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'South California' proposed as 51st state by Republican supervisor July 11, 2011 | 2:40 pm The 51st state should be named South California, says Jeff Stone, a Republican on the the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. But the proposed 13 southern California counties that would split off from the Golden State would not include Los Angeles. Stone told the Times' Phil Willon that the ommission is intentional and is part of a plan that would make for a new conservative Californian state. "Los Angeles is purposely excluded because they have the same liberal policies that Sacramento does. The last thing I want to do is create a state that's a carbon copy of what we have now,'' Stone said. "Los Angeles just enacted a ban on plastic grocery bags. That put three or four manufacturers out of business,'' Stone, a pharmacist from Temecula, said. Stone plans on formally proposing secession Tuesday during a meeting of the Board of Supervisors. South California would encompass Fresno, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Tulare counties, totaling approximately 13 million people. The proposed 51st state would be the fifth largest by population, more populous than Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania. South California would take nearly a third of the population away from California, making the Golden State the second-largest state after Texas. Eleven of the 13 proposed counties in South California traditionally vote Republican, a fact noticed by California Gov. Jerry Brown's office. "If you want to live in a Republican state with very conservative right-wing laws, then there's a place called Arizona," Brown spokesman Gil Duran said.
California Counties Talk of Cutting Ties to State By JENNIFER MEDINA Published: July 12, 2011 RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Natives here have long called this area the Inland Empire, a grand title for a stretch of cities about 50 miles east of Los Angeles. Now, a few political leaders are hoping this empire will lead a movement to break off from the State of California. Frustrated by a state government he calls “completely dysfunctional” and “totally unresponsive,” a conservative Republican county supervisor is pushing a proposal for roughly a dozen counties in the eastern and southern parts of the nation’s third-largest state — conspicuously not including the heavily Democratic city of Los Angeles — to form a new state to be called South California. “We have businesses leaving all the time, and we’re just driving down a cliff to become a third-world economy,” said the supervisor, Jeff Stone, who once ran for the Legislature. “Anyone you ask has a horror story. At some point we have to decide enough is enough and deal with it in a radically new way.” He added: “I am tired of California being the laughingstock of late-night jokes. We must change course immediately or create a new state.” Mr. Stone’s list of complaints is long — too much money spent on state prisons, too much power for public unions, too many regulations and not enough of a crackdown on illegal immigration. It seems clear that he has struck a nerve in some quarters; he said that his office has been inundated with thousands of e-mails, letters and phone calls supporting his call for secession. “I’m 59 and have lived here all my life,” one man from Anaheim wrote. “I’m about to leave the state, but if we could break from the liberal counties I’d stay. God bless you and let me know if I can help.” While several other county supervisors initially dismissed the notion of seceding, on Tuesday the board unanimously approved Mr. Stone’s proposal to plan a conference for California municipal leaders to discuss ways to fix state government or consider secession — although they said they would make sure that no county money or personnel were used to plan such an event. In many respects, the rest of the state can feel worlds apart from the scenes of sandy beaches and lush wine groves that California is known for. And while the rest of the country thinks about the northern-southern divide of the state, for years the largest differences have been between the coastal and inland areas. Outside the biggest cities, the landscape is dotted with orange groves instead of palm trees and deserts instead of coastlines, an environment that is generally more rural than urban. The population tends to be poorer and more socially and politically conservative — Republicans outnumber Democrats in all but three of the counties in Mr. Stone’s proposed new state, which includes San Diego. Calling for secession in difficult economic times is not a new idea — more than 200 such proposals to break up California have been floated since the state was formed in 1850. In 1992, several northern counties held an advisory vote on secession, but it ultimately went nowhere. The closest any campaign came to success was in 1941, when several counties in Northern California and southern Oregon campaigned to form the state of Jefferson. At the time, the counties said they did not have enough roads and created a “Proclamation of Independence” for the 49th state — Alaska and Hawaii had not yet joined the union. But just as the movement was gaining traction, Pearl Harbor was attacked, and residents put aside their dreams for a new state to work on the war effort. Calls to break from the rest the state are not unique to California. Parts of Texas, Florida and Idaho have all tried to divide from their home state in the last several decades. Although the details differ, the story line is basically the same — one part of the state believes it is getting short shrift from the capital. “The politics of victimhood are very powerful,” said Shaun Bowler, a political science professor at the University of California, Riverside. Mr. Stone’s effort taps into an angry undercurrent among many conservatives in the eastern part of the state. “People have been mad for a long time. They seem to have a sense that if they keep shouting louder that they are right that they will convince the rest of the state that they are right.” Mr. Stone's proposal drew a skeptical response, though the board agreed to a conference in which it would be discussed. Under Mr. Stone’s proposal the state would have only a part-time Legislature, with lawmakers earning $600 a month. And there would be no term limits. One crucial element of California’s budget structure (and an article of faith among Republicans) would remain: a strict limit on property taxes. Mr. Stone said he was particularly angered when the state’s budget diverted roughly $14 million from several newly incorporated cities in Riverside County. Jurupa Valley, for example, lost $6.4 million from its anticipated budget just a day before it was officially incorporated. During the hourlong discussion of the proposal on Tuesday, the debate brought into clear focus the divide between Republicans and Democrats. Several speakers said they were angered by comments from Gov. Jerry Brown’s spokesman, who suggested that anyone who wanted to live with “very conservative right-wing laws” could simply move to neighboring Arizona. (The spokesman, Gil Duran, did not back down Tuesday, saying that the idea of secession was a “pure joke that doesn’t merit serious attention.” He pointed out that the area Mr. Stone wants to peel off collects more money from the state than it generates. He added, “It’s an escapist fantasy of someone more interested in a political stunt than focusing on his job.”) Bob Buster, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors, initially called Mr. Stone’s idea a “crazy distraction.” But he acknowledged that there was much to be unhappy about. “There is a chronic unhappiness we have with the state that we cannot shake,” said Mr. Buster, who is not a registered member of either party. “We’re already balkanized in this state. The problem is governance itself, but we need to work to fix the problems, not spend time talking about just taking our marbles and leaving.”
