CALIFORNIA - THE MYTH AND THE REALITY

Sacramento, California -

The headlines are full of stories about California's budgetary problems, how it may have to declare bankruptcy, how it is issuing IOU's which the major banks are refusing to accept, and how in the midst of it, its governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, puffs away at his cigars and flies in his private jet every day from his mansion in Los Angeles to Sacramento.

For years, California has advertised the image of being the golden state, with sun-drenched beaches, sun-tanned residents, and one of the world's largest economies.

Now, it is issuing IOU's to its service providers (vendors) and those who are owed income tax refunds. An IOU is a promissory note to pay the holder some time in the future - in this case, on October 1, 2009 - if the state has money. Up until July 9, most banks were accepting them. But now, the 3 largest, Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo, have stopped accepting them. California has currently issued $350 million in IOUs, and is planning to issue another $2.5 billion by the end of July.

Schwarzenegger wants to drastically cut the already meagre aid to the blind, handicapped and elderly in order to help balance the budget. But in February of this year, he had no hesitation in signing SB-11, which gave a 26% pay increase and bonuses to judges using borrowed money from the federal government. In Los Angeles County alone, this amounts to over $20 million a year. As far as is known, none of the judges are blind, handicapped or elderly. Apparently, the golden state is golden for the few. But for the majority?

What happened? How did it go from riches to rags?

The story is long, but at its heart, as one resident summed it up, "The vultures came to California." Let us focus on just one aspect - its housing.

At the end of World War II, millions flocked to California for the weather and the jobs. With its great natural resources - it is the third largest agricultural nation in the world - and its proximity to the burgeoning economies of Asia, it seemed to present a golden opportunity for millions of Americans.

Obviously, they needed to live some place, and developers obliged by carving out vast tracts of land and inundating them with cookie-cutter built homes that all looked alike. To ensure local planning approval, they created homeowner associations, whereby they could say to the local municipality that they were generating massive amounts of new revenue, while simultaneously reducing the tax burden of these municipalities because the homeowner associations would take care of their own streets, lighting etc. In addition, they generously lined the pockets of local and state legislators with what are euphemistically called "campaign contributions". Others might say bribes.

So, homeowner associations became a powerful income stream for all layers of California government. - and as students of government know, you do not mess with income streams.

This income stream was used to fund, for example, the lavish incomes of politicians and judges. The salaries of Los Angeles County supervisors are the highest in the nation. The salaries of California judges are the highest in the nation.

This explains why homeowners in California who have sued their homeowner associations invariably lose. Judges realize that homeowner associations must be defended at any cost even if it means breaking laws and subjecting homeowners to extortions of millions of dollars, and foreclosures and imprisonments by rogue homeowner association lawyers. All this in order to continue the revenue stream that makes their high salaries possible.

Orange County in Southern California has become particularly notorious. Whenever a case has been tried before a judge instead of a jury, the homeowner invariably loses. A review of cases handled by judges such as Brooks, Chaffey, Glass, Hunt, Smith, Monroe, Munoz and others show a clear pattern of bias against homeowners. The judges in the Orange County Appellate court - David G. Sills, William F. Rylaarsdam, William W. Bedsworth, Kathleem O'Leary, Raymond J. Ikola...routinely go through legal contortions to rubber stamp these illegal rulings with secret - unpublished opinions that defy logic, the rules, the laws and the constitution.

This is evident in many of the rulings examined. For example, William Tezak sued his homeowner association for violation of the CCRs. The homeowner association subsequently changed its CCRs to get around the violation. But the judge, Glass, ruled in favor of the homeowner association.

William Doyle tried to build a home on a lot that he had purchased in San Clemente. Because a neighboring board member did not want the home built,Doyle had to sue. The judge, Hunt, ruled against him, and he has had to pay over $1 million in legal fees.

Other homeowners have alleged in court papers that HOA law firms such as Peters and Freedman have repeatedly committed perjury in court. But the judges invariably took no action. When the homeowners filed complaints with the California State Bar, the latter ignored the complaints, as did the California Supreme Court. It is only when a homeowner can get his or her case before a jury, that he or she can get a favorable verdict, as happened in a Riverside court last year.

California Chief Justice Ronald George has set up phony "oversight systems" to bury complaints from victims of lawyers and judges. He uses the Supreme Court appeal system to further extort the already victimized citizens - victims must pay $700. before they can file an appeal and his clerks simply send all the appellant homeowners a postcard stamped "Denied".

An estimated 1 in 4 Californians live in a homeowner association. California has the largest number of foreclosures in the U.S., and the biggest percentage of those occur in homeowner associations. So, homeowner associations have come to haunt the very legislators who created these entities, and stripped homeowners of their constitutional rights in the process.

The gravy train that they relied on, has ended. California looks into the abyss, and the corrupt politicians and lawyers who took it to the edge, stand helpless while its governor smokes another of his endless cigars as he threatens to cut basic services to the handicapped, blind and elderly. The gold has gone - into many politicians' and judges' pockets - and its people stands helpless before the inevitable onslaught.

California attracted the inevitable vultures - the lawyers, the aggrandizers who sought to make billions off the people. Until the people of California get rid of them, there can only be misery and devastation for the people.

By Ed Montagne