October 24, 2018 - A business thrives when one or more entrepreneurs assemble capital, employees, and other resources and meld them into a system that creates a profit within the existing legal requirements, often referred to as the “business climate.” In California, we have shown that despite the often-claimed “over-regulation” by career politicians, such as Congressman, Tom McClintock, our economy has grown and prospered far beyond those of less “regulated” states. In fact, what McClintock refers to as “regulations” actually turn out to be stimulants to our vibrant economy.

California recently passed a tax increase on fossil-based transportation fuels that Republican leaders want to repeal. What they can’t see is that the resulting revenues will be used only as investments for maintaining our roads, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure, our “common wealth,” on which our prosperity and our opportunities depend. Virtually all of us agree that our American values include prosperity and opportunities which contribute to America’s greatness.

Most of the damage that is done to our communities’ roads and bridges is done by corporation-owned heavy trucks and buses. By supporting big business through the Trump Tax Scam, McClintock is burdening our small, local businesses and our families with the costs of the damage done to our roads by corporate vehicles. His vote will also help drive up our national debt which will pave the way for the coming attacks on our Social Security and Medicare. Our seniors have paid into these funds during the course of their entire lives, and we rely on them for our well-being.

Another feature of California’s “business climate” is the legal status of Benefit Corporations or “B-Corps.” While most corporations are legally required to maximize profits for their shareholders, B-Corps allow corporate owners to create public benefits with portions of their profits. These may include parks, conservation land trusts to protect our communities’ valuable open spaces, community land trusts that organize around affordable housing which our communities need, and other forms of “common wealth.”

The recent enactment of California’s net neutrality law will prevent internet corporations from controlling who gets great service and who does not. A neutral and expanded internet will increase the small business and educational opportunities of our rural and suburban people and our schools. What better way to improve California’s prosperity and “business climate?” However, we have seen attacks on these opportunities from McClintock’s enabling of Trump’s federal government appointees.

The Sierra Business Council (SBC) recognizes that our local economy requires an attractive and healthy environment that will continue to draw people who want to live, work, and play here. The SBC staff supports efforts to reverse the effects of human-caused climate change, knowing that our businesses and communities will better thrive in a more stable and sustainable environment.

McClintock denies that humans have a role in our warming planet, and he fails in his constitutional duty to provide checks and balances on President Trump’s attacks on the fuel-efficiency standards which California has enacted to reduce greenhouse gases, to improve the air we breathe (preventive, affordable healthcare), and to save all of us money by buying less fuel. He votes in favor of his corporate donors rather than for the needs of those who live in our district (where he, himself, does not actually live).

Perhaps the most dramatic and dangerous effects of climate change for Sierra families and businesses are the threats from wildfires. McClintock voted for the Trump Tax Scam that eliminated tax breaks for disaster losses which would have helped fire-affected families and businesses to rebuild. McClintock also voted against H.R. 4667 which would have made money available for recovery from wildfire disasters.

McClintock’s so-called Emergency Forest Restoration Act is a thinly veiled attempt to undermine the provisions of both the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, two laws that bring the public’s interests into account when making decisions about our public lands. His so-called solution to our overgrown forests has been to defund the Forest Service, so they cannot implement sound management practices such as prescribed burns, forest thinning, maintaining existing firebreaks, and other fire prevention measures. He wants to give corporate loggers free-reign to side-step Forest Service oversight.

For businesses and families to thrive, our kids need to have first class educations. McClintock voted twice (H.J. Res. 57 & 58) to repeal requirements for school performance accountability and for teacher preparation that our citizens greatly desire. Clearly, he doesn’t care about quality schools or the well-being of our businesses and families. But why should he when he doesn’t live in the CA-4^th District that he supposedly represents?

In 2013, McClintock helped enable the Republicans to shut down the federal government despite the losses that our local businesses sustained by the closing of Yosemite and other nearby national treasures. Before that, he rejected the construction of a Yosemite visitor center in Mariposa, even though the Yosemite Conservancy had purchased land for that purpose in Mariposa. A new visitor center would have helped stimulate local businesses and provide visitors with more accurate and a greater variety of information than is presently available. Such a plan could also become part of the overall plan to reduce traffic congestion in Yosemite that has become a huge problem in recent years.

Isn’t it time for change? Jessica Morse’s family has lived in our district for five generations and has served America in several capacities on foreign soil. She will uphold congress’s constitutional duty to provide checks and balances to the other branches of government, and will fight for the needs of our businesses, communities, and families. She deserves our votes. You will be happy with her results.

Kenneth Boche
Owner, Yosemite Close Up Tours
Mariposa, California