BTW: Santa Barbara City’s and County’s voting majority support a bigger, even more powerful government. In 2026, the Santa Barbara City Council’s 3 open seats could go to ‘endorsed allies’ of the Santa Barbara Democratic Socialists of America (SBDSA). D1 Rep Wendy Santamaria was SBDSA’s recent candidate victory. SBDSA is emboldened and postured for wins in Districts 4,5,6.
Our elected registered Democrat leaders favor unions. Do you? If not, what are you willing to do— to contribute — to change our local reality? Take a close look at TransparentCalifornia.com.
Help inform the uninformed too busy working, earning to survive. Reach out to registered No Party Preference (NPP) voters, and those who rarely vote who will determine 2026 electoral outcomes.
Thank You Justin! You’re a highly valued community asset; a proven leader who for starters we need in the CA Assembly or Senate!
Indeed, the entire Democratic Party is making a metamorphic change into socialism. First Pelosi, then Schumer, all the dead wood soon to be gone! Replaced with young, hip, snappy, Gen Z candidates like Zohran Mamdani. Focus is on providing massive government jobs, for which they gain union members and lifelong voters and supporters.
We must each do what we can to elect Bob Smith to US Congress D-24! He’s competent, prepared, experienced, a man with integrity. Bob Smith is a stellar candidate: he’s electable. Help introduce Bob to other conservatives and moderates to ensure Bob goes to Washington to send socialist Salud packing. Imagine how real representation in DC will benefit us.
LT and others: Bob is tirelessly campaigning, he’s a serious FT Candidate meeting others from SLO to Ventura, plus making about 100 phone calls a day! Raising money requires many calls, and hosted Meet & Greets. Are you willing to host a coffee or other event?
If he/we Bob Smith supporters don’t raise $250,000 by year end — and the next two quarters thereafter before June Primary — Bob’s campaign is ineligible for matching dollars. As a military career veteran, Bob can apply to veteran PACs also to benefit from statewide and national mailings. Please help make this possible.
Every dollar counts! Whether people send $20 or hundreds or up to $7000, we must do what we can.
Salud has done nothing to benefit our District-24 from affordability and jobs to increasing the supply of essential energy. Absolutely NOTHING!
Salud just bragged he reduced the "percentage" of whale strikes by ships in the SB Channel with his superfluous federal legislation. Notice no mention of actual numbers of whales saved; just the percentage reduction. What does that even mean?
Whales are known to have very keen underwater hearing and move away from any ships entering their waters. So what are the actual numbers of "whale strikes" Salud, Facts, not more fake green window dressing please.
Plus all sea creatures love it when ships stir up the waters, refreshing the sea floor nutrients for the entire top to bottom food chain in our waters. Sea creatures in fact live off a floating food chain of excrements from other creatures in their own food chains.
Justin: Please describe “Right Wing Populism”. Won’t those against socialism and increased taxes be motivated to vote for Bob Smith? What introductions to Bob would win over a populist voter?
We need a follow up article, a tutorial, your advice on how to win in 2026, beyond only donating money. I’m aware Bob needs $250,000 this quarter for PAC matching funds, and each voter can give up to $7000. I certainly appreciate learning from you.
Right Wing populism champions “the people” against elites; nationalism, economic protectionism, and cultural conservatism. Trump’s 2024 win embodied this, mobilizing voters disillusioned with globalization, bureaucracy, and identity politics. DOGE, Prosecuting Corruption, Strong Borders, America First. Obviously the elites have fought him like a caged animal because he is an existential threat. Socialism is the easy path for politicians who want power.
Agree with your definition Justin, but has Trump become too preoccupied with the Nobel Peace Prize sweepstakes, while voters are concerned about the economy and affordability? Eggs, bread, fuel are real America First issues, NOT the Sudan!
California Legislators and Newsom will do their best so we do not feel any benefits of the Trump Presidency. Trump’s first term was throttled by impeachments and the Russia Hoax. His second by activist judges. Unfortunately Left Wing Socialism is the preferred vehicle for our corrupt elites because it increases dependency and provides them the Human Shields needed to blackmail us.
