Let’s Go Antiquing with Joan Buchanan
Joan likes to shop estate sales when she’s abstaining from work in Sacramento
The 15th District’s abstaining Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan (D-Yard Sale) has invited you to go estate sales shopping with her!
It turns out that the State of California has more than $5.7 billion in unclaimed property.  Buchanan sent out a press release encouraging Californians to check the lost and found and get some cool stuff.  Everything from bank accounts to insurance policies to mineral interests.

Who Wants to Play Charades with Joan?
We know she’s good at it, just look at pension reform
Everyone’s favorite Assemblywoman-in-Absentia Joan Buchanan knows a good charade according to the Contra Costa Times.  They editorialized on her charade skills earlier this month but the sad part is it is at the expense of California taxpayers and the future of the Golden State.

"Hey Taxpayers: Thanks for the Campaign Contribution!"
Who Cares about the Deficit when you can use taxpayer money for campaigning?
With a $25 billion deficit facing our state and concerns over how to solve the short and long-term fiscal problems California has, you would think the least Absentee Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan could do is manage her own taxpayer funding responsibly.  You would think.
Instead, Buchanan, as reported by the L.A. Times, has spent $115,000 on taxpayer-funded mailings promoting herself.  “Essentially they’re free campaign mailers paid for by taxpayers under the guise of state business,” said one political consultant quoted in the story.

Absentee Assemblywoman Back on Track
3 days...4 Abstentions!
Absentee Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, one of the leading members of the “No Fat Left To Cut” Caucus, did an extraordinary job of abstaining last week.  If the old adage that the “government that governs the best is the one that governs the least” is true, then 15th District voters have an extraordinary representative in Joan Buchanan.

Ms. Buchanan, Time for a Parent-Teacher Conference
Note to Parents, From the Taxpayers
Re:  Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan’s Performance
While Joan has improved somewhat on her attendance record, she is still not “satisfactory.”  We are really concerned as nothing seems to get her to change her bad attitude towards taxpayers and her disregard for her responsibilities as our representative in the State Assembly.

Buchanan Shows Up! To Release Violent Criminals
We’ve maybe been too fixated on Absentee Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan’s missed votes on behalf of taxpayers at the expense of focusing on those that she’s bothered to show up for.  Ones like….say….allowing violent criminals to pour back into the East Bay and put our children, our property, and possibly our lives at risk.  Is that what Joan Buchanan campaigned on in 2008?

Absentee Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan Abstains...Again
Joan Buchanan (D-Missing) was again too busy to do the job she was elected to do: vote.
While significant legislation dealing with funding for public schools and taxes on working families came before the State Assembly, Buchanan (D-Elsewhere) was again absent from her responsibilities.  But taxpayers will be glad to know that she only skipped unimportant votes like funding for classrooms, sales tax increases, and increased vehicle taxes.

We Found Joan! more taxes, no spending cuts, end term limits
After acknowledging that the California budget is in deficit due to spending problems, Absentee Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan comes out in favor of extending tax increases to solve our budget problems.  California pays the highest income and sales tax rates in the country yet Buchanan cannot name a single spending cut she would make yet supports more taxes on working families.

Absentee Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan Abstains Again
After earning a remarkable rebuke from the Sacramento Bee for her “disturbing pattern of abdication of her duty as a legislator,” for her equally remarkable history of abstaining from voting, you would think Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan would change her behavior.

Chamber Gives Buchanan Poor Marks - Establishing Record as a "Job Killer"
San Ramon, California -Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan’s claims at being a pro-business Democrat were further eroded by the California Chamber of Commerce’s 2009 Vote Record which showed that she voted with the Chamber only 38.5% of the time.

Legislators head toward finish line in Race to the Top bills
By Pia Lopez - The Sacramento Bee
Sacramento, CA - In the Assembly Education Committee, this separate bill passed 11-4 with Assembly members Julia Brownley, D-Woodland Hills; Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco; Wesley Chesbro, D-Santa Rosa; and Tom Torlakson, D-Martinez, voting no. Joan Buchanan, D-San Ramon, abstained, continuing a disturbing pattern of abdication of her duty as a legislator. Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, didn't vote.

Assembly Drags Down Race to the Top - Delay, Detain, Derail
Sacramento, California - "Legislators strategically use abstention and absences to avoid controversial "yes" or "no" votes, often killing bills in the process.
Obama announced in July that states could compete for $4 billion in new Race to the Top funds to move the bar in those reform areas. Applications are due Jan. 19.

Buchanan Receives “F” in First Year - Jarvis Taxpayer Award Failing Grade
San Ramon, California – The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, California’s most respected taxpayer advocate, gave Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan a worthy “F” grade for her first year in Sacramento.  The annual list is an important benchmark for the public in assessing a candidate’s rhetoric as compared to his or her record.  Regardless of what politicians promise, vote history demonstrates the reality. 

Joan Buchanan: There's no more fat left to cut out of the budget
San Ramon, California - Democrat Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan in one sentence demonstrated why opponent Abram Wilson would be a better representative for the 15th Assembly District when she said in the Contra Costa Times on November 4, 2009  "There's no more fat left to cut out of the budget."

Joan Buchanan: Resign your Assembly seat
By David Abelmann in the Danville Weekly
Joan Buchanan: Resign your Assembly Seat. Quoting from your campaign for the State Assembly: "California's Budget its a mess!" "Performance Not Politics." "Joan Buchanan is ready to go to work."

In the business world in which you profess to have honed your organizational and budgeting skills, if you join a company with commitments to that company with commitments to that company and its organization and within four months you start looking for a new job, you would likely be fired.