators demanding this massive influx of Syrians are:

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Job Growth for Immigrants Far Outpacing That of American Citizens

By Karen Zeigler and Steven A. Camarota

The Gang of Eight immigration bill (S.744) passed last June would have roughly doubled the number of new foreign workers allowed into the country, as well as legalized illegal immigrants.

Both of New Hampshire’s senators voted for it.

An analysis of government data by the Center for Immigration Studies shows that since 2000, 71 percent of the net increase in the number of working-age (16 to 65) people holding a job in New Hampshire has gone to immigrants (legal and illegal) — even though the native-born accounted for 65 percent of population growth among the working-age. As a result, the share of natives holding a job in the state has declined significantly. The decline in employment has been felt primarily by natives without a college education.

Among the findings:

• The total number of working-age (16 to 65) immigrants (legal and illegal) holding a job in New Hampshire increased by 21,000 from the first half of 2000 to the first half of 2014, while the number of working-age natives with a job increased by just 8,700 over the same period.
  
  

THE FIVE MOST BEAUTIFUL DEMOCRAT SENATORS: People Magazine Couldn't Be Reached for Comment

To be fair, these exquisite specimens are featured on the National Journal's 15 Most Liberal Senators List. But I, for one, think they're gorgeous.

From left to right:

• Charles "Schmucky" Schumer of New York
• Chris "Smeagel" Murphy of Connecticut
• Barbara "Sweet Cheeks" Mikulski of Maryland
• Sherrod "Pockmarks" Brown of Ohio

What? The hell you say. That was only four?

My bad. Chalk it up to my public education in Chicago.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

UNREAL: Gov. Jerry Brown Reveals That California Has Just Seceded From the Union and is Now Part of Mexico

No, I'm not joking.

On Monday evening, California Governor Jerry Brown said all Mexicans, including illegal immigrants, are welcome in California.

According to the Los Angeles Times, while introducing Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, who said America is "the other Mexico," Brown "spoke about the interwoven histories of Mexico and California." He "nodded to the immigrants in the room, saying it didn't matter if they had permission to be in the United States."

"You're all welcome in California," Brown reportedly said.

Brown has made California a sanctuary state by signing the Trust Act and giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. He has also expanded financial aid to illegal immigrants by signing the California DREAM Act. Peña Nieto reportedly "thanked state officials for embracing foreigners, citing measures that extend state benefits to immigrants."

Even during the border crisis, Brown reportedly vowed "to find ways to shorten long waits at the Tijuana-San Diego international border crossing," saying, "If we can put a man on the moon, we can put a man from Mexico to California in 20 minutes."

In 2012, 28% of Californians were born outside the United States, according to The New York Times. Hispanic voters reportedly "made up 19.2% of California voters" in 2010. And according to Pew Research, Latinos make up nearly 40% of the state's population and have made California "only the second state, behind New Mexico, where whites are not the majority and Latinos are the plurality."

Even though the University of California has admitted a record number of Hispanics, the Latino Caucus has vowed to make affirmative action and bilingual education top legislative priorities.

Read the last two paragraphs again. It's true: California has seceded to Mexico. It's as if Matt Bracken's tremendous novel Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista (the second of his awesome Enemies Foreign and Domestic trilogy) is clairvoyant non-fiction.

Isn't it interesting: the Supreme Court ruled that Arizona couldn't enforce federal immigration law because it claimed that the Executive Branch has so-called "plenary authority".

Yet progressive loons like Jerry Brown can rewrite federal statutes and annex an entire state to a foreign country?

This Democrat Party is completely out of control. It has succeeded in its century-long quest to fundamentally transform destroy our form of government.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

CALIFORNIA ACTION ALERT: Stop SB53, the Ammo Registration and Eventual Gun Confiscation Bill

By NRA-ILA

Your calls, e-mails and faxes are working! Senate Bill 53 has been stalled on the Assembly floor for days awaiting a vote. State legislators have admitted receiving tens of thousands of e-mails OPPOSING SB 53.

The war over SB 53 is heating up in Sacramento and now anti-gun advocates are attempting to split gun owners by trying to buy the support of hunters. The newest amended version of SB 53 will continue to BAN the mail and internet sales of ammunition to firearms owners in California, unless you have a hunting license. Supporters of SB 53 think that they can pretend to be "pro- hunting" while they are still violating the rights of firearms owners statewide.

Because of your efforts to OPPOSE SB 53, the supporters of SB 53 are desperately trying to SAVE AND PASS SB 53 by watering it down to benefit of select group of gun owners. You can be sure that if SB 53 is enacted this year, they will be back in 2015 to pass the full agenda of restricting ammunition sales to the rest of the law-abiding firearms owners in California.

