George Runner Maintains Dominant Lead in Race for Board of Equalization

Antelope Valley – Taxpayer Advocate/Senator George Runner continues to be in control of the race to fill the seat previously occupied by former Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard. Runner leads in endorsements, slates, and fundraising.

Since the last reporting period, campaigns have been subject to a 24-hour reporting requirement for contributions of $1,000 or more. Since that period the three leading candidates for the Republican nomination have reported the following:

Taxpayer Advocate/Senator George Runner              $47,900
Acting Equalization Board Member Barbara Alby          $4,000
Jobs, Economy Analyst Alan Nakanishi                         $3,000

Runner continues to run circles around the field in earned media as well as fundraising. As the author of Jessica’s Law, Runner is considered a leading expert on law enforcement issues impacting families. He is regularly featured on television providing the pro-law enforcement and pro-family point of views.

Runner also recently won two huge victories when he earned the endorsement of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and was able to use the ballot designation “Taxpayer Advocate/Senator” that his opponents unsuccessfully challenged in court.

George Runner currently represents a large southern portion of BOE District 2 in the State Senate. He is the only candidate from this part of the district. He authored California’s Amber Alert system and Jessica’s Law in 2006. He lives in Lancaster with his wife, former Assemblywoman Sharon Runner.

George Runner Named “Tax Fighter of the Year” by Grassroots Organization

Sacramento  –  Taxpayer Advocate/Senator George Runner (R-Antelope Valley) today announced he was awarded Americans for Prosperity’s 2010 “Tax Fighter of the Year.” 

“I am humbled and honored to receive this prestigious award and recognition from this respected grassroots group,” Runner said. “I share AFP’s belief in limited government and free-market principles and I look forward to continuing my work with the organization.”

Peter Foy, president of the California chapter of AFP, presented Runner with the award (which is in the form of a Ronald Reagan bust) at a speaker series/award dinner last night at the Sacramento Sheraton Hotel.

“It was an easy decision to choose George Runner for this award,” Foy stated. “Runner has been a friend to taxpayers for nearly two decades.”

According to AFP’s website, the organization is composed of grassroots leaders who engage citizens in the name of limited government and free markets on the local, state and federal levels. The grassroots members of AFP advocate for public policies that champion the principles of entrepreneurship and fiscal and regulatory restraint.

Help Save a Million Jobs!

A plan created by Sacramento Bureaucrats could cost California over One Million Jobs!

 Sign the California Jobs Initiative Petition and help us stop CARB!

Dear Taxpayer:

If you’re angry about the federal government’s intrusion into your life with ObamaCare, you’re really going to hate California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (also know as AB 32), passed in 2006 by a liberal Legislature.

The political appointees at the California Air Resources Board, the state agency in charge of AB 32, have drafted a plan that will make every aspect of your life more expensive. Here’s what AB 32 will do: It will increase your electricity rates by upwards of 60 percent, increase gasoline costs by $3.7 billion a year, increase the cost of a new home by $50,000, and increase vehicle costs by up to $3,000. We need your help to stop this from happening – please sign the California Jobs Initiative Petition today.

If all that weren’t enough, the unelected CARB bureaucrats want to impose a new AB 32 cap-and-trade tax of more than $143 billion. The CARB members have audaciously claimed they will bypass the state Constitution and impose this tax without a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or a vote of the people. And they are doing this in the worst recession since the 1930s with unemployment rates far above the national average.

Add it up and it means the loss of more than one million California jobs.

Enough is enough! We have joined with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, National Tax Limitation Committee, the Republican Party and a growing coalition of citizens, businesses and taxpayers to put the California Jobs Initiative on the November ballot to temporarily suspend AB 32.

We need your help to collect the required 433,000 signatures to let voters – not unelected bureaucrats – decide what to do about AB 32.

Please follow this link to Sign the California Jobs Initiative Petition.

Sincerely,

P.S. Share this with as many of your friends and family as you can so we can fight taxes more effectively.

Letter to the Editor: For the Record

Editor: This letter is in response to the Wednesday Sun-Star editorial, “Politicians should stick to the truth.”

The Sun-Star erroneously used me as an example of a candidate who has mislabeled my job title on the June primary ballot.

In fact, my ballot designation of “Taxpayer Advocate/Senator” is a true and accurate statement (I have worked as taxpayer advocate for Americans for Prosperity since 2008 and as a state senator since 2004). My title was upheld by a Sacramento County Superior Court judge last week after I was sued by two opponents.

GEORGE RUNNER
Taxpayer advocate/California state senator
Sacramento

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2010/04/08/1378339/letter-for-the-record.html

Tax Day Tea Party

From the Sacramento Tea Party Patriot’s website:
Tax Day Tea Party

If you thought last year way great – make way because we are going to knock your socks off! Starting at 9 am, when the legislature begins their session, we want as many Tea Party Patriots as possible to pack the gallery with red shirts. We are going to make our presence known first thing in the morning. The actual Rally will begin at 12 noon. Every minute of this rally will be filled with excitement and energy like you would not believe! This rally is in tribute to our military and our patriots, you never know who could be brought on stage or who will be on the jumbotrons.

We will once again have fabulous speakers and entertainers, plenty of merchandise and information for you to take home and share with your local community.

What: Sacramento Tax Day Tea Party
Where: State Capitol, West Steps
Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010
Time: Noon to 3:00 PM
Contact: Ginny Rapini at (530) 389-2464 or norcalteaparty1@aol.com

“Taxpayer Advocate/Senator Runner” is the Winner

Ballot designation challenge by BOE opponents Alby and Nakanishi denied

High Desert –  Taxpayer Advocate/Senator George Runner continued a long string of political victories today when a Sacramento County Superior Court Judge issued a court ruling that Runner is in fact a “taxpayer advocate” and that his ballot designation for Board of Equalization in the June primary will be “Taxpayer Advocate/Senator” as he requested.

“The Judge’s ruling was an accurate reflection of my work both in the Legislature and in local communities around the state on behalf of taxpayers,” said Runner. “Protecting taxpayers is something I have done for the last two decades as an elected official and businessman. This is something I want to continue on the Board of Equalization.”

The ballot designation that was approved by the Secretary of State was such a threat to the candidacies of former Assemblymembers Barbara Alby and Alan Nakanishi that they jointly attempted to get a judge to overrule the decision of the Secretary of State. They lost in court today.

Runner’s victory was in contrast to that of former Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi. Nakanishi went to court this morning without any ballot designation and lost his request to have “Jobs/Economy Specialist.” Instead, Nakanishi will appear on the ballot as “Jobs, Economy Analyst.” This same ballot designation would be available to any number of bureaucrats and seems out of place for an accomplished physician, former Mayor, and Assemblyman.

Runner will now have the ballot designation that both of his major opponents feared, the support of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the endorsement of the California Republican Assembly, high name identification in the part of the district with the most voters, more slate cards than any other candidate and an enormous fundraising advantage.

George Runner currently represents a large southern portion of BOE District 2 in the State Senate. He authored California’s Amber Alert system and Jessica’s Law in 2006. He lives in Lancaster with his wife, former Assemblywoman Sharon Runner.