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Tom McClintock on Government Reform

2004 former Republican Challenger CA Governor


Duplicative bureaucracies must be weeded out

I’ve introduced a Bureaucracy Reduction and Closure Commission, so that we can begin weeding out these duplicative bureaucracies and provide that businesses don’t have to needlessly respond to multiple agencies every time they want to do something.
Source: Recall Debate, Cal. State Univ. at Sacramento , Sep 24, 2003

Tort reform: no punitive damages except in criminal cases

[Regarding] litigation, we have got to overhaul the tort system in this state, one of the major initiatives that I will be introducing will be a general measure to restore our civil courts to the simple process of compensating victims of torts and move all of the punitive damages into the criminal courts where they belong, or at least apply a criminal justice standard order to them.
Source: Recall Debate, Cal. State Univ. at Sacramento , Sep 24, 2003

Local governments need to have more authority

Senator Wilson raided the local property tax funds, I was one of the very few members of the state legislature who stood up and tried to stop him. This is a cause near and dear to my heart. It seems to me that the biggest problem that we’ve had with local government is this blurring of revenues and authority. Sacramento has not only raided their money. It’s also usurped their authority. The state worked a lot better when local governments could use local revenues and apply those for local purposes. They’ve got to have a dedicated stream of revenues restored to them, and then they’ve got to have the full authority restored to them to use those revenues as they best see fit. Mandated state costs on local governments have got to stop. If the state government wants to mandate programs for local governments, the state government can bloody well pay for them.
Source: Recall Debate, Cal. State Univ. at Sacramento , Sep 24, 2003

Privatize services & replace state job with private jobs

Q: When you say that you would give Californians the option to find services elsewhere, you are talking about privatizing some government services?

McCLINTOCK: Right. Contracting out services, that the private sector can provide more efficiently, cheaply than the state’s bureaucracy.

Q: Does that mean laying off state workers?

McCLINTOCK: Yes, it does. We’ve added 44,000 new state workers to the public state personnel roles in the last four years. We cannot sustain those kinds of expenses. We have now a record level of state public employment at the same time we’ve lost nearly a third of a million private sector jobs in 2.5 years. The public sector cannot continue to grow at the expense of the private sector.

Source: Recall debate in Walnut Creek , Sep 3, 2003

If rights come from man, then they may be revoked

If the source of our fundamental rights is not God, then the source becomes man - or more precisely, a government of men. And rights that can be extended by government may also be withdrawn by government.
Source: State Senate website, www.sen.ca.gov, “Issues Directory” , Jul 3, 2002

Voted NO on Senate pay raise.

Congressional Summary:
    Makes appropriations to the Senate for FY2010 for:
  1. expense allowances;
  2. representation allowances for the Majority and Minority Leaders;
  3. salaries of specified officers, employees, and committees (including the Committee on Appropriations);
  4. agency contributions for employee benefits;
  5. inquiries and investigations;
  6. the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control;
  7. the Offices of the Secretary and of the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate;
  8. miscellaneous items;
  9. the Senators' Official Personnel and Office Expense Account; and
  10. official mail costs.
Amends the Legislative Branch Appropriation Act of 1968 to increase by $50,000 the gross compensation paid all employees in the office of a Senator. Increases by $96,000 per year the aggregate amount authorized for the offices of the Majority and Minority Whip.

Proponent's argument to vote Yes:Rep. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D, FL-20): We, as Members of Congress, have responsibility not just for the institution, but for the staff that work for this institution, and to preserve the facilities that help support this institution. We have endeavored to do that responsibly, and I believe we have accomplished that goal.

Opponent's argument to vote No:Rep. SCALISE (R, LA-1): It's a sad day when someone attempts to cut spending in a bill that grows government by the size of 7%, and it's not allowed to be debated on this House floor. Some of their Members actually used the term "nonsense" and "foolishness" when describing our amendments to cut spending; they call that a delaying tactic. Well, I think Americans all across this country want more of those types of delaying tactics to slow down this runaway train of massive Federal spending. Every dollar we spend from today all the way through the end of this year is borrowed money. We don't have that money. We need to control what we're spending.

Reference: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act; Bill HR2918&S1294 ; vote number 2009-H413 on Jun 19, 2009

Require Internet disclosure of all earmarks.

McClintock signed H.R.5258& S.3335

    The website shall be comprised of a database including the following information, in searchable format, for each earmark:
  1. The fiscal year in which the item would be funded.
  2. The number of the bill or joint resolution for which the request is made, if available.
  3. The amount of the initial request made by the Member of Congress.
  4. The amount approved by the committee of jurisdiction.
  5. The amount carried in the bill or joint resolution (or accompanying report) as passed.
  6. The name of the department or agency, and the account or program, through which the item will be funded.
  7. The name and the State or district of the Member of Congress who made the request.
  8. The name and address of the intended recipient.
  9. The type of organization (public, private nonprofit, or private for profit entity) of the intended recipient.
  10. The project name, description, and estimated completion date.
  11. A justification of the benefit to taxpayers.
  12. Whether the request is for a continuing project and if so, when funds were first appropriated for such project.
  13. A description, if applicable, of all non-Federal sources of funding.
  14. Its current status in the legislative process
Source: Earmark Transparency Act 10-HR5258 on May 11, 2010

Require Congressional certification of president's "Czars".

McClintock co-sponsored Sunset All Czars Act