Well written Justin. A back of the envelope calculation indicates that the funds available from the euphemistically named "Infrastructure" and "Inflation reduction" bills passed during the time the blue states limited private employment, was used to increase the federal workforce by about 50%. To serve whom?
In California the vote on Prop 50 indicates that the trend is eliminate input from anyone besides Democrats.
The GOP Congress needs to act rather than continue to ignore California, and blue state needs. We were warned in 2013 of the 2016 impending government-favored voter crossover point: tax beneficiaries would outnumber non-beneficiaries. Isn’t it time for Congress to: 1) End public employee unions for all government, K-12 public school, university and workers compensated by taxpayers. 2) Eliminate tax exempt 501(c)(3) property tax exempt status. Every NGO, NPO, and housing authority needs to pay for municipal services from fire, police, and roads to hospitals, schools. 3) Address the huge cash underground economy — estimated at 40% — by creating an incentive to report what has been paid to others in cash. 4) Count citizens separate from non-citizens in the 2030 census.
Address affordability! There’s no time like now to examine the fiscal impacts of eliminating income taxes on Californians reporting incomes under $90,000 regardless of household size; allowing a housing deduction for renters. It’s beyond time to reexamine eligibility requirements for the countless federal and local socialist entitlement programs. Eligibility workers know the many abuses and scams.
Excellent summation Justin. You correctly described the CR battle as a “manufactured crisis,” but then again, this is what Democrats do. They concoct a “crisis,” whereby their constituents become the “victims.” All based on a staged hoax and employee walk out.
The entire CR manufactured crisis is from a page right out of the SEIU playbook. Claim victimization and then walk off the job with little or no consequences. Happens repeatedly at UCSB. Speaking of UCSB, I witnessed first hand how representatives from the Deans office would drop in handing out Dem activist literature, all while on the clock.
Nothing to see here folks.
Yes, you rightfully point out that the pension piggy bank is running empty. High courts have already ruled that public pensions cannot be renegotiated, despite municipalities going broke!
The 5 or so Democratic senators who have courageously voted to re-open the government will have hell to pay. Already, there are calls by the DSA to primary these outcasts!
The government shutdown is nothing more than a national strike being called by the Democrats. In essence, the left has defunded our entire economy and government!
I read this Money Bail-Out Article titled "Three Million Public Sector Workers Pad California’s Democrat Party" By Justin Shores I have a simpler title "Public Corruption Systemic in CALI"
It is not just "Three Million Public Sector ... Padding ..." it is in the Billions folks>
Very well laid out Justin. Californians need to open their eyes and take the time to understand why this formula being used by our state and local government will in the end, strangle the goose laying the golden egg, i.e., the taxpayers that are funding this charade.
In SB County, the public payroll/benefits exceeds 20% of County GDP. Public job growth is also exceeding private job growth by 5%. It’s unhealthy to fall below 2:1 private/public ratio - well below this.
In summary, the county is completely unhealthy in tax producer to tax user, by all accepted metrics. Would be nice to see a Rupert analysis of this.
Great article Justin: and you say, "Democrats have mastered the art of job creation, not through innovation or market forces, but through a massive public sector that employs one in seven workers statewide."
Of course, the Dems recognize the more of themselves, the easier for Dems to conquer control of our lives ... along with taking our money and wasting it. Dems in CA have built an enormous, pyramid-structure in an organizational sense. I've seen it occur in the lower levels of management in corporations. But in industry, these organizational pyramids are occasionally trimmed by the higher corporate levels because they recognize waste which translates to less profits and concerns to stockholders. Neither the Dem electors nor the Dem politicians care about waste; it's all about power and hoarding money.
Thank you Jason. This is the number one issue we face, locally, county wide, state and national. The growth and power of the government employee unions. Feeding the unelected fourth branch of our government with ever-increasing tax dollars is job number one.
There can be no nostalgia about the old Democrat Party: this is the true face of the new Democrat Party. Dedicated to sit on both sides of the bargaining table allocating our tax dollars only for themselves, and buying votes for their next re-election.
