Kevin Paffrath. (Photo: Kevin Paffrath for Governor.)
Kevin Paffrath is a Serious Candidate for Governor
‘What would you rather have, a choo choo train for $100 billion, or no income tax on the first $250,000 dollars of income for three years?’
By Edward Ring, August 9, 2021 1:39 pm
There is a lot to recommend Kevin Paffrath for governor of California. Along with several Republicans, including Kiley, Cox, Elder and Faulconer, Paffrath is going to get a lot of votes. Not only is his presence on the ballot likely to increase the probability that Newsom is voted out of office on the Recall ballot’s question one, but because there are four viable Republican candidates, and only one viable Democratic candidate, Paffrath could very well end up becoming California’s next governor.
Paffrath would be a vast improvement over the governor we’ve got. If he ends up getting elected, it could represent a political realignment in California as significant as a victory by a GOP candidate. Paffrath has a lot to offer. He has Kiley’s brains, Cox’s business acumen, Elder’s charisma and communication skills, and if anything, his politics are to the right of Faulconer.
And unlike some of the many other candidates in the Recall, Paffrath’s candidacy is no joke. In the most recent poll, he leads the top GOP challenger, Larry Elder, 27 percent to 23 percent.
Consider Paffrath’s plan for the homeless (all of this can be found on his campaign website). He intends to use the national guard to construct centralized shelters, which will enable the national guard in conjunction with law enforcement to immediately remove the homeless from California’s streets and parks. Compare this to Newsom’s plan to double down on the corrupt practice of constructing homeless housing at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars per unit, spreading them throughout suburban communities, with minimal behavioral conditions on placement.
Paffrath advocates restricting immigration to people who can support themselves without government assistance.
On water policy, he advocates more reservoirs, desalination, and even proposes building an aqueduct from the Mississippi River to the Colorado River and sharing the water with other states! If you like water, you have to like this guy. As he puts it, “We can create new jobs and solve problems instead of focusing on buying votes.”
Paffrath recognizes that it is impossible to transition to green energy immediately. He recognizes it is necessary to increase the efficiency of natural gas power plants and keep them open.
For almost every issue, Paffrath sounds good. He has evaluated the forest fire epidemic and correctly identified the difficulty of getting approval for controlled burns as one of the primary causes of California’s overgrown, tinder dry forests. And then he goes one step further, observing that the cost of controlled burns is $32 per acre, whereas it costs $1,500 per acre to fight a wildfire.
On education, Paffrath advocates “Future schools,” a model where partnerships would be formed with businesses to offer students a practical education including vocational training. He suggests these alternative schools can also accommodate homeless people and help rehabilitate prisoners.
When it comes to high speed rail, Paffrath claims that his financial appraisal of the system reveals it won’t break even for at least 70 years. That’s probably still optimistic. As a financial expert, Paffrath is able to make accurate and revealing comparisons. The $100 billion price tag on the bullet train, probably an underestimate, is equivalent to three years worth of state income tax revenues for all income under $250,000 per year. As he puts it, “what would you rather have, a choo choo train for $100 billion, or no income tax on the first $250,000 dollars of income for three years?”
Returning to the theme of common sense over and over again, Paffrath asks, “even if we were to spend money on infrastructure to reduce our traffic problems, why don’t we spend the money where we actually have traffic? The high speed rail is estimated to cost $125 million per mile. Underground tunnels cost about $10 million per mile.” While Paffrath’s figures should be fact checked, again, he’s got the right idea. He goes on to suggest we construct tunnel systems under our major urban freeways, partially paid for with public funds and partially through user tolls. Individual drivers could pay to get places faster, and public busses could also cross the cities unimpeded by surface congestion.
As a real estate investor, Paffrath, like John Cox, correctly diagnoses the problem: He’s identified 482 separate regulations affecting home construction. His solutions are politically eclectic. On one hand he wants to deregulate to encourage more construction, including energy producing homes co-located near wind farms and solar farms (personally I’ll skip the home by the turbines), yet on the other hand he recognizes the importance of protecting existing local communities from having high density housing forced upon them. Worth asking: Kevin Paffrath, are you going to be ok when your real estate holdings drop in value, because you’ve solved California’s housing shortage and homes are finally affordable again? Deleveraging might be in order, if you’re serious?!
Paffrath acknowledges that California’s problems are interrelated and complex, and claims he has done the research and has the ability to connect the dots and solve them. Maybe not every one of Paffrath’s ideas will survive the light of day. Maybe if he’s elected he’ll encounter a solid wall of opposition from his own party. But somehow I get the impression this man will not back down, and has the potential to gather populist support behind his ideas.
One thing is certain. Kevin Paffrath even on a bad day would be a better governor than Gavin Newsom ever was. If I was a Democrat, I’d vote for him without hesitation. He combines nonpartisan centrist positions on the issues with what is probably the most thoughtful and comprehensive policy agenda of any candidate.
- Ringside: The Numbers Driving California vs. Washington on Energy, Water & Forestry - November 21, 2024
- Ringside: Quantifying the Impact of ‘Low Carbon’ Fuel - November 14, 2024
- An Honest Press Release from Gavin Newsom (WARNING: Satire) - November 8, 2024
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Dems will vote for him as a hedge. And, the number of interesting Republicans may leave none with a vote total to match his. In my view CA needs a disruption. Nothing would be more disruptive than a Republican governor. It would resonate beyond CA. So I will probably vote for the Republican who stands the best chance of winning. Why vote for a Democrat?
