Category: California

CA-36: Special Election Night HQ; UPDATE: Democrat Hahn Wins

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UPDATE 11:40 p.m. Pacific (2:40 a.m. Eastern): Democrat Janice Hahn won Tuesday’s special election in California’s 36th Congressional District, defeating Republican businessman Craig Huey.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Hahn had 41,585 votes (54.6%) to Huey’s 34,636 (45.4%).

After a long delay in the ballot count — frankly, I nodded off — the results went to 100% very quickly.

Linked by Uncoverage, PJ Tatler, and by The Lonely Conservative — thanks!

UPDATE 12:09 a.m. Pacific (3:09 a.m. Eastern): Hahn’s margin of victory was less than 10% in a district that Obama carried by 30% in 2008, perhaps indicating the “Obama fatigue” noted in a recent poll of the district.

First full MSM story of the result from David Catanese of Politico:

Democrat Janice Hahn defeated Republican Craig Huey in a bitterly contested Southern California special election marked by stinging attacks from both sides. . . .
Huey, who stunned political observers by upending Democratic Secretary of State Debra Bowen in the May primary, attempted to run mostly on a message of austerity. Hahn consistently framed Huey as a “right-wing extremist” whose views were out of place in the district, likening him to Sarah Palin.

UPDATE 12:55 a.m. Pacific (3:55 a.m. Eastern): From my report at The American Spectator:

Having defeated California Secretary of State Debra Bowen in a multi-candidate “jungle primary” in May, Hahn underperformed in Tuesday’s special election in a district where Harman had won re-election with 59% of the vote in November. And Hahn may be vulnerable when she comes up for re-election next year. “The district will be redrawn, along with others in California, before then, and most expect it to be at least somewhat less Democratic,” the Los Angeles Times noted.

UPDATE 1:25 a.m. Pacific (4:25 a.m. Eastern): The overnight election results thread at Ace of Spades HQ got interesting when “Phil” posted comment #368:

Ok, I know it’s customary to downplay results from “our side”, but I can honestly say I knew this was going to happen. I would have been absolutely shocked if we won here. Seriously folks, this is f–ing California. And with all apologies due to our native California morons, f– California. Seriously, pardon my french, but f– California. We don’t need that POS state. As the country went crimson red in 2010, California kept going further and further left, the only state to do so. Let the lib-f–s who live there enjoy thinking they are our betters, as jobs continue to leave the state in droves and it continues going down the tubes.
If you’re a moron who happens to live in California, LEAVE THE STATE ALREADY. Seriously, what are you waiting for? Your vote is just being wasted. And if you happen to own a business, make the move even sooner. Your profits will be up overnight and you’ll be providing less and less welfare to feed the liberal sh–hole that California has become.
Look, I get it — you love California. You’ve probably got some fond memories even. But be honest with yourself — you love what California USED to be, and hate what it’s become. And it’s only going to become more of what you hate going forward. It’s way too late to save it. Stop trying. Stop being in denial.
Tell your once great (and now sh–y state) to go pound sand and move out. Take my advice and thank me later.

“Phil” was utterly discredited when it was revealed he lived in the right-wing bastion of — wait for it — Illinois.

Say what you will about the political, demographic and economic trends in California, it’s got a lot more sunshine and palm trees than Illinois.

UPDATE 11:25 p.m. Pacific (2:25 a.m. Eastern): It appears that Democrat Janice Hahn is cruising to a solid win. With 127 of 261 precincts reporting:

Janice Hahn (D) ….. 30,545 (56.8%)
Craig Huey (R) ……. 23,207 (43.2%)

UPDATE 8:25 Pacific (11:25 Eastern): With 7 of 261 precincts reporting:

Janice Hahn (D) ….. 21,365 (54.2%)
Craig Huey (R) ……. 18,025 (45.8%)

PREVIOUSLY: Polls close at 8 p.m. Pacific time (that’s 11 p.m. Eastern) in California’s 36th Congressional District and we’ll have all the results here. This special election is to replace retiring Democrat Rep. Jane Harman, and Guy Benson at Townhall summarizes:

President Obama won this district by thirty points in 2008, and Harman sailed to a comfortable win in 2010. This should be a slam dunk, blow-out hold for Democrats — and yet, they’re reportedly worried.