They have money to burn on marketing campaigns, full of lies and vicious attacks against anyone who dares t to upend their careers of self-service, instead of public service. We have seen this play out here locally too many times already. This is not exaggeration.
Prepare to see good people defamed who dare oppose this well-oiled Democrat government employee machine.
What does the face of the local faculty union boss at our small local community college look like? Pretty much close to what we pay the President of the United States of America. Government employee unions run amok, while schools whine they don't get enough money.
Thank you again for laying out your concerns. You highlight systemic problems in California politics — the growth of the public sector, taxpayer-funded activism, and political structures that reward insiders. These issues don’t fall on any one person, but they do echo patterns seen across many offices, including Rep. Salud Carbajal’s political environment.
While there is no evidence of personal wrongdoing by Congressman Carbajal, some similarities exist between the statewide trends you mentioned and the way long-entrenched political networks operate on the Central Coast:
• A strong reliance on public-sector unions and publicly funded nonprofits.
Carbajal’s political base has traditionally included government employee unions, public-sector advocacy groups, and nonprofits that receive state or federal grants. This mirrors the larger statewide dynamic where public institutions and publicly funded organizations form a reliable political coalition.
• Heavy overlap between “community organizations” and political operations.
As in many California districts, the same nonprofit networks that advocate for policies also mobilize voters. Carbajal has long benefited from civic organizations that align with his agenda — similar to how you described taxpayer-funded activism feeding into political infrastructure statewide.
• Growth-focused government policy over private-sector relief.
Carbajal’s voting record tends to prioritize expanded federal programs, environmental regulatory structures, and additional public-sector funding. Supporters see this as investment; critics view it as contributing to the same government-as-dominant-employer trend you highlighted in California.
• A tendency toward large public spending without equal attention to long-term cost sustainability.
This is not unique to Carbajal — it’s common throughout the state’s political class — but the pattern overlaps with your point about California’s pension pressures, long-term liabilities, and expansion of government responsibilities without matching structural reform.
These parallels do not imply misconduct. Instead, they reflect a broader political culture in California where public-sector growth, taxpayer-funded institutions, and loyalty networks create a reinforcing cycle.
Your concern seems less about individuals and more about a system that rewards expansion, discourages reform, and leaves taxpayers carrying liabilities for decades. In that sense, the trends you described are visible in many districts, including those represented by Congressman Carbajal.
--1. Take over of this state's government by Democrats supporting only the government employee unions like SEIU and teachers unions, along now with construction trades unions feeding off government contracts.
--. 2. state budget now running in red ink.
We appear to have run out of OPM- other people's money. Democrats still make unsupportable promises to get votes, and their prior unfunded promises have now come due. Current anti-business state policies have chased away any means of future growth and production.
This is crunch time.
Indeed the great socialism experiment has hit a brick wall in this state. Pay very close attention their next moves. Where will the money come from to pay off past and present failed Democrat promises?
Every single Democrat-backed candidate needs to be held accountable for specific answers to this one question. And that also includes those already in office: Salud Carbajal, Monique Limon and Gregg Hart. Add Laura Capps, and Roy Lee. Same questions. Kristen Sneddon, Wendy Santa Maria, Oscar Gonzales, and Eric Friedman. Answers this time; no more evasions.
BTW: Santa Barbara City’s and County’s voting majority support a bigger, even more powerful government. In 2026, the Santa Barbara City Council’s 3 open seats could go to ‘endorsed allies’ of the Santa Barbara Democratic Socialists of America (SBDSA). D1 Rep Wendy Santamaria was SBDSA’s recent candidate victory. SBDSA is emboldened and postured for wins in Districts 4,5,6.
Our elected registered Democrat leaders favor unions. Do you? If not, what are you willing to do— to contribute — to change our local reality? Take a close look at TransparentCalifornia.com.
Help inform the uninformed too busy working, earning to survive. Reach out to registered No Party Preference (NPP) voters, and those who rarely vote who will determine 2026 electoral outcomes.
