Roger Hedgecock Travels To Sacto 1-12/13-04!

INSIDE THE BELLY OF THE BEAST

(keeping tabs on our money)

ROGER returned home yesterday after two days of lobbying in Sacramento. His annual Hold Their Feet To The Fire trek. This his 9th and this time instead of D.C. the focus was Sacramento and our tax dollars. About 100 of his listeners paid their own way (air fare, hotel, meals etc) to the state capital to send one single and very clear message: No Tax Increase.

We flew into Sacramento on Sunday the 11th and then assaulted the capital on Monday and Tuesday, attempting to visit every single elected lawmaker. A remarkable experience for all, especially those who have never seen legislators at work. Yikes!!

We have posted some pictures of the trip on ROGER’S website. More as the days pass. We took a couple hundred pix.

SACTO OBSERVATIONS

**Sacramento is in a different clime zone. It’s cold up there. Folks wear these things called “overcoats.” Brrr. ROGER has no capacity for coping with weather under 45 degrees and he left the great coat that he normally takes to D.C. back at home. He weathered on however.

**Republicans were thrilled to see us. Assemblyman Jay La Suer laid out a continental breakfast and sandwich luncheon for our citizen lobbyists. At each GOP office our folks were welcomed, embraced and dang near hugged. Democrats, even from our area, were far less enthused to see plain ole citizens invading the public house to check on their tax dollars. Assemblyman Juan Vargas among those democrats who nearly barred the door. But our folks were persistent. At one point our crowd had not only filled his office to capacity but were spilling out into the corridor.

We invited a whole host of democrat lawmakers to be on ROGER’S radio show, broadcast on both Monday and Tuesday from the Sacramento Hyatt (right across the street from the capitol building) but to no avail. But our lobbyists did button hole a whole lot of democrats in their lair. We made our case for no tax increase. Deaf ears but they got the basic message: citizens are aroused, the recall lives and we’re not taking it in the shorts anymore.

**The Governor had agreed some time ago to be on ROGER’S radio show while we were in Sacramento. 4pm was the appointed hour on Monday the 12th. Because of the crunch of Arnold’s schedule, the visit was to be on the telephone. We appealed for a personal visit, inasmuch as we were 100+ citizens who paid the fare to lobby for his no tax budget. The deal was on the phone. We accepted. Come about 3:58pm or so our cell phone rings and we’re told by a rep from the Governor’s office that it was possible the Governor might make a personal appearance. Tell no one. Within moments the doors to our broadcast conference room flew open and there was the Governor. Our crowd was thrilled. Arnold spent 15 minutes with ROGER on the radio, forcefully supporting his plan to restore California to fiscal responsibility without tax increases. Camera flashes were blinding as our lobbyists snapped pix.

After his visit with ROGER the Governor (despite the concerns of his security folks) posed in the hallway with students from the Escondido Charter High School. He signed autographs and was extremely gracious. The kinda stuff we want in a Governor, yes?

**ROGER IS TUTORING LAWMAKERS…The GOP delegation took ROGER out for dinner on Tuesday evening and the boss read them the riot act. Specifically that they need to be more vocal, they need to stay in touch with talk radio and they need to keep the momentum of the Recall. Each day the democrats do amazingly stupid and frightening things in various committees (I.e. feel sorry for sex perverts, propose memorials to gay veterans at great public cost etc) and the Republicans are aghast but silent. ROGER’S message: be silent no more. Start acting like a majority and understand that you have a hero in the Governor’s office. Each GOP lawmaker has to start thinking like a Terminator.

The Republicans were so excited about ROGER bringing his listeners and his radio show to Sacramento that they invited us back in June when the budget decisions really get tight. Boss is on the ponder and is likely to break tradition and do two Hold Their Feet To The Fire trips in one year. Watch this space for details. If so you’ll want to come along. This trip was way too fun!!

**IT’S EASIER TO WORK SACTO THAN D.C. ….for starters the California capitol is smaller. Fewer lawmakers than Congress and less distance to travel to get to them once inside the statehouse. In D.C. our lobby folks trekked from one building to another on both the House side and the Senate side. In Sacto everybody is in the statehouse annex which made it far easier to cover territory and get our no tax increase message out.

Sacto member offices are really, really small. And the smallest offices are doled out to Republicans (of course) and the very smallest offices to those Republicans who are out of favor with democrat leadership (that would be most of them).