How worried are Democrats? Janice Hahn is accusing Republicans of “voter suppression”:

As voters headed to the polls Tuesday to decide a hard-fought special congressional election in the South Bay area, attorneys for Democrat Janice Hahn filed complaints alleging that supporters of her opponent, Republican Craig Huey, were trying to suppress turnout of her voters.
In a letter sent Tuesday to the Los Angeles County district attorney, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles and the California attorney general, Hahn lawyers Stephen J. Kaufman and Steven J. Reyes asked for immediate investigations into “voter suppression actitivies” in the 36th Congressional District race.
The attorneys said several voters reported receiving telephone calls Monday night telling them the election had been postponed to Wednesday at Hahn’s request ,and others were given wrong polling place addresses.

Via Donald Douglas at American Power. Ace is hopeful. Via Jim Geraghty, here is Craig Huey’s closing TV ad:

UPDATE: Zombie at PJ Tatler:

Within the last 36 hours [Janice Hahn] and her staff . . .
• Falsely claimed a political endorsement from a local hero;
• Then lied about it when confronted with the truth that he didn’t endorse her;
• And then posted a stalker video of one of her “trackers” (Democratic agents who follow opponents around night and day, video cameras in hand) tailing Craig Huey in a parking lot as a process server tries to hand him some documents about a bogus back payment he supposedly owed.

UPDATE II: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

UPDATE III: Polls have now closed, but While still awaiting the first results, I was reading Mickey Kaus about how the Daily Kos was trying to spin their final poll in CA-36. Look, if Hahn wins by less than 10 points, that’s a huge GOP victory in this heavily Democrat-leaning district. If the margin is less than 5 points . . . Well, that’s hard to imagine. If Huey should somehow win, it will be nothing short of a miracle.

Linked by the Rhetorican — thanks!

PREVIOUSLY:


Carly Fiorina Will Help John Cornyn Guarantee Republican Defeat in 2012

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Democrats must be high-fiving each other over this news:

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) today announced that businesswoman and civic leader Carly Fiorina will join the organization as a Vice Chair for the 2012 election cycle.
Serving alongside Cornyn and NRSC Vice Chairman U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Fiorina will amplify Senate Republicans’ focus on healing America’s troubled economy, and assist with the NRSC’s crucial fundraising efforts in support of a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate.
“I’m pleased to welcome my friend Carly Fiorina to the NRSC team, where her many business and civic achievements will make her an invaluable leader and fundraiser during this critical election cycle,” Senator Cornyn said today. “I look forward to working with Carly to elect strong Republican Senators who will finally put a stop to President Obama’s failed tax-and-spend agenda, and instead promote the economic growth and job creation Americans so badly need.”
Former Chairman and CEO of HP and one of the most recognized business leaders in the world, Carly Fiorina has consistently championed competitiveness, innovation, job creation and economic growth. She has been politically active, serving as Republican Victory Chair supporting John McCain’s presidential run, and most recently challenging four-term California Senator Barbara Boxer in her own first-time political candidacy.
“The Senate sets the legislative agenda for the nation. I am proud to work alongside Chairman Cornyn, Vice Chairman Hatch and all Republican Senators to restore a Republican majority in 2012,” said Fiorina. “Republicans in the Senate will provide job creators the opportunities and environment they need to grow our economy, decentralize power out of Washington, and restore fiscal accountability.”

In 2010, a year when Republicans were winning a nationwide landslide, Carly Fiorina pissed away $21.5 million — including more than $5 million of her own money — and lost to Barbara Boxer by a 10% margin. And this is the loser whom John Cornyn has asked to help lead the committee to elect Republicans to the Senate in 2012. Four words:

NOT ONE RED CENT!

Democrat Janice Hahn’s Mother Dies on Eve of CA-36 Special Election
UPDATE: Poll Shows ‘Obama Fatigue’?

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Los Angeles Times:

Ramona Hahn, the wife of the late county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn and the mother of both former Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn and City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, died Monday at the age of 86.
Ramona Hahn’s death came toward the end of Janice Hahn’s race for Congress in Tuesday’s extremely contentious special election.

R.I.P.

