I recently received an unsolicited e-mail message from California State Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard.

Dear Mr. Bill,

I'm curious how you got my e-mail address ?

I had sent an e-mail to the State Board of Equalization once. I am wondering if it is possible that you are misusing data collected by a state agency to further your political career and/or agenda?

In any case, I resent this sort of intrusion Mr Bill. As a matter of policy, I do not respond to unsolicited junk e-mail and so I'm not going to go to your campaign web site to unsubscribe from your junk e-mailing list.

Are you using your position on the Board of a State Governmental Agency to in any way gain improper access to this Agency's database?

In all honesty, I don't recall ever hearing of you before Mr. Leonard. My first impression is that you are a first-class jerk and quite possibly a theif of public resources. It appears that you are a former State Senator and Assembly Member from San Bernardino County. As the SBOE Board Representative for District 2, I see that you don't even represent my District. I am guessing that since being forced out of the Legislature by term limits, you got yourself a position at SBOE so that you could keep a finger in politics and have a staff of clerks furnished by the tax-payers.

 I don't know your position on a single issue (please be assured that I have no intention of learning much more about you.) I do believe that you lack the character that I require of governmental officials. I looked at the pages devoted to you on the SBOE website. I find your shameless use of the web site this agency to blatently promote yourself and your own partisan political agenda totally unacceptable. Your contempt for me and for all of the voters and taxpayers of the State of California is clearly evident.

Not surprising is Mr. Bill's position against legislation that might limit or regulate unsolicited e-mail; OUOTE:
" Anyone reading this electronic newsletter is familiar with the concept of spam—not the meat product but junk email. (Some people reading this letter may consider it spam, but, then again, those people are probably not still reading this far into it.) A friend referred me to a site that lists all foreign, federal and state laws about junk email: http://www.spamlaws.com/index.html. I encourage you to peruse the site and see what the laws actually say. One of the biggest misconceptions is that any unsolicited email is prohibited, but the laws target commercial advertisements, not political or charitable communications. And as with any government program it seldom works the way the law intended."

"Assembly Bill 567 (Simitian) would authorize the recipient of spam to sue for up to $1,000. Not only will this do nothing to stop spam, it also has the potential to clog the courts with frivolous lawsuits from people trying to prove they were damaged by spam. "

What Mr. Bill does not seem to appreciate or respect is that many people simply object to the waste of time it takes to deal with the literally literally thousands of unsolicited e-mail messages they receive each week. I suspect that your lack of empathy may be due to the fact that you have a staff of tax-paid government employees that deals with this nusiance for you.

This is not Mr. Bills first experience with misuse of government computer resaources to annoy people with his unsolicited e-mails:
(From past story in the Chronicle:)
"California legislator using e-mail for proselytizing

   Should a taxpayer funded computer system be used to circulate
announcements for a weekly Bible study session?  Critics in California
say "no way" to the practice started by the office of Assembly
Republican leader Bill Leonard of San Bernardino.  Legislators and
staff members have been receiving e-mail "spam" which included notices
of a Bible study meeting on how to obtain peace with god "through
Christ on the cross" and "knowing your position and possessions in
Christ," according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Assemblywoman Carole Migden of San Francisco criticized the use of a
public computer data system, though, for such unconstitutional
pursuits.  "We were mortified," she noted.  "There is a separation of
church and state.  The Capitol e-mail is not the proper venue for
unsolicited proselytizing."

   According to the Chronicle, thanks to action by the vice chairman
of the committee governing Assembly operations, no more e-mails of
this type will be sent."

I'll be looking for any small opportunity to impeed your efforts Mr. Bill.


THE LEONARD LETTER
http://www.boe.ca.gov/leonard/index.htm

THE LEONARD LETTER
A weekly electronic newsletter about
California government, business and taxes
Bill Leonard, (asshole) Member
State Board of Equalization

June 1, 2004

To unsubscribe from the Leonard (spam) Letter, go to this link or cut and paste
it into your browser's address line:
http://www.billleonard.org/unsubscribe.asp.  After you enter your eddress,
you will receive a confirmation email you will need to click on to
complete the process.

