The voices behind the ‘green curtain’ say California’s one-party law has failed

Speaking to politicians and leaders representing Greater Southern California, the state’s blue tint is less obvious.

Behind what local leaders call the “blue curtain” of Sacramento’s implementation, there is a rebellion among more than 1.1 million registered Republicans – the GOP’s number is greater than in 40 other US states – and independent voices on the front lines.

Some say they are locked in an “abusive relationship” with a one-party state that has traded the California Dream for mandates, leaving families feeling “robbed” every time they pull up the gas pump.

“We have a lot of driving to do, especially parents, working people, a lot of people are moving because, as you can see, LA County is 4,600 square miles and the inner areas, the areas with more jobs, are more expensive to live in,” LA GOP Chairwoman Roxanne Hoge told Fox News Digital. Los Angeles County is actually 4,751 square miles. “Kamala Harris, our former veep, stood in front of a gas station in North Carolina and said, ‘Can you believe this price, $3.97?’ We would like $3.97 here in LA, we don’t see that at all. “

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“This is a topic that everyone is talking about because this affects not only gas prices, but food prices and everything, the whole economy … I feel it in my pocket,” Los Angeles City Councilman John Lee, the only elected non-Democrat in the city, said when asked what his constituents tell him about California’s high costs. “I see in my family when we go to the grocery store that the prices are very expensive… Historically, California has always been a city [first]- or the second-highest fuel price in the country, and that’s because of the very high taxes and fees we impose as a government.”

For the average Californian, a trip to the tap isn’t just a trip, but one that financial critics say is driven by state legislators. California’s local and state gas taxes and environmental regulations add about $1.50 per gallon to the national average, and are reportedly directly linked to the state’s one-party rule and lack of political diversity in leadership.

“The real reason the prices are so high is because of taxes and the regulatory environment,” said Chapman University urban studies professor Joel Kotkin. “We did something really amazing. We had a booming oil industry in California. California was one of the biggest oil exporters in the 30s and 40s. We have a lot of oil potential, but the problem is we have an administration that has been trying to destroy the industry, especially under [Gov. Gavin] Newsom.”

“I’m not a Republican or a Democrat — are there enough people to say, hey, this is what’s really happening? I mean, two things can happen at the same time. You can have, on paper, a growing economy with a lot of wealth being created, and you can still have a very high rate of poverty, a very high rate of youth unemployment, a very high rate of unemployment. You can have a whole cascade of a cascade of a small group of people, even though small things are going over a group of people,” he continued.

The professor added that “the problem is we’re a one-party state now… If you take a place like Orange County, where it’s basically 50-50, the parties have to be accountable to some degree. You can’t be crazy. You can’t be a far-left Democrat or a Republican and do very well in Orange County. You shouldn’t balance there.

That’s the very struggle facing Lee and Hoge in their positions, especially when they push back on Newsom-backed laws like AB X2-1, which allowed the California Energy Commission (CEC) to set lower inventory levels for refiners, and SB X1-2, which used to oversee oil refining profits — and the clean power grid that mandates the bad name and electric car mandate.

The office of Gov. Gavin Newsom declined to be interviewed by Fox News Digital and directed questions to the CEC, which said that AB X2-1 and SB X1-2 would save Californians $9.3 billion compared to 2022, and that the recent price increase “is a direct result of the disruption of the global oil market driven by the war in Iran and the successful closure of the Strait of Hor.

“They’re going to have to show me where we’re saving money. I don’t care what spreadsheet tells them, but all you have to do is look at the price of gas and ask any person in the city of Los Angeles, do you feel like the price is going down?” Lee, who recently filed a resolution asking state lawmakers to temporarily suspend the gas tax, said.

“The people of the 12th district chose me to represent them at City Hall because I am that independent voice. I am that voice that does not need to look to anyone else except to look to the people I represent to tell me what is best to help them,” said Lee. “The easiest way is for Sacramento to reduce some of the costs and taxes that they put on energy costs. And if we can do that, that would provide immediate relief to our families, who need them the most right now.”

