California helped propel its former governor, Ronald Reagan, to the White House through its 1978 tax revolt, which quickly spread to the vast majority of states. Golden State voters have reaffirmed Proposition 13 for decades, creating a “tax revolt family tree” of amendments that repeatedly frustrate would-be tax hikers.Local officials and big-government boosters have allegedly found a new way to suppress anti-tax advocacy, however: Dub it “hate speech” and doxxing.
The drafters of California’s “Billionaire Tax” ballot measure, and leaders of the labor union sponsoring it, threatened legal action against a State Assembly candidate for identifying them on his website as the “Looter Dream Team” and pointing visitors to their own institutions’ web pages for contacting them, according to the candidate’s lawyers.
“They tried to threaten me with jail time to take this site down. I fought back. The site stays up,” Richard Lucas, a software company co-founder who calls himself a “suit who knows code,” wrote on his “California Wealth Exodus” website, which also touts a Hoover Institution study finding the tax would actually cost California $25 billion.
The sixth-generation Californian and “rugged individualist” is running as an independent for the 51st District, which runs from Santa Monica to Hollywood. His campaign website encourages supporters to “Become a Dick,” and Lucas describes supporters as “Dickheads.”
A school district in a Los Angeles suburb known for TV and film production muted a parent participating in a board meeting on Zoom for her “hate speech” – promising to campaign against a proposed tax hike, video and a transcript of the meeting shows.
Federal courts have frowned upon viewpoint-based restrictions on public comment, including by the Florida school district that birthed Moms for Liberty.
“This is not the first time they have violated my civil rights,” Melissa Sanders, whose name repeatedly appears in transcripts for Culver City Unified School District board meetings, told Just the News in a Facebook message. She comments occasionally on district posts.
“I’m looking for representation to take legal action against CCUSD” and is currently receiving non-legal assistance from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Sanders said. CCUSD’s board didn’t answer queries.
FIRE pointed Just the News to two warning letters it sent the board on Sanders’ behalf, in December 2024 and February 2025, concerning its alleged disabling of “video capabilities” or removal of public commenters for what the board deemed “intimidating” Zoom backgrounds. Sanders’ background read “TIME TO RESIGN” and mentioned two board members by name.
“Bear in mind [Sanders’] remarks were about fiscal policy, enrollment management, and district budgeting, which are standard topics at any school board meeting,” parent Pedro Frigola, known for challenging the district’s removal of honors English courses in the name of equity, wrote on May 1 for the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism.
Sharing his experiences serving on various district committees, Frigola said the recasting of disagreement “as a moral violation” was common. When questions about “taxes, staffing, and policy […] can be dismissed rather than engaged, the community loses something essential — not decorum, but accountability.”