If you are voting that says you care thank you sincerely ,but one must have a strategy to voting that weeds out the unworthy I keep it simple and get a list of the runners disregard parties because my concern is being on the winning team not sporting my favorite color .So make a list then check out there plans because a serious candidate must have solutions to problems he is professing we have make sure his plan is logical or at least sounds it and next to each one write the things you really agree with next to their name and as u make your way down the list of candidates you chose the one that has more things you like than not it is easier to see when on paper you wrote and the answer will be clear Please don’t be a lazy voter thank you
I guess it is better than Newsolini’s twitter statement today:
“Minimum wage.
Climate change.
Abortion access.
Gun violence prevention.
Our ability to fight COVID.”
Is this how Gov Gav keeps his job highlighting abortion access while the state literally burns to the ground! Lives are being lost, our farmers have little to no water and we are all masked up and limited in movement. But hey, lets talk minimum wage for jobs that people have no interest in returning to because they are being paid to stay home!
However people decide to vote on the second part of the ballot wether it be the above candidate, Kiley or Elder, just please do one thing, VOTE YES TO RECALL.
Quote from Steve Cox – “Whenever anyone says “we all die from something” (or a variation thereof) to justify not taking precautions to help protect others in this pandemic, we should be allowed to shoot them.”
“Why are you crying? We all die from something. For you, it’s that bullet in your gut.”
No one is suggesting shooting anyone to death. There is a very small population of people who die from covid, and the point is that these people are vulnerable to dying from ANY pathogen that gets to them when they are already in a compromised state. The obsession with covid has warped common sense and understanding of the life-death cycle.
Edit: “No one should suggest shooting anyone to death.”
Kevin Paffrath ain’t much better than Newsome. He says he’s against mask wearing requirements but leaves counties to enforce mask wearing restrictions if they want. That’s basically the same as the status quo under Newsom.
This is why all Reps should vote for Elder on Q2.
Rep candidates with no chance of getting a plurality on Q2, Kiley, Ose and the lesser known candidates should stop campaigning and endorse Elder.
Have been watching Kevin on his YouTube channel for a while. He’s entertaining and seems mostly level headed? Not sure how effective he’d be as governor, but he’d be an improvement over Newsom?
Absolutely NO on Paffrath! Ending the state of emergency is listed no where on his platform and is not included in his list of day 1 executive actions! Covid response isn’t even mentioned until # 10 on his list of 5-year priorities. Weak and abstract words detail his response to covid:
“10. NO Covid 2.0 Lockdowns.
Covid: Kevin Paffrath personally believes in the vaccine, is fully vaccinated, and encourages others to get vaccinated. Kevin does NOT believe lockdowns will be necessary again, even with Delta. Proper mask and ventilation/filtration supply and education will be a high priority, especially encouraging the use of quality masks like valveless n95 respirators instead of basic cloth facial coverings. Businesses shall have the right to remain OPEN — and the governor may impose reasonable “HEPA-filtration” and ventilation requirements. In exchange for business compliance with ventilation and filtration requirements, no lockdowns should be imposed. Paffrath also realizes most children cannot yet get vaccinated, and encourages children to wear unvalved n95 (best child fit possible) masks, especially those who are concerned about catching covid. Kevin’s 5-year-old son, Jack, wears a child-style n95 in school, and has asthma. Paffrath believes it is upon the sick to wear n95s to protect others, and it is upon the vulnerable to personally decide to vaccinate and/or mask. While Paffrath is not a fan of mandates and prefers personal choice, by the time Paffrath takes office, lifting mandates may be a moot point. ”
This man believes in masking and jabbing and encouraging others to do so. He believes some people have a duty to keep others healthy, which is not within anyone’s natural human abilities. He encourages compliance from businesses in order to reward them with the privilege of staying open, when they already have a RIGHT to be open. The fact that he can’t say he would fight mask and injection mandates is the opposite response of what California needs–a leader who will end the state of emergency immediately and return the liberties to the people where they originate.
https://www.meetkevin.com/
Exactly Weber. I don’t think Paffrath has any intention on fully ending Covid restrictions. It’s literally down on priority number ten.
Kevin is the only hope California has! Let’s cut out all bullshit! The clowns has played in the circus way to long as it is. Trump gave Newsom a ton of money to help the people5% has landed in the hands of California during a pandemic. Newsome was offered one million dollars to debate Kevin he declined. He would have been shredded by Kevin and he knows it.
Great article on the next CA Governor, Meet Kevin Paffrath!
I’ve been watching Kevin for some time and this man is smart, doesn’t have political baggage & has real world solutions for the problems California is facing. I think he’s sincere and he really is trying to make a positive impact on the world. He has my vote. Anyone who has doubts should take the time to get to know him at his youtube channel.
http://www.meetkevin.com
As a middle of the road Democrat, I REALLY appreciate a candidate who has real-world solutions to California’s mountains of problems… After AB5 ruined countless small businesses, I realized that Sacramento had a poisonous attitude toward self-employed folks like myself – I will actually vote Republican here in California if there is any chance of AB5 being overturned, but so far I do not know Paffrath’s views on it… Anyway, the fact that AB5 is considered a GREAT idea by Biden just makes me sick to my stomach, but I understand that the Great Age of Insanity continues apace fueled by the echo chambers of Social Media and One-View-Apps we hate/love in equal amounts….