Call AND e-mail the state Assembly NOW and tell them that hunters ARE firearms owners AND we stand UNITED in OPPOSING SB 53. Contact information for the state Assembly can be found here.

Hat tip: BadBlue Gun News.

PARDON MY CHORTLING: California's Cap-and-Trade Scam to Spike Gas Prices as Much as $.70 a Gallon

Thanks to their religion of global warming, Democrat politicians will cause gas prices in California to rise as much as $0.70 a gallon next year.

...Beginning in January, fuel suppliers in California will have to comply with the Cap and Trade program. The 2006 initiative seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state. And it seems generally expected that the coming change will lead to higher gasoline prices.

Projected increases range from 10 cents to 69 cents a gallon. In San Diego County, where the average price on Friday of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline was $3.894, that would be a significant jump into the $4 or more territory...

...Some politicians are worried about possible spikes in gas prices. Sixteen Assembly Democrats have sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration asking for a delay in the program, and a bill has been introduced that would postpone the change.

Political consultant Mike Madrid said politicians have good reason to be concerned. Voters would likely blame incumbents if gas prices go up, Madrid said.

“If gas prices were to go up 15 cents, you would start to see some political shake out. If it goes up 25, 30, 40 cents? You would see an earthquake," he said.

Are Democrats concerned about their insane policies, their impact on energy prices, the increased flight risk of businesses and productive individuals, and the ever-diminishing prospects of a once-great state?

No, of course not. They're worried about themselves -- their reelection chances.


Hat tip: BadBlue Tech.

California's Strictest-in-the-Nation Gun Control Laws No Match for Its Lax Mental-Commitment Rules

By Investor's Business Daily

Guns: The Santa Barbara shooter had legally purchased and registered firearms, and passed prior questioning by the police who saw no danger to himself or others. More gun laws won't stop the next such shooter, either.

It is eerie how the mental health of the shooter consistently seems to emerge as a key factor in mass shootings such as the rampage by Elliot Rodger, who killed six and wounded 13 on Friday. The shooter had been in therapy since age 8 and police had been warned by his parents to check him out.

Yet few liberals cry for tougher mental health laws compared with demands for tougher gun control. It would surprise these liberals that "right-wing bitter clingers" and even the NRA agree that some people shouldn't have access to guns — people such as Elliot Rodger.

The question is how to realistically and constitutionally do it. Instead of answering that question, we hear cries for "tougher" laws. But tougher than what?

Last December the Los Angeles Times noted in a report that California had the strictest gun control laws in the country and had received an A- grade in a state-by-state analysis by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

NINTH CIRCUIT: Yes, We Approve of the Violent Balkanization of the United States Like Yugoslavia

In case you haven't heard about the bizarre Ninth Circuit decision regarding students punished for wearing American flag T-shirts to school, please consider:

Yesterday, the 9th US Circuit ruled that the display of the American flag could be banned in a school if enough hoodlums threatened violence and the school lacked the will to do anything about it.

Apparently Live Oaks High School in Morgan Hill, CA allows a celebration of Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo, as we know is a Mexican holiday that was popularized in the US by chain restaurants wanting to sell super-sized margaritas and Dos Equis beer. Why that day? When it is safe to say 99% of the people celebrating it and a higher percentage of the students at Live Oak High School, regardless of heritage have never heard of the Battle of Puebla and couldn’t find it on a map. I don’t know.

Some American students, and I use that term deliberately without regards to ethnicity, objected to the giving over of the school to Mexico for the day and protested it by wearing American flags or American flag apparel...

...Rather than take action against those threatening violence, the principal, showing the moral and physical courage the educational establishment is so famous for, sent home the kids wearing American flags, in an American school, in freakin United States of America.

Would you be surprised to find out that California is ranked 47th in 8th grade science scores?

Or that 40 percent of California's children aren't fluent in English?

Or that 44 percent of incoming freshmen into the California state university system need help with remedial English and math?

And, most importantly, "it is forbidden to notice that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between illegal immigration and these woes"?

Multilingualism rips countries apart. The term Balkanization -- represented by countries like Yugoslavia -- is "the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile" to one another.

Multilingualism promotes division.

Ultimately, multilingualism promotes civil war.

The Ukraine is but another example, its history rife with division and conflict even today.

Fast forward to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and we find that that fundamental division made hundreds of years ago, between East and West, Ukrainian and Russian speakers, is now a central issue. Once again, our bad neighbor to the East is trying to sweep Ukraine into its stifling embrace, exploiting the ancient divisions it helped cause.