**THE CAPITOL BUILDING in Sacramento is lovely. We ate at a restaurant called Chops one eve. A lawmakers hang. They have an outdoor patio for use during the warmer month and from that vantage point you get a great view of the building just two blocks away. As we smoked we looked at the building, all lit up. Like in D.C. the dome light is lit when the lawmakers are in session and the windows are all bright. Quite beautiful….until the ponder grabbed us that those lovely lights meant that lawmakers were still at work and that cannot be good. They do mean us harm. The more the lights are out at the Capitol the better off we are likely to be. Click!!

**ROGER committed to getting a C-Span for Sacramento on local cable channels. C-Span in D.C. gives us great access to the floor of both houses and a variety of vital committee hearings and campaign events. We need such access to our lawmakers in Sacramento. And so the boss has charged his staff with the task of finding out what is broadcast from the state house and how to get that stuff on the air live in San Diego and the rest of California. We can’t let these folks operate in secret. We are no longer willing to be duped and doped and distracted. It took us a whole number of months to get local cable to carry the Fox News Network in San Diego…you got that done. Now we need your help to lobby cable to carry state info feeds and live coverage. And we need to get more serious about a directory of all gummint broadcasts. City Hall meetings and council sessions and committee gatherings etc….all should be broadcast live and on the internet. In each community where possible. And we need to get a directory of such broadcasts up on ROGER’S website so you can one click and find out who is trying to do what to you today…live as it happens. New Years resolution #1.

MUTTERINGS

**ROGER ON VACATION next week. Off until January the 28th. Cruisin with listeners. In his stead we hope to have Star Parker do a stint. Eric Hogue our morning talkshow bud from Sacramento may take a few days and Valentine will take up some slack. We need the ADA so don’t be absent.

**AHEAD we’re plotting a possible Superbowl live remote in Crest. (not signed off on as yet) to aid fire victims and have some fun.

On February 4th we’re talking about a special live broadcast to honor the 2nd anniversary of ROGER’S Operation Homefront. We’re thinking about doing it at McP’s restaurant in Coronado. Feb 4 isn’t the exact anniversary of the Ophomefront founding, we actually launched in late 2001 as a solo radio venture and then partnered with the Veterans Journal newspaper but on Feb 4th we partnered with Cinchouse.com a national group of military wives and the rest is history. It’s important that history be clear. The effort started with ROGER and his listeners who felt a need to be part of the War on Terror. The battle is here on the homeland as well….and thus ROGER’S effort to adopt the families of deployed Warriors was born and San Diego responded. Our partners may have come and gone but ROGER’S commitment and that of his listeners remains unchanged.

The Ophomefront show will be a chance to say thank you to hundreds of local merchants who have stepped forward to aid military families. People who have given us hundreds of thousands of dollars…in currency, free services, product, food and skills. Don’t miss this one. Come by in person if you can and salute our hometown heroes.

**TOMORROW.. (well actually on Tuesday next) ROGER will have been the Radio Mayor of Southern California for 18 years. Normally we mark the anniversary with a live broadcast somewhere, but with all the trekking to Sacramento and such we’ll do the anniversary show in studio on Friday the 16th. Maybe we’ll sneak a few folks into the studio. Stop by. We’ll make it an open house kinda thing.

**DEBATES ARE US!! Today (1/15) ROGER does the first in a series of debates leading up to the March 2nd primary. On the plane back from Sacto ROGER went over the candidate lists and selected races that need close focus. We’ll have a full schedule of debates ready for the boss to sign off on when he returns from cruise on the 28th. Getting you full information on candidates and propositions prior to vote date has been a hallmark of ROGER’S radio show for 18 years. It ain’t sexy radio but it’s vital and important radio. Those of us honored to have access to your public airwaves are responsible for making sure that we use your airtime to your benefit. Watch this space and then make sure you tune in before you decide whom (or what) to vote for on the 2nd.

**CAN’T LEAVE JUST YET…too fun to hear San Diego’s police chief news conference about 27 million dollar cop budget deficit…need for more cops, re-open police academy and the end of the world is nigh. While in the same news cycle SD Councilman Charles Lewis is making a fuss about TOO MANY cops in his district. Gestapo is among the words Charles used, we seem to recall. Well cop union and brass are livid about Charles. A real bright Mayor might call the chief into his office and suggest that the cop shortage be fixed by moving some of the too many cops outta Charles district and re-deploying them to areas in real serious and dire need.

Personally I see a whole lot of cops around. If there is a shortage it ain’t apparent to nekkid eye. But then again, we’re not cop professionals. They know best. Burp.

**MORE TO COME tomorrow if the creek don’t rise and the trailer house stays unburnt.

GOD BLESS AMERICA