General Platform

By Dale F. Ogden

Cut taxes & Spending; reign-in state government

roll-back spending to or below the level of 1998 (adjusted for inflation and population);

lower taxes significantly (especially income and sales taxes); eliminate harmful, useless, and duplicate regulatory agencies;

significantly reduce the number of employees at most other state agencies; and permanently limit future spending increases.

The friendly business and low tax environment will attract businesses and millions of jobs to California and tax receipts will soar. Any excess revenue should be used to retire debt or returned to the taxpayers.

We need to roll-back excessive salaries and pensions for state employees and increase the retirement age for both current and future state employees to 65 to 70 (from 50 or 55). We need to end collusion between politicians, bureaucrats and government employee unions. No elected or appointed official should ever get a pension or any other post-employment benefits.

I will create a volunteer Commission to pardon anyone convicted of a victimless crime, especially non-violent drug offenses.

We need to reduce transfer payments so that there is an incentive for people to be productive rather than to be parasites. We need to give every parent a choice in where their children attend school; give them vouchers and let them decide.

I will end the pointless war on drugs in California and, through ballot initiative, effect common sense limits on state government to allow people to live their lives as they choose (e.g., get government out of marriage) and keep the state government out of their personal and economic lives.