Ted Rall cartoon: Greetings from Republican utopia 'South California' July 12, 2011 Split California into two states? That's what Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone has proposed in hopes of creating "South California," a new state that would be founded on Republican principles. But, as Ted Rall suggests in his weekly cartoon, such a plan could backfire. A productive society isn't sustainable if its people aren't taken care of. And for that, government needs to collect taxes. We asked readers to weigh in on Stone's proposal, and of this posting at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, about 55% of the people who took our poll were against the idea of a creating this new state, compared to 32% who were in favor and 13% who were undecided. What do you think? Is Stone right that "South California" should become its own state? |
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'South California' for 51st state? By Phil Willon, Los Angeles Times July 11, 2011 Accusing Sacramento of pillaging local governments to feed its runaway spending and left-wing policies, a Riverside County politician is proposing a solution: He wants 13 mostly inland, conservative counties to break away to form a separate state of "South California.'' Supervisor Jeff Stone, a Republican pharmacist from Temecula, called California an "ungovernable'' financial catastrophe from which businesses are fleeing and where taxpayers are being crushed by the burden of caring for welfare recipients and illegal immigrants. On Tuesday, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors will consider Stone's proposal to host a statewide summit for city and county leaders to sketch out a framework for secession. The politician said he was undaunted by scores of failed similar attempts since the 1800s, saying Californians haven't face such dismal economic times since the Great Depression. "This has struck a chord with a lot of people in the state who have suffered economically,'' said Stone, adding that he has received thousands of emails supporting his proposal. "We know it's going to be a challenge to form a second state, but it's not a impossible. We're sending a message.'' A spokesman for Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, called Stone's proposal a laughable political stunt, saying the Riverside County supervisors should be more concerned about closing that county's expected $130-million revenue shortfall in the next budget year and possible cutbacks to public safety. "It's a supremely ridiculous waste of everybody's time," said spokesman Gil Duran. "If you want to live in a Republican state with very conservative right-wing laws, then there's a place called Arizona.'' Along with Riverside, the counties in Stone's South California would be Fresno, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Mono, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego and Tulare. Combined, those counties are home to about 13 million people. Republicans account for the majority of registered voters in all of those counties except San Bernardino and Imperial. Noticeably absent from Stone's vision of an independent South California is Los Angeles County, the state's largest by population and a Democratic stronghold. Ventura and Santa Barbara counties also failed to make the cut. "Los Angeles is purposely excluded because they have the same liberal policies that Sacramento does. The last thing I want to do is create a state that's a carbon copy of what we have now,'' Stone said. "Los Angeles just enacted a ban on plastic grocery bags. That put three or four manufacturers out of business.'' Still, Stone said he would be amenable to including other counties that might be interested, or even to shifting boundaries radically by cleaving the state between inland and coastal counties. More than 220 campaigns to split California into halves, or thirds, have been bandied about since the 1850s, most echoing similar arguments that the state had grown too large and was paralyzed by politicians and bureaucrats who ignored the concerns of the people. "Secession proposals are just ways of thinking about California, and are also ways for people who feel neglected get the attention that they deserve," said USC historian Kevin Starr, who has written extensively on California. "It's never passed, and it will never pass. It's been up to bat 220 times and struck out every time.'' phil.willon@latimes.com
Lawmaker seeks to make 'South California' 51st state Posted: Jul 11, 2011 6:08 PM by Michael Truelsen Lawmaker seeks to make 'South California' 51st state 1:24 (CBS) - A California politician has an unorthodox solution to some of the massive state's budget woes: secession. The man, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone, will formally propose the idea - in which 13 mostly conservative-leaning California counties break off from the state and form a unique "South California" state - on Tuesday to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. The new state, which would theoretically include the counties of Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, San Diego, Orange, Kings, Kern, Fresno, Tulare, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa and Mono, would be home to about 13 million people. Los Angeles is purposefully absent. "Los Angeles is purposely excluded because they have the same liberal policies that Sacramento does. The last thing I want to do is create a state that's a carbon copy of what we have now," Stone told the Los Angeles Times. "Los Angeles just enacted a ban on plastic grocery bags. That put three or four manufacturers out of business." This move would be the inverse of recent efforts to create Baja Arizona as the 51st state. Organizers want to break away from the more conservative rest of the state. Stone hopes the creation of South California would empower the state's local governments, many of which have suffered in recent efforts to reduce the state's massive deficit. "Local jurisdiction, particularly those in Southern California, have been at the mercy of the state legislature for well over a decade," Stone's chief of staff, Verne Lauritzen, said in a recent interview. "The state has been unable and incompetent in producing a budget that is not only balanced but appropriate to local governments." Stone's proposal came shortly after Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed into law the state's budget bill, which diverts millions in funding from local agencies. Stone, a Republican, voiced his discontent in a statement last week. "Our taxes are too high, our schools don't educate our children well enough, unions and other special interests have more clout in the Legislature than the general public," he said. "It has to change." "With this budget, you will see cities and counties on the brink of bankruptcy," he told the Press-Enterprise of Riverside. Brown's office, however, dismissed the idea as "supremely ridiculous." "It's a supremely ridiculous waste of everybody's time," spokesman Gil Duran told the LA Times. "If you want to live in a Republican state with very conservative right-wing laws, then there's a place called Arizona." Stone is not the first Californian to dream of secession: according to the LA Times, more than 200 similar propositions have been brought up since 1850. |
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