Thank You Justin! You’re a highly valued community asset; a proven leader who for starters we need in the CA Assembly or Senate!
Indeed, the entire Democratic Party is making a metamorphic change into socialism. First Pelosi, then Schumer, all the dead wood soon to be gone! Replaced with young, hip, snappy, Gen Z candidates like Zohran Mamdani. Focus is on providing massive government jobs, for which they gain union members and lifelong voters and supporters.
We must each do what we can to elect Bob Smith to US Congress D-24! He’s competent, prepared, experienced, a man with integrity. Bob Smith is a stellar candidate: he’s electable. Help introduce Bob to other conservatives and moderates to ensure Bob goes to Washington to send socialist Salud packing. Imagine how real representation in DC will benefit us.
Got it, but where is Bob? Is it me, or has he lately been as scarce as a California Condor!
Carbajal is winning the messaging battle, with the standard victimization virtue signaling.
Bob has been working very hard.
LT and others: Bob is tirelessly campaigning, he’s a serious FT Candidate meeting others from SLO to Ventura, plus making about 100 phone calls a day! Raising money requires many calls, and hosted Meet & Greets. Are you willing to host a coffee or other event?
If he/we Bob Smith supporters don’t raise $250,000 by year end — and the next two quarters thereafter before June Primary — Bob’s campaign is ineligible for matching dollars. As a military career veteran, Bob can apply to veteran PACs also to benefit from statewide and national mailings. Please help make this possible.
Every dollar counts! Whether people send $20 or hundreds or up to $7000, we must do what we can.
Salud has done nothing to benefit our District-24 from affordability and jobs to increasing the supply of essential energy. Absolutely NOTHING!
Salud just bragged he reduced the "percentage" of whale strikes by ships in the SB Channel with his superfluous federal legislation. Notice no mention of actual numbers of whales saved; just the percentage reduction. What does that even mean?
Whales are known to have very keen underwater hearing and move away from any ships entering their waters. So what are the actual numbers of "whale strikes" Salud, Facts, not more fake green window dressing please.
Plus all sea creatures love it when ships stir up the waters, refreshing the sea floor nutrients for the entire top to bottom food chain in our waters. Sea creatures in fact live off a floating food chain of excrements from other creatures in their own food chains.
Voters want Right Wing Populism or Left Wing Socialism - we will get one or the other.
Justin: Please describe “Right Wing Populism”. Won’t those against socialism and increased taxes be motivated to vote for Bob Smith? What introductions to Bob would win over a populist voter?
We need a follow up article, a tutorial, your advice on how to win in 2026, beyond only donating money. I’m aware Bob needs $250,000 this quarter for PAC matching funds, and each voter can give up to $7000. I certainly appreciate learning from you.
Right Wing populism champions “the people” against elites; nationalism, economic protectionism, and cultural conservatism. Trump’s 2024 win embodied this, mobilizing voters disillusioned with globalization, bureaucracy, and identity politics. DOGE, Prosecuting Corruption, Strong Borders, America First. Obviously the elites have fought him like a caged animal because he is an existential threat. Socialism is the easy path for politicians who want power.
Agree with your definition Justin, but has Trump become too preoccupied with the Nobel Peace Prize sweepstakes, while voters are concerned about the economy and affordability? Eggs, bread, fuel are real America First issues, NOT the Sudan!
California Legislators and Newsom will do their best so we do not feel any benefits of the Trump Presidency. Trump’s first term was throttled by impeachments and the Russia Hoax. His second by activist judges. Unfortunately Left Wing Socialism is the preferred vehicle for our corrupt elites because it increases dependency and provides them the Human Shields needed to blackmail us.
Well written Justin. A back of the envelope calculation indicates that the funds available from the euphemistically named "Infrastructure" and "Inflation reduction" bills passed during the time the blue states limited private employment, was used to increase the federal workforce by about 50%. To serve whom?
In California the vote on Prop 50 indicates that the trend is eliminate input from anyone besides Democrats.