To subscribe, or to subscribe a friend, go to www.billleonard.org, click
on Subscribe, enter the eddress and then click Send Request.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Any fixing of the mind on old evils beyond what is absolutely necessary
for repenting of our own sins and forgiving those of others is...usually
bad for us."
--- C.S. Lewis, Letter dated June 5, 1961

UNDER THE DOME

***Hypocrisy on Display***

There are certain issues that distinguish political parties from one
another and help detail the political spectrum.  For example, Democrats
are typically viewed as "pro-labor."  One need look no farther than their
recent advocacy for an increase in California's minimum wage.  So, ask
yourself which party in Sacramento is making a big stink about the
contracts negotiated with the state's Correctional workers.  In a fit of
hypocrisy, the Senate Democrats have signed a letter saying they will not
pay the Correctional workers what their contract spells out.  If the
Republicans were to object to a particular labor contract and refuse to
support a legal, valid, negotiated labor contract, Democrats would be
spitting bullets, but not this contract and not this time.

If the Senate Democrats wanted to be intellectually honest about this
exercise, they would say that the state's fiscal crisis requires the state
to re-examine the contracts for all employee unions.  However, singling
out one union and unilaterally disallowing their contract reeks of a
political agenda beyond a labor issue.

***How to Shrink***

The additional problem with halting pay increases is that it accomplishes
little to balance the state budget in the long run.  Imagine that
Correctional officers forgo the pay increases already due them from the
existing contract.  Those increases will be restored eventually and when
they are, a huge budget increase will occur.  What is truly needed is not
a temporary salary diet, but a serious liposuction of state employees.  We
have bloated bureaucracy upon bloated bureaucracy.  Until we cut out the
fat, and redistribute the remaining lean, we will continue to face
burgeoning state spending and budget crises beyond any employee contract.
Senate Democrats need to face this reality and begin seriously rethinking
their approach to state services rather than tinker at the margins and
settling old scores because of perceived political convenience.

***Plant a Vineyard***

Last week was one of the sillier in the Capitol as legislators rushed to
meet deadlines.  Many bills that were not-ready-for-prime-time passed
anyway and although the temperatures in Sacramento were mild, tempers
flared as if the heat of summer were already upon us.  Some legislators
came to the floor wearing aprons and stickers featuring a red M as a
protest to a pastor's discussion about whether women with children at home
should serve in the legislature.  Some Republicans turned their red Ms
upside down to be Ws, signifying their support for the President. Others
sought to make light of the controversy, turning the stickers sideways to
represent the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet Epsilon, a mathematical
concept meaning very small, negligible or insignificant.

At issue is the pastor's interpretation of Proverbs 31. I have always read
that chapter as an explanation of virtuous woman and, thus, a good wife.
Among the qualities expounded on are strength, kindness, charity,
confidence, honor, wisdom and attention to her household and children.
The passage that intrigues me is verse 16, which says, "She considereth a
field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a
vineyard."  While planting a vineyard can be metaphorical, it seems very
practical in this case.  The woman in Proverbs 31 had her own money, used
it to buy land, and then worked the land successfully.  There is much
there for every woman to learn about God's plan for her life and it is
folly for anyone to believe that every woman must follow an identical
path.

ECONOMIC FOCUS

***Kudos on Commentary***

Commendation to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin for an outstanding
editorial
(http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~23127~2178123,00.html)
about why taxing the internet is silly.  The Bulletin, comparing its tale
to Aesop's golden-egg-laying goose, writes, "Once upon a time, the golden
state of California had it all: a thriving economy, bountiful natural
resources and rich intellectual capital. Then, one day, some of the lords
of California had a foolish idea: 'We will squeeze the Internet business
and get all the gold now so that we can continue to spend the state's
dollar recklessly for our own benefit and the benefit of our friends.'
But the squeeze on the Internet business was too hard, and it snapped the
industry's neck, chased it away to other states and nations, as it did the
film industry before that.  Afterward, there was not more gold for
California from that particular source, and it was bad."    The Bulletin
concludes, rightfully so, that an internet tax is "unenforceable, arguably
unconstitutional and good for nothing more than turning most taxpaying
Californians into criminals."