UPDATE: Sacramento Bee:

“We understand that Janice needs to be with her family, but the campaign will move forward–as her mother would have wanted,” Hahn campaign advisor John Shallman said in a statement. “Ramona was very proud of and always supportive of Janice. She was looking forward to seeing her daughter sworn in as the next Congresswoman of the 36th District. We will work very hard to make that dream a reality.”

When Ladd Ehlinger Jr. called to tell me the news, my instant reaction was: “It’s over. Sympathy vote.” That’s a cruel, hard, cynical way to react to the death of someone’s 86-year-old mother, but politics is a cruel, hard cynical business.

The objective political reality is that the death of Ramona Hahn kills whatever hope there was that Republican Craig Huey could win this election. The local news broadcasts in L.A. tonight will feature stirring tributes to the life of Ramona Hahn, and it will be front-page news in tomorrow’s L.A. Times.

That’s just the way it is, and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise.

UPDATE II: Now a Memeorandum thread.

UPDATE III: The Fightin’ Ewok:

But don’t throw in the towel — not a lot of public politicking was going to happen tonight, anyway. I hear it’s closer than advertised.
And see Turn Right for why this matters.

You can’t beat a Fightin’ Ewok. He doesn’t even know how to spell “defeat.” Mainly because he’s always been lousy at spelling, but . . .

UPDATE IV: Thanks to the reader who tipped me on an interesting item from a liberal poll about the CA-36 campaign:

Daily Kos/SEIU CA-36 Poll
Public Policy Polling, 619 Likely Voters, MoE 3.9%, July 8, 2011 – July 10, 2011
Do you approve or disapprove of President Barack Obama’s job performance?
ONLY 44 % Approve of Obama per liberal democrat poll in a Democrat +12 District & 64% voted Obama in 2008
Independent Approval of Obama @ 32%
Hispanic Approvalof Obama @ 44%
18 / 29 Approval of Obama @ 50%

Could it be that the failure of Obama to deliver on promises to his progressive base — as well as the moribund condition of California’s economy — has created “Obama fatigue” in CA-36?

If his approval number is only 44% in a district which he carried by 64% three years ago . . .

Well, it is a fact that Hahn’s cutthroat tactics against fellow Democrat Debra Bowen alienated many of Bowen’s liberal supporters:

“And [Hahn’s] campaign played rough with Debra Bowen,” Huey told HUMAN EVENTS, “and she has never endorsed Hahn in the runoff.”  The GOP hopeful went on to note that “we have more than 5,000 yard signs throughout the district, and many of them are in Democratic neighborhoods.” 

Not to encourage foolish hopes, but if Huey somehow wins this one, it would be a cataclysmic event.

UPDATE V: Linked by Penguin Pundit — thanks!

Does the Los Angeles Times Understand the Meaning of the Word ‘Discredited’? UPDATE: Hahn Admits Placing Call on Behalf of Rapist Gangster ‘P.J. Steve’

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In a story about Thursday’s debate in California’s 36th District congressional special election, Los Angeles Times reporter Jean Merl twice uses the word “discredited” in reference to KTTV’s reporting on Democrat Janice Hahn’s gang-intervention program:

The exchange came as national women’s groups accused the Huey campaign of trying to discourage women from voting in the South Bay-based 36th Congressional District and the National Republican Congressional Committee touted an “update” of a discredited Fox News report that accused Hahn and a city gang intervention program of hiring and supporting active gang members. Hahn vigorously denied the report again Thursday. . . .
Also Thursday, fallout from a since-discredited Fox TV news report again roiled the campaign. An “update” of the controversy — stemming from allegations Hahn and the city of L.A. gave money to active gang members — featured a gang member saying Hahn had intervened on his behalf when he was arrested, plus a statement from a city attorney who asked not to be identified.
The Huey campaign has distributed copies of the original report and the National Republican Congressional Committee told The Times’ it has spent about $5,000 and sent text messages to voters directing them to the website it created about the updated report.

Notice two things: Not only does Merl repeat the word “discredited,” but she also twice calls this a “Fox News” or “Fox TV news” story — clearly attempting to convey the impression that the investigative reporting by Chris Blatchford was done by the national cable-TV news network, rather than by the news department of the local Fox affiliate in Los Angeles, KTTV.