The GOP Congress needs to act rather than continue to ignore California, and blue state needs. We were warned in 2013 of the 2016 impending government-favored voter crossover point: tax beneficiaries would outnumber non-beneficiaries. Isn’t it time for Congress to: 1) End public employee unions for all government, K-12 public school, university and workers compensated by taxpayers. 2) Eliminate tax exempt 501(c)(3) property tax exempt status. Every NGO, NPO, and housing authority needs to pay for municipal services from fire, police, and roads to hospitals, schools. 3) Address the huge cash underground economy — estimated at 40% — by creating an incentive to report what has been paid to others in cash. 4) Count citizens separate from non-citizens in the 2030 census.
Address affordability! There’s no time like now to examine the fiscal impacts of eliminating income taxes on Californians reporting incomes under $90,000 regardless of household size; allowing a housing deduction for renters. It’s beyond time to reexamine eligibility requirements for the countless federal and local socialist entitlement programs. Eligibility workers know the many abuses and scams.
Excellent summation Justin. You correctly described the CR battle as a “manufactured crisis,” but then again, this is what Democrats do. They concoct a “crisis,” whereby their constituents become the “victims.” All based on a staged hoax and employee walk out.
The entire CR manufactured crisis is from a page right out of the SEIU playbook. Claim victimization and then walk off the job with little or no consequences. Happens repeatedly at UCSB. Speaking of UCSB, I witnessed first hand how representatives from the Deans office would drop in handing out Dem activist literature, all while on the clock.
Nothing to see here folks.
Yes, you rightfully point out that the pension piggy bank is running empty. High courts have already ruled that public pensions cannot be renegotiated, despite municipalities going broke!
https://www.thecentersquare.com/california/article_55faf935-81b3-457e-9cb3-006fd895dbdf.amp.html
The Art of the Human Shield
The 5 or so Democratic senators who have courageously voted to re-open the government will have hell to pay. Already, there are calls by the DSA to primary these outcasts!
The government shutdown is nothing more than a national strike being called by the Democrats. In essence, the left has defunded our entire economy and government!
I read this Money Bail-Out Article titled "Three Million Public Sector Workers Pad California’s Democrat Party" By Justin Shores I have a simpler title "Public Corruption Systemic in CALI"
It is not just "Three Million Public Sector ... Padding ..." it is in the Billions folks>
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/federal-aid-by-state
https://balancingeverything.com/most-federally-dependent-states/
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO00/20250305/117980/HHRG-119-GO00-20250305-SD039.pdf
The five states that received the most federal aid were:
California ($162.9 billion) CORRUPT
New York ($110.2 billion) CORRUPT
Texas ($105.8 billion) CORRUPT SORT-OF
Florida ($58.8 billion) CORRUPT CLEANED UP
Pennsylvania ($57.1 billion) CORRUPT
Which States above are the most CORRUPT in the US??
BIG-GOV-MONEY = BIG CORRUPTION
Howard Walther, Member of a Military Family
Great thanks for truth!!
Very well laid out Justin. Californians need to open their eyes and take the time to understand why this formula being used by our state and local government will in the end, strangle the goose laying the golden egg, i.e., the taxpayers that are funding this charade.
In SB County, the public payroll/benefits exceeds 20% of County GDP. Public job growth is also exceeding private job growth by 5%. It’s unhealthy to fall below 2:1 private/public ratio - well below this.
In summary, the county is completely unhealthy in tax producer to tax user, by all accepted metrics. Would be nice to see a Rupert analysis of this.
Great article Justin: and you say, "Democrats have mastered the art of job creation, not through innovation or market forces, but through a massive public sector that employs one in seven workers statewide."
Of course, the Dems recognize the more of themselves, the easier for Dems to conquer control of our lives ... along with taking our money and wasting it. Dems in CA have built an enormous, pyramid-structure in an organizational sense. I've seen it occur in the lower levels of management in corporations. But in industry, these organizational pyramids are occasionally trimmed by the higher corporate levels because they recognize waste which translates to less profits and concerns to stockholders. Neither the Dem electors nor the Dem politicians care about waste; it's all about power and hoarding money.
