Union Leaders, Professors Threaten California Candidate for Criticizing the Billionaires’ Tax
Professors and union leaders whine that a political candidate is urging his followers to contact them and complain about the proposed billionaires’ wealth tax.
An independent political candidate is fighting back against threats from union leaders and several professors who take issue with his criticism of their stance on a billionaire’s tax.
State assembly candidate Richard “Dick” Lucas posts entertaining videos where he decries California’s problems with homelessness and crime.
He also runs a website called California Wealth Exodus, where he tracks people leaving the state in relation to a November 2026 ballot measure that would levy a one-time 5% wealth tax on billionaire residents.
Lucas says at least six known billionaires have already changed their residency due to the threat of the law, including Google’s Larry Page and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He says 43 more billionaires have committed “stealth departures.”
View this post on Instagram
His criticism has drawn the ire of six people in particular, whom he names as members of the “Looter Dream Team.” The individuals include Dave Regan, president of the Service Employees’ International Union-Union of Healthcare Workers, and Suzanne Jimenez, a representative with the same union.
Rounding out the starting six are university professors: David Gamage (University of Missouri), Brian Galle (University of California Berkeley), Darien Shanske (University of California Davis), and Emmanuel Saez (UC Berkeley).
Through a law firm, the six reportedly sent letters demanding that Lucas take down their names and contact info from his websites.
But he responded through the legal powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which pointed out that Lucas has First Amendment rights and that all six members of the “dream team” have publicly made their views known through writings and media appearances.
An April 27 letter stated:
In addition to being involved in drafting and filing the measure, each of them has supported this tax in highly public forums, including in interviews, social media posts, and op-eds. They are academics and industry leaders whose voices carry significant authority on issues of economic law and policy. While it is perfectly acceptable for them to engage in public debate regarding California’s wealth tax, they cannot at the same time make legal threats against those who publicly challenge their claims about its effects and encourage others, in good faith, to do the same.
The cease-and-desist letters reportedly accused Lucas of violating anti-doxing laws. But his attorneys point out that his commentary is protected by the First Amendment.
Supreme Court precedent protects his rights to criticize the supporters, some of whom have been publicly involved since at least 2021 in promoting a wealth tax.
“They have willingly entered the public sphere by throwing their support behind a controversial political opinion,” Alliance Defending Freedom argues. “As a result, they may be exposed to opinions—even harsh opinions—of those who disagree with them.”
The cease-and-desist letters could violate the state’s Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) laws, ADF warned.
The legal group said an anti-SLAPP lawsuit will be filed if the “dream team” does not stop trying to shut up Lucas.
“Your clients have vocally and publicly endorsed this tax, and Mr. Lucas has a constitutionally protected right to challenge those endorsements as he campaigns for public office,” the letter concluded.
[Featured image from Dick Lucas’ Instagram]
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Naming and shaming and listing their (presumably) public contact info doesn’t seem like ‘doxing’. In fact it appears these six individuals were happy to be on the record in public with their support for this measure but seem to not just shy away from criticism, but seek to use the judiciary to eliminate dissenting voices. That indicates one of the problems with unchecked one party rule; any opposition is jarring and scary to the regime figures who have operated without any effective criticism/dissent. Freedom is scary.
Well far far left university and government focused labor unions are not used to any form of dissent. I’m sure they feel uncomfortable with any form of comment that is not 100% cheerleading of the drek they espouse.
Just a thought on what is happening in blue states, CA & NY for example. Conservatives and Republican voters are leaving, willingly or otherwise. What then happens to the voter base? These states are also known for expensive real estate! What happens when these people move out? Land values drop and are bought up by special interests who will not sell cheaply or maybe just rent or lease their new investment properties. So the “Democrat, Socialist or communist “ politicians have just created socialist or communist states with them guaranteed power because the opposition voters left. Result, a bloodless coup and slow destruction of the USA. We obviously can not depend on the Republican Party for any long range planning or thoughts. Right now, DJ Trump is the only one standing between our constitutional republic and a communist take over. No one on the right wants to admit we are in a civil war. The left is prepared to engage in a violent and bloody communist revolution. Putin and Xi are sitting back and laughing as the USA self destructs. Its just a matter of time and not that long.
Let the class warfare commies move to China, where their dream is already established.
Funny how none of the communist/Islamofascist Dhimmi-crats/”Democratic Socialists” have moved to Cuba, communist China or North Korea, where their socialist/communist fantasies have been enacted, in full.
These hypocritical pukes want to reside in the U.S., where they can enjoy freedom, prosperity and comfortable living, while preaching their evil and discredited bile.
Ah, but, according to the Dhimmi-crats/”Democratic Socialists”, neither Cuba, communist China, nor North Korea have implemented socialism, correctly.
There can never be a correct form of socialism. A system that prevents people from free exchange is a system that is repressive from the get go.
Somehow it never gets “implemented” correctly, which is why it has never worked. I don’t expect that track record to change.
Typical, contemptible communist/Islamofascist Dhimmi-crats — attempting to use factually unsupportable legal threats and bullying to silence a citizen whose views they don’t like, and because he possesses the temerity to mock and ridicule the apparatchiks.
I would think it would be difficult for them to tax people who aren’t residents.
They can ~impose~ all the taxes they want. Collecting them is another story. What’s Cali going to do to its ex-pats? Send State Marshalls to other states to arrest them? And the other states are just going to allow their new, very wealthy citizens to be kidnapped? Yeah…I don’t see that flying at all.
What I do see is the FBI intervening and charging the principals issuing those orders with kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap. Which would provide them with new friends and the experience of living in cages for a while.
If you’re taking flak, you’re over the targets. The targets want to play “punch/no punch back,” which makes them crybullies. Attacks of this sort give Lucas free advertising. His opponents don’t seem to be very bright.
Looters and cheaters hate publicity.