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Hoge agreed: “They could repeal the gas tax, just suspend it for a while. That would save us a lot of money… The sad truth is that California sits in an incredible area of ​​oil and gas potential. And that we can pump and refine our own gas right here. We should be like Alaska, where citizens get checks because we sell so much oil to the country and not to the rest of the world. Feet of Democrats in Sacramento.”

“What happens in California doesn’t stay in California. Crazy bills passed, whether it’s CAFE standards or nutty equity requirements for education standards or gas and electric vehicle mandates, they’re all coming.”

– Roxanne Hoge

“Sacramento has a million ways and means to plug the holes they’ve caused. By the way, they’re not just behind their budget and revenue. They have an unpaid pension debt like the Sword of Damocles of over a billion dollars at this point. They’re totally calculating.[d] and they are not economically literate,” he said.

The disconnect with prominent California politicians translates into other pressing issues, such as efforts to fix the Palisades and Eaton fires. Douglas Elliman agent Cory Weiss helped relocate more than 30 families after losing their homes and, two weeks after the fire, saw Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass eating at the same steakhouse as him.

“I said, you know, ‘He took it down. I think he thought I was going to say hello and congratulate him. He didn’t know who I was. And I said, ‘Look, I just helped 30 homeless families and you’re here having dinner, you’ve let us down.’ And he just stared at me blankly and… he kept shaking his head… I didn’t see any remorse,” Weiss recalled.

“I can say that I am critical of our current mayor,” said Weiss. “There was no accountability, no real way forward, no community mobilization. I’m really surprised that there weren’t more community events that weren’t driven by politics, and, ‘we’re all in this together.’ And that, to me, is really sad.”

Bass’ office did not respond to multiple requests for an interview from Fox News Digital.

“I think the people’s forces are pushing California’s mainstream politics to the left,” Kotkin warned. “If you eliminate all industries and people feel like, ‘Well, building things isn’t going to get me anywhere,’ you’re going to have politicians more interested in giving money to the teachers union than creating blue-collar jobs.”

“The Republicans left California. And, again, I’m not a Republican,” said the professor, “but I would like to have a two-party system, because if you have one party, it’s very difficult to change anything, and no one is accountable.”

“A lot of people across the country are going, ‘Oh, California, you’re getting what you deserve.’ No, we don’t. There’s a lot of us fighting here behind the blue curtain doing our best and trying to vote and speak out and stick our necks out to run,” said Hoge. “But more importantly, what happens in California doesn’t stay in California. The opposite bills are passed, regardless [Corporate Average Fuel Economy] standards or educational nut equivalence requirements or gas standards and electric vehicle prescriptions, it’s all up to you. We are such a large country in terms of population that all those powers are taken by the manufacturers. Whether you live in the ruby ​​red zone or not, you will suffer if you don’t help us.”

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“We’re the second largest city in the largest country in the world, and we’re the biggest economic engine for the state of California, which is one of the biggest economies in the world. You’d think Sacramento would pay a little attention to us, and understand the difference between a city down here and maybe a city up there. Unfortunately, Sacramento likes to come up with these laws—that kind of work,” Lee said. “And, yes, it’s very worrying. It’s very disappointing if they take this approach without consulting us, without talking to us, without getting our opinions. And so when we put a law like I did to ask for this. [suspension]I hope someone will take it. At the same time, I can’t control that.”

“I think we have a voice for the city of Los Angeles, and I think these council members and our mayor and, including myself, we need to put more pressure on,” the councilman said. “My colleagues, I know that they also feel the same way, that they understand that they are also suffering. So I think they need to express their voice, raise their voice and make sure that they express their frustration about what is happening and how they feel right now.”

“I think the American Dream is still alive, the California Dream is alive, but I think we need to be able to be flexible and look at different ways … to provide these things in our city.”

This is Part 3 of the Fox News Digital series, “The Golden State Strain: Inside California’s economic nightmare.” For Part 4, we travel to San Diego to talk to struggling small businesses and a multi-billion dollar mortgage company to see how the energy boom is hurting the local economy.

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