Thank you Jason. This is the number one issue we face, locally, county wide, state and national. The growth and power of the government employee unions. Feeding the unelected fourth branch of our government with ever-increasing tax dollars is job number one.
There can be no nostalgia about the old Democrat Party: this is the true face of the new Democrat Party. Dedicated to sit on both sides of the bargaining table allocating our tax dollars only for themselves, and buying votes for their next re-election.
They have money to burn on marketing campaigns, full of lies and vicious attacks against anyone who dares t to upend their careers of self-service, instead of public service. We have seen this play out here locally too many times already. This is not exaggeration.
Prepare to see good people defamed who dare oppose this well-oiled Democrat government employee machine.
What does the face of the local faculty union boss at our small local community college look like? Pretty much close to what we pay the President of the United States of America. Government employee unions run amok, while schools whine they don't get enough money.
(NB: Name withheld)
Assistant Professor (2023)
Regular pay: $146,594.38
Overtime pay: $0.00
Other pay: $183,366.45
Total pay: $329,960.83
Benefits: $89,784.09
Total pay & benefits: $419,744.92
Thank you again for laying out your concerns. You highlight systemic problems in California politics — the growth of the public sector, taxpayer-funded activism, and political structures that reward insiders. These issues don’t fall on any one person, but they do echo patterns seen across many offices, including Rep. Salud Carbajal’s political environment.
While there is no evidence of personal wrongdoing by Congressman Carbajal, some similarities exist between the statewide trends you mentioned and the way long-entrenched political networks operate on the Central Coast:
• A strong reliance on public-sector unions and publicly funded nonprofits.
Carbajal’s political base has traditionally included government employee unions, public-sector advocacy groups, and nonprofits that receive state or federal grants. This mirrors the larger statewide dynamic where public institutions and publicly funded organizations form a reliable political coalition.
• Heavy overlap between “community organizations” and political operations.
As in many California districts, the same nonprofit networks that advocate for policies also mobilize voters. Carbajal has long benefited from civic organizations that align with his agenda — similar to how you described taxpayer-funded activism feeding into political infrastructure statewide.
• Growth-focused government policy over private-sector relief.
Carbajal’s voting record tends to prioritize expanded federal programs, environmental regulatory structures, and additional public-sector funding. Supporters see this as investment; critics view it as contributing to the same government-as-dominant-employer trend you highlighted in California.
• A tendency toward large public spending without equal attention to long-term cost sustainability.
This is not unique to Carbajal — it’s common throughout the state’s political class — but the pattern overlaps with your point about California’s pension pressures, long-term liabilities, and expansion of government responsibilities without matching structural reform.
These parallels do not imply misconduct. Instead, they reflect a broader political culture in California where public-sector growth, taxpayer-funded institutions, and loyalty networks create a reinforcing cycle.
Your concern seems less about individuals and more about a system that rewards expansion, discourages reform, and leaves taxpayers carrying liabilities for decades. In that sense, the trends you described are visible in many districts, including those represented by Congressman Carbajal.
Two-front war going on in this state:
--1. Take over of this state's government by Democrats supporting only the government employee unions like SEIU and teachers unions, along now with construction trades unions feeding off government contracts.
--. 2. state budget now running in red ink.
We appear to have run out of OPM- other people's money. Democrats still make unsupportable promises to get votes, and their prior unfunded promises have now come due. Current anti-business state policies have chased away any means of future growth and production.
This is crunch time.
Indeed the great socialism experiment has hit a brick wall in this state. Pay very close attention their next moves. Where will the money come from to pay off past and present failed Democrat promises?
Every single Democrat-backed candidate needs to be held accountable for specific answers to this one question. And that also includes those already in office: Salud Carbajal, Monique Limon and Gregg Hart. Add Laura Capps, and Roy Lee. Same questions. Kristen Sneddon, Wendy Santa Maria, Oscar Gonzales, and Eric Friedman. Answers this time; no more evasions.