I was fortunate enough to attend (last week’s) candidates forum sponsored by the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce. Attendees at the forum included Suzette Valladares, Patrick Lee Gipson, Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, Kipp Mueller, Patsy Ayala and Tim Burkhart.
The forum provided an excellent opportunity to hear from our local politicians and candidates about their views on our overall community, community safety, and the local and statewide business climate.
While there were many comments that interested me, there was one that really caught my attention. Assemblywoman Schiavo, in answer to a question about the dire condition and sputtering economy of California, proceeded to partially blame price gouging by businesses — of course, she gave no examples, which calls into question whether her assertion is even true.
Now, let me ask you, as residents of Santa Clarita who patronize our many — often struggling — local businesses, is price gouging a significant problem? What with the following:
• Democrat-forced increases in the minimum wage, which has forced many businesses to automate entry-level jobs.
• Out-of-control spending.
• The Democrat-designed so-called “living wage,” which no one seems to be able to quantify or explain.
• Skyrocketing fuel and utilities costs.
• Increasing grocery and insurance costs.
• A lack of affordable housing.
• Never-ending tax and fee increases.
• Democrat collusion with mega-business and big tech to eliminate small- and medium-size businesses.
Blaming price gouging on small- and medium-size businesses is breathtakingly dishonest. True to form, inherent in the price-gouging assertion made by the assemblywoman is deflection, one of the Democrats’ favorite strategies. Nothing is ever their fault.
Ms. Schiavo: Do you really take no responsibility for your, and your Democrat Party’s, complicity in the economic disaster that is California?
That leads me to a final comment. I recently found a graph at ballotpedia.org, entitled “California Party Control: 1992-2024 – Nineteen Years of Democratic Trifectas • No Republican Trifectas.”
It reflects the facts that:
• The California Senate has been controlled by Democrats for the past 32 years (1992 to 2024).
• The state Assembly has been controlled by Democrats for 30 of the past 32 years (with the exception of 1995-1996).
• The governorship has been in Democrat hands for 14 consecutive years (since 2010).
All three branches of the state government, simultaneously, have been under Democrat control for 19 of the past 32 years.
And price gouging by small- and medium-size businesses is the problem!
Please, Ms. Schiavo, at least give your constituents some credit for basic intelligence and analytical skills.
So, when you begin marking your ballots, keep in mind who — and whose worldview, political philosophy and track record — is really the source of the problems in this city, county, state and nation. It’s time to stop the Democrats scapegoating their way to Sacramento and Washington, D.C., at the expense of their constituents.
William Creitz
Valencia