***We're Not In Kansas***

Forbes magazine just published its "Best Places"issue and asked the
question,
"here should you locate new businesses and subsidiaries?" The answer is
simple: "In states with the fewest regulatory body blocks and fiscal
obstacles."  Using a study done by the Pacific Research Institute (see
http://www.pacificresearch.org/centers/cfe/index.html) , Forbes evaluated
143 variables for each state, including tax rates, state spending,
occupational licensing, environmental regulations, income redistribution,
right-to-work and prevailing-wage laws, tort laws and the number of
government agencies.

Kansas ranked first, as the most free, and the article noted that the
state's "legislature is now considering innovative bills exempting custom
software from sales taxes and eliminating the state franchise tax for most
businesses -- a serenade to entrepreneurial ears."

Giving new meaning to the pop-culture phrase, "We're not in Kansas
anymore," California came in 49th.  Forbes observed that the Golden State
is one of the "most punitive policy environments for economic
opportunity."


*** Slight Increase in Property Values Sign of Health for State***

Pursuant to Article XIII of the Constitution, the Board sets unitary
values of state-assessed  properties annually, on or before May 31.  This
year, the aggregate value, as determined by the Board, is $65,938,381,400
vs. $64,709,537,782 in 2003, an increase of about 2% in the value of all
state assessed properties.


BOE AND LEGISLATIVE DATES

June 15, 2004 --- Budget bill must be passed by midnight

June 15, 2004 --- Quarterly due date for estimated income taxes

June 15-16, 2004 --- BoE meeting in Culver City

June 19, 2004 --- Juneteenth Celebration of the historic time in 1865 that
slaves in Texas received the word that President Lincoln had issued the
Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863 making them free.

June 24, 2004 --- Deadline for submission of legislative measures to
November ballot.

July 2, 2004 --- Legislature's summer recess begins, providing a budget
bill has been enacted.

NOTABLE DATES/ HISTORY

150 years ago: El Monte, on the banks for the San Gabriel River, was
playing a significant role in our state's pioneer history.  By 1854 it was
known as the 'End of the Santa Fe Trail.'  It was an encampment on the Old
Spanish Trail, which was an extension of the trail from Missouri to Santa
Fe. Immigrants from Texas established a permanent settlement, the first
settlement in Southern California founded by U.S. citizens.

June 1, 1789 --- First U.S. Congressional act became law (on administering
oaths)

June 1, 1869 --- Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric voting
machine

June 2, 1924 --- U.S. citizenship was granted to all American Indians.

June 3, 1800 --- John Adams moved to Washington, D.C. He was the first
President to live this capital city of the United States.

June 4, 1892 --- The Sierra Club was incorporated in San Francisco.

June 4, 1919 -- The U.S. Senate passed the Women's Suffrage bill.

June 4, 2003 --- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill banning
partial birth abortions on a 282-139 vote.

June 5, 1917 --- 10 million U.S. men began registering for draft in WW I

June 5, 1977 - The first personal computer, the Apple II, was available
for sale

June 6, 1928 --- George Deukmejian, 35th Governor of California, was born
in Menands, NY

June 6, 1932 --- U.S. federal gas tax enacted

June 6, 1944 --- D-Day: 150,000 Allied Expeditionary Force landed in
Normandy, France

June 6, 1978 --- California voters approve Proposition 13, cutting
property taxes 57%


GENERAL TAX INFORMATION

For answers to your general tax questions, call the Board of Equalization
information center.  Customer service representatives are available to
help you from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific time, Monday through Friday
(except state holidays).

Toll-free number: 800-400-7115
TDD service for the hearing impaired
TDD phones: 800-735-2929
Voice phones: 800-735-2922

To reach the Taxpayer Rights Advocate's office, call toll-free
1-888-324-2798.
HOW TO CONTACT ME

Bill Leonard
(asshole, jerk, creep theif, crook, buggerer, corrupt, scam, cocksucker, stupid idiot, scum, moron, fool, dick, fraud, bribe, crooked politician, self-serving, stole, funds, money, robbery, robbed exposed, evidence abused abuser )
Board of Equalization
400 Capitol Mall, Suite 2340
Sacramento, CA 95814
Telephone: (916) 445-2181
Fax: (916) 327-4003

Email: [email protected]