Readers of Jean Merl’s article might certainly be excused for thinking that this “discredited Fox News report” had been proven false. But Blatchford’s story — both the 2008 story and his 8-minute updated report Thurday — cited facts regarding the gang-intervention program that have been reported by other news organizations, including the local tabloid L.A. Weekly. Here, watch the entire eight minutes yourself, if you have not already done so:

KTTV provides a transcript of the program at its Web site. Can the Los Angeles Times be bothered to do some actual reporting of its own, rather than mere public relations stenography for Democrats? Has the LA Times even bothered to report that Democrats are worried enough about Tuesday’s CA-36 special election that they got Obama’s Organizing for America to send out e-mails seeking volunteers for the Hahn campaign?

Joy –
There are only five days left until the special election in California’s 36th Congressional District on Tuesday. With this race coming down to the wire, every one of those days will be crucial to our efforts to help Democratic nominee Janice Hahn pull out a victory.
OFA California volunteers will be making calls for Janice from now until the election. One of the phone banks is in Pasadena on Sunday — can you make it?
Here are the details:
What: Make calls for Janice Hahn
[then the address is listed–it’s in Pasadena proper]
When: Sunday, July 10th, 3:00 pm — RSVP now
If you can’t make that phone bank, we’ll be making calls at each OFA California office every day from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. — find and RSVP for one of those events here.
Janice is running a campaign to create new jobs, invest in clean energy, and stop the Republican plan to end Medicare as we know it. When she gets to Congress, she’ll be a great voice for California and a strong ally for President Obama and other Democrats in Washington.
Join us in Pasadena on Sunday:
http://my.barackobama.com/Calls-for-Janice-Hahn
Thanks,
Mary Jane Stevenson

That e-mail was sent to Joy McCann (Little Miss Attila), while Darleen Click of Protein Wisdom got a similar e-mail directing her to a separate OFA office on Vine Avenue in downtown Los Angeles Ontario, Calif. (Correction per Darleen’s comment below. — RSM)

UPDATE: Let’s see if the LA Times calls the local NPR affiliate “discredited” for accurately reporting Thursday’s debate:

During a debate at KPCC Thursday, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn — a Democratic candidate for Congress — found herself fending off charges she helped a gang member get out of jail. . . .
An earlier report by Fox 11 TV news that Hahn pushed for the release of an active gang member has been dogging the South Bay Democrat. Fox reporter Chris Blatchford quoted an unnamed Los Angeles City Attorney who said Hahn’s office played a role in the release of convicted felon P.J. Steve, who’d ostensibly worked as a gang interventionist.
“I never worked on behalf of a known convicted gang member to get them out of jail,” Hahn said. In response to a question from KPCC’s Larry Mantle, she added that the man’s distraught mother visited her office, and that she did make a call.
“The only call I ever made was just to say ‘what was the purpose of the arrest of this person?’” she said.
Blatchford (quoting an unnamed deputy city attorney) said he was “told Hahn’s office called and said P.J. Steve worked for her and because he was a gang intervention worker for her they asked for an O.R. release and it was granted.” An O.R. release is a release on an defendant’s own recognizance.

If readers haven’t followed this story closely, they can be forgiven for not understanding what is being alleged, what is being denied, what is now confirmed and whether or not Blatchford’s report is “discredited.”

The Crips gangster “P.J. Steve” presented at his trial a certificate of appreciation signed by Janice Hahn — this is a fact that no one has disputed. Now we have Hahn’s confirmation that she placed a call to police on behalf of “P.J. Steve” after the gangster’s arrest on rape charges. An attorney in the prosecutor’s office told Blatchford that “P.J. Steve” was released on his own recognizance based on Hahn’s call.

Hahn denies exercising that kind of influence with LAPD, but ask yourself: If you were a cop and a powerful city council member called your office “just askin’ questions” about a suspect’s arrest, what impression would such a phone call make on you?

UPDATE II: “Journalism is hard!”

