Posted by
Mark on Thursday, October 25, 2007 9:15:31 PM
Last night, I received a phone call from Ted "in my pocket" Gaines to join his telephone town hall meeting. It does not take a rocket scientist to know the calls that Ted took were all screened. Dave from Rocklin asked Ted a question about education. Ted said he supported charter schools. Mr. Gaines, quit lying to us. I am disappointed that Dave in Rocklin did not ask why Mr. Gaines supports the anti-charter school Republicans on the Rocklin School Board. I called Dave and asked him how long he waited to talk with Ted. He said 5 minutes. I was on for over 30 minutes. It is obvious they were screening phone numbers. Mr. Gaines, you are already lining your pockets with taxpayer money. Stop using our money to stage a fixed telephone town hall meeting. And Gaines thinks JTD has an ethical problem. Ted should take look in the mirror.
Lets look at the facts. The Rocklin School District is the largest school district in the 4th Assembly District. The school district has nearly 10,000 students. Ted Gaines helped spend over $15,000 of teacher union money to help elect 2 Republicans and one Decline to State to the Rocklin School Board last November. His Chief of Staff bragged during the victory celebration on election night (remember it was held with JTD) that they got the 3 CTA candidates elected. The Rocklin School District Superintendent, Kevin Brown, said that the school board would not support a charter high school in Rocklin. Don’t take my word, read the board minutes from the Rocklin Academy board meetings.
I would like someone to ask Mr. Gaines if he will support a high school charter school in Rocklin. He needs to answer yes or no. I hear JTD supports this charter high school.
Because of Gaines, Rocklin residents who pay a lot of taxes, in school bonds, cannot even send their children to a school of choice. Call the Rocklin Academy charter school and ask how many Rocklin residents are on the waiting list. There are hundreds. If the Ted supporters think JTD has ethical problems, Ted “in my pocket” Gaines is lying to the voters with regards to charter schools. There is nothing worse than a politician that lies to the voters.
Maybe Ted will get lucky and the governor will call another special session of the legislature so he can line his pockets with the $175 a day per diem. Ted, since you insist on taking the per diem and you say it is a “sacrifice to serve in the Assembly” why not donate your per diem to the men and women who are really making the sacrifice. Why not pick a charity that is supporting our troops and donate your per diem to them?
Message for Ted, do not spend our tax dollars on a telephone town hall meeting just to make yourself look good. Show some real leadership by not being afraid to answer the hard questions from the voters.
We can only hope that “in my pocket” does challenge JTD. JTD wins the primary and then we have Gaines out of the California legislature. He can go back to making the big bucks in his insurance business.