And so the budget drama hurtles toward its inevitable conclusion, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. Democrats have caved and given Arnold Schwarzenegger what he wanted – a cuts-only budget that does massive and lasting damage to the state of California, to the people who live here, and to our collective future. It’s taken 31 years, but Howard Jarvis is finally going to get the wholesale destruction of public services he always wanted.
After resolving their major education dispute Friday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders hope to finalize a budget deal today that closes California’s $26 billion deficit with spending cuts, accounting shifts and revenues from local governments.
State leaders have agreed on a general budget framework and gave attorneys and budget aides time Saturday to draft a bill, sources close to negotiations said….
Besides spending cuts, the budget proposal includes capturing more than $4 billion from cities, counties and special districts.
It also relies on accounting tricks, such as increasing income tax withholding schedules by 10 percent to shift money from 2010-11 to 2009-10, as well as delaying state worker paychecks next June 30 to July 1.
In the coming days we will hear Democratic legislators claiming this is some sort of victory – that Cal-WORKS wasn’t eliminated, that California can again pay its bills. These are hollow, pyrrhic victories. The raid on local government funds will ensure dozens of cities go bankrupt and will lead to reckless public safety cuts, especially to firefighters. Schools are going to get another hit without any firm guarantee that they will be repaid – we haven’t seen details of the “agreement” to repay the $9.5 billion schools are owed, but Arnold seems to have won the battle to prevent repayment from becoming a constitutional mandate, meaning that repayment shouldn’t be counted on until the checks are actually cut.
Still unclear is the fate of health care, IHSS, state parks, and other proposed cuts. But at this point it’s not clear that their exact fate matters much. Democrats have signaled that they will abandon their half-hearted efforts to demand new revenues, to close corporate tax loopholes, and to have a more fairly balanced budget. When the next mid-year budget adjustment has to be done in 6 to 9 months from now, or in the battle over the 2010-11 budget a year from now, Arnold will have little incentive to listen to Democratic proposals, since he has