PREVIOUSLY:





CA-36: GAME-CHANGER! L.A. Station’s Report Destroys Democrat Janice Hahn

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When Janice Hahn’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to KTTV Fox 11 — trying to stop the Los Angeles station from following up on its 2008 investigation of Hahn’s controversial “gang intervention” progam — they probably didn’t expect this. “Large mistake, madame,” says the award-winning Ace of Spades. Because KTTV and Chris Blatchford not only stood by their original coverage, they followed up with an in-depth eight-minute report that devastates Hahn’s credibility:

The special election is Tuesday, and so the final weekend of the campaign is going to be all about Hahn’s gang-bangers.

Da Tech Guy is on the story.

The Lonely Conservative is on the story.

Bob Belvedere at Camp of the Saints is on the story.

Bryan Preston at PJ Tatler is on the story.

Every blogger’s on it now, or they’ll be on it soon. There is an Army of Davids on the march. We buy our pixels by the metric ton, and this story is likely to dominate the news right up until Election Day. So if by some miracle Janice Hahn loses this otherwise “safe” Democrat seat . . .

Hey, remember that “offensive” ad from Ladd Ehlinger Jr. that every officlal Republican denounced? It worked.

It worked like a $3,000 Swiss watch. Slate’s Dave Weigel explains:

But had the ad never run, is it likely that Fox11 would have revisited its 2008 report on Hahn’s gang rehabilitation program? A report that ends with the anchor telling voters that she dodged their questions and sent them a cease and desist letter?
This is actually how “offensive” ads often work; it’s how the “Willie Horton” ad worked. The campaign distances itself from the imagery (and Huey really had nothing to do with Ladd Ehlinger, Jr’s latest opus) but the question is begged.

Rock on, Ladd.

UPDATE: National Journal has a comprehensive report on the 36th District special election, with this important quote:

NRCC communications director Paul Lindsay said “these new allegations prove that Janice Hahn’s disturbing ties to gang members threaten what once was considered a guaranteed victory for Democrats in a deep-blue district.”

And dude: She’s broke. Busted. Pissed away a million dollars on post cards.

“Buh-bye, Janice!”

UPDATE II: The Pro from Poca: “A Republican win in a congressional race in California?” Believe it, baby!

UPDATE III: Andrew Breitbart’s got the video.

Fox Nation is on the story and — what did I tell you? — Army of Davids, baby!

UPDATE IV: Mike Flynn at BigGovernment.com on Hahn’s idiotic legal threats against KTTV:

This isn’t just dumb, this is a terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad-day kind of dumb.
Now, the 36th is a Democrat district and I can’t overstate that this is in California. Still, this has to be beyond the pale even for California voters.

Stephen Tawney at The American Pundit is also on the story.

UPDATE V: Welcome, Instapundit readers and, yeah — this isn’t about Jessica Hahn, the chick who did Jim Bakker and also later was Sam Kinison’s girlfriend.

UPDATE VI: Linked by Aleister at American Glob — thanks!


CA-36: Janice Hahn Spent a Million Scaring People, Now She’s Broke!

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The special election to replace Rep. Jane Harman is next Tuesday, and the Democratic candidate is down to $44!

[July 1] the Federal Election Commission issued the last Campaign Finance Reports before the election.
Democrat Janice Hahn has $323,348 “Cash on Hand.” Subtracting the $323,304 Ms. Hahn owes in debts leaves her with $44 once her debts are paid.
Her opponent, Torrance businessman and Tea Party Republican [Craig Huey] has largely financed his own campaign. . . .
Ms. Hahn has received over a million dollars in campaign contributions, almost entirely from unions and individual contributors who receive taxpayer dollars.

Janice Hahn perfectly exemplifies her party’s commitment to deficit spending. And what has she been spending all that money for? Scaring people about that dangerous “radical right-wing extremist” Republican, Craig Huey. According to Ladd Ehlinger Jr., Hahn has sent out nine separate mailings with messages like these:


(You can click on the images to see full-size.) Did you notice the use of Sarah Palin’s picture? Believe it or not, Hahn actually used pictures of Rush Limbaugh, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in one of her mailers:


Hahn has gone so far as to run TV ads portraying Craig Huey as Sarah Palin’s ideological soulmate:

Here’s another scary Hahn ad:

What’s the National Republican Congressional Committee doing to win the special election in CA-36? (Crickets chirping.) Turn Right USA political action committee is fighting to defeat Janice Hahn.