The undeniable fact is this: Democrats embrace multiculturalism, which asserts that all cultures -- no matter how primitive or backward -- are equal. Democrats embrace multilingualism, which prevents assimilation. Democrats embrace division, not a harmonious civil society.

And the Ninth Circuit's ludicrous decision affirms that we are indeed on the path to a dissolution of the Republic.


Hat tip: BadBlue News

PERFECT: California May Ban Toy Guns

When I was a kid, a dozen or so of us would go running through the woods with pellet guns designed specifically to look like M-1 Garands, complete with wood stocks.

What would the crackpots in California say if they saw that in their neighborhood?

Toy guns made to look like the real thing would be banned in California under legislation announced Friday in Sonoma County, where a sheriff's deputy last month shot and killed a 13 year old boy after mistaking his replica AK 47 pellet gun for an assault rifle.

The bill, to be introduced by five lawmakers, would require pellet and other toy guns to be brightly colored or translucent so they are easily recognized. Federal law requires the replica guns only to have an orange mark on the tip of the barrel.

Look, that's a horrible, horrible tragedy. I can't imagine the pain the parents must be feeling.

At the same time, let's think for a moment: a 13-year old carrying a toy AK? Instead of determining whether the deputy was at fault, the state wants to ban all toy guns?

When I was in first grade, I was green with envy over a single toy owned by my next-door neighbor and best friend. His parents had bought him a Johnny Seven OMA.

In the sixties, the Johnny Seven OMA (One Man Army) was the ultimate toy firearm. It integrated seven distinct weapons (thus the Johnny Seven) into a single chassis:

* Grenade * Anti-Tank Rocket * Armor-Piercing Shell * Anti-Bunker Rocket

* Repeating Rifle * Tommy Gun * Automatic Pistol

All of the firing mechanisms were attached to the main rifle assembly - the pistol inserted from the bottom to provide the rifle grip (the pistol also held caps for authentic firing sounds). The main ammunition included various sized white bullets that would "shoot" from the barrels via spring-action. The rockets and grenade also fired via spring-action. The weapon featured a working bipod that provided stability for the various rockets and grenade. The stock could be removed to shorten the weapon while in Tommy Gun mode. The toy when fully assembled is over three feet long.

Decades later, I still remember the Johnny Seven and how my parents would never spring for one.

But I'm not bitter.

Honestly, though, if a kid was walking around with a Johnny Seven these days, they would call in a SWAT team and a hostage negotiator. And Chuck Schumer would hold a press conference to get more face time on TV.

Man, how times have changed.



Update: More Toys That Would Be Completely Illegal Today.

California Democrat Cheers for One-Party Rule (Because Hitler Made the Trains Run on Time, Right @FromaHarrop?)

Some crackpot named "Froma Harrop" claims one-party rule is good for California, even as the state collapses into bankruptcy. Ralph sends along a link to Creators featuring someone with that name -- which, memory serves, is Latin for a certain highly contagious STD. And she simply adores one-party rule.

California has found a formula for ending the partisan warfare that once paralyzed its government: Get rid of one of the parties, in this case, the Republican. The state's famously dysfunctional government now hums with calm efficiency.

Yes, "calm efficiency". The trains run on time, one would assume. Oh, and Pol Pot had one-party rule, too. That didn't work out too well for, oh, a couple million of his subjects. Who we won't be interviewing for... the rest of their lives.

Democrats there hold a supermajority in the state Legislature, making it well-nigh impossible for Republicans to gum up their plans. The governor, Jerry Brown, is a Democrat, as well.

Plans like massive deficit spending, rampant illegal immigration, a collapsing welfare state, and a looming pension disaster? Congratulations! Let freedom ring!

...As districts become more politically diverse, Republican right-wingers — with their inflamed imaginings and inexplicable amount of free time — see their power to produce sure losers curbed...

Yes, those damnable Republicans with their inflamed imaginings. Like the Constitution matters. Like individual liberties matter. Like trying to control an IRS, an NSA, a DOJ, and a Beltway Elite who are completely out of control. Imagine the nerve!

...Sacramento is now a model of quiet efficiency. The state's new health insurance exchange is off and running with minimal drama. And there's even a move to ease some environmental regulations at the behest of business.

"The new California health insurance exchange is running with minimal drama"? Perhaps Froma (Gesundheit!) should ask those affected by Blue Cross canceling roughly 60 percent of its individual insurance policies. Or the thousands of other horror stories so egregious even the Los Angeles Times has been forced to take note. Or the more than 10 million people nationwide who have thus far lost their policies.

Now if we didn't have Detroit, and Chicago, and Sacramento, and dozens of other bankrupt, one-party, Democrat-run cities collapsing into miserable microcosms of third-world cesspools, she might have a point to consider.

Yo Froma, if that is your real name, I have two suggestions: first, lay off the acid; and second, head over to PensionTsunami, where the true economic toll of the Detroitocrat Party is laid bare. Don't worry, they use words at the sixth-grade reading level, so you should be okay.

In short, the infernal alliance of public sector unions and their Democrat toadies have set California on a course of fiscal destruction. Businesses and taxpayers are fleeing, illegal immigrants who suckle on the public teat are welcomed, and Shmenga Hadoop thinks that model's sustainable.

So I'll take a flyer and trust Milton Friedman over Yenta Maloop: he said that combining open borders and a massive welfare state would bankrupt a country. And that is where California is headed as surely as as Freda Maloof is destined to be a footnote to a footnote to a footnote when the history of America's great op-ed writers is written.

Yo, Maroof: stop destroying my country!

A single county in the U.S. spends more than $2 billion a year on benefits for illegal aliens

But I'm sure the taxpayers of Los Angeles County don't mind. After all, they most certainly don't need the money themselves.

A projected $650 million in welfare benefits will be distributed to illegal alien parents in 2013, county officials said Monday.

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich announced the latest figures from the Department of Public Social Services, which showed more than $376 million in CalWORKs benefits and food stamps combined have been distributed through July to illegal alien parents for their native-born children.

Approximately $54 million in welfare payments are issued each month, consisting of nearly $20 million in CalWORKs and $34 million in food stamp issuances, according to the data.

An estimated 100,000 children of 60,000 undocumented parents receive aid in Los Angeles County, according to Antonovich, who said this year’s projections — up about $1 million from the nearly $53 million in total benefits issued in July 2012 — underscore the economic impact of the nation’s immigration debate.

“When you add the $550 million for public safety and nearly $500 million for healthcare, the total cost for illegal immigrants to county taxpayers exceeds $1.6 billion dollars a year,” Antonovich said in a statement. “These costs do not even include the hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually for education.”

With education added in, it's safe to say that the county is spending upwards of $2 billion a year supporting illegal aliens.

So each taxpaying household in the county is spending $1,200 a year -- $100 each and every month -- supporting illegal aliens. But I'm sure there's nothing else they'd rather spend that money on.


Hat tip: Lee.

CALIFORNIA STATE BUDGET IN AWESOME SHAPE: Bay Area Rapid Transit honcho earned $333,000 last year without working a single day

There are those who believe that California is running a budget surplus. And there are those who believe in the Tooth Fairy. Both groups have an equal amount of credibility.

California's massive pension, education, and health care obligations -- to name but a few -- have mysteriously been omitted from the current-state budget analysis. Exhibit 90 jabillion of the fiscal insanity is a particularly crusty old bird named Dorothy Dugger, who has pulled off one of the more elegant (legal) ripoffs of the state's taxpayers.

With a gross salary of more than $333,000, BART's highest-paid employee last year wasn't its general manager, police chief or a worker who racked up gobs of overtime scrubbing grime from filthy train seats... [Instead it] was someone who did no work at all for BART in 2012: Dorothy Dugger, the agency's former general manager who resigned under pressure more than two years ago.

Under a lucrative retirement scheme, Dugger, 57, quietly stayed on the books, burning off nearly 80 weeks of unused vacation time, drawing paychecks and full benefits for more than 19 months after she agreed to quit in May 2011, according to an analysis by this newspaper. By remaining on BART's payroll, she accrued almost two extra months of vacation, while sitting at home drawing a six-figure salary for unused time off.

The months of extra pay were on top of the $920,000 that BART paid Dugger to leave after the agency's board botched an effort to fire her by violating public meetings laws...[she] reaped the astonishing windfall by cashing in more than 3,100 vacation hours, saved during her 20 years with BART.

[In addition, because] she was allowed to drag out her vacation-bank payments for months, Dugger received $138,000 worth of benefits, including pension contributions and medical insurance -- perks she would not have received if she had taken her vacation payments in a lump-sum check. Since she remained on BART's payroll, Dugger also received an additional $98,000 in cash, because she was still racking up vacation time and management bonuses -- even though she had no one to manage.

...Remaining on BART's payroll also added both time and money to the calculations on which Dugger's retirement is based -- increasing her pension payments by more than $1,000 a month for life. When her time on BART's books finally ran out in December, she began to draw a pension of $181,000 a year.

...Dugger said she was proud of her time with BART. Asked if her lucrative use of vacation time exposed a fiscal flaw in the agency, she said, "I think BART's track record on fiscal management is quite solid."

Quite solid indeed.

Thanks to the nefarious alliance of Democrats and public sector unions, California's budget woes haven't even begun.


Hat tip: LVN.