Jeff Bezos Is John Galt

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Following up on California’s blunderheaded Internet sales tax — motivated by “typically short-sighted, money-grubbing desperation,” says the Orange County Register — I found this video in which Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos explained why this tax is not merely idiotic, but unconstitutional:

What it is, really, is an attempt by state governments to impose a tariff on goods sold by out-of-state mail-order vendors, thus usurping the power to regulate interstate commerce, which the Constitution specifically delegates to the federal government.

Whether individual customers order by mail or over the Internet, the transaction is the same, and there is extensive legal precedent that out-of-state mail-order vendors cannot be compelled to collect state sales taxes on such transactions.

What California authorities are trying to claim is that the California-based operators of Web sites which have affiliate programs with Amazon (or other online vendors) constitute a resident “nexus” that permits the state to collect sales tax. But this claim is demonstrably absurd.

The Amazon links on my blog are merely advertisements, for which I collect a (small) commission based on the sales generated by readers clicking through. California’s argument is like saying that, if a magazine based in New York published an advertisment for a Texas-based mail-order company, this advertisement constitutes a basis for making the Texas company collect New York sales tax.

A person who clicks on an Amazon ad might be in Florida or Oregon, so why does the fact that the Web site operator resides in California create a basis for collecting California sales tax on what would otherwise be a mail-order transaction exempt from state income tax?

People warned California Gov. Jerry Brown what he was risking by signing this idiotic Internet tax:

Rebecca Madigan, Executive Director of the Performance Marketing Association, stated, “The devastation is immediate, because the law went into effect upon signing. We tried to communicate to the Governor that this bill would only lead to dramatic income loss of small businesses and job loss, and he signed the bill anyway.”
Similar legislation has been proposed in numerous other states, only to be rejected because those elected officials recognized these proposals do not generate any additional sales tax revenue and, in fact, harm small businesses. When out-of state retailers stopped advertising on in-state websites, the states collect no new sales tax, and in fact lose income tax revenue.

So Amazon shut down its affiliate operations in California, which immediately deprived Bill Quick of more than $3,000 in annual income from Amazon. (That’s waaay more than I collect off Amazon sales, but then again, Bill’s the guy who named the blogosphere.) Jimmie Bise is amazed by the sadism of Democrats.

While the shutdown of thousands of California affiliate accounts was a drastic measure, Bezos was right to do what he did because if he didn’t, every other state would be tempted to try the same unconstitutional tax scam. By putting the economic power of his company decisively in the balance against this scam, Bezos is doing all he can to encourage the repeal of the California law and prevent other states from dogpiling.

Meanwhile, smart people in California are doing the only thing smart people in California can do: Get the hell out of California!

One affiliate, Ken Rockwell of San Diego, the owner of a 12-year-old photography website, said he planned to move out of state. “Will it be Las Vegas or Scottsdale or Ensenada?” he said. “It’s a question of where, not if.”

Like I said, California is Zimbabwe, U.S.A.

Amazon Goes Galt, Cuts Off California to Avoid Internet Tax in Zimbabwe, U.S.A.

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It was in February 2009 that I first compared the situation in California to Mugabe’s bankrupt kleptocracy. And the situation is only getting worse:

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law California’s tax on Internet sales through affiliate advertising which will immediately cut small-business website revenue 20% to 30%, experts say.
The bill, AB 28X, takes effect immediately. The state Board of Equalization says the tax will raise $200 million a year, but critics claim it will raise nothing because online retailers will end their affiliate programs rather than collect the tax.
Amazon has already emailed its termination of its affiliate advertising program with 25,000 websites.

In essence, Amazon has “gone Galt” rather than submit to California’s Internet tax. The immediate victims? California bloggers like Donald Douglas at American Power.

For the benefit of anyone too stupid to understand why the California Internet tax is a bad idea: All the revenue from sales commissions to California’s 25,000 Web site operators who had participated in the Amazon Associates program was taxable as income.

Now? Zero income. And also zero sales.

Ergo, nothing to tax.

It is astonishing to see how California, where venture capitalists once made Silicon Valley the world capital of technological innovation, has now turned anti-capitalism, anti-technology and anti-innovation, driving the world’s largest Internet retailer out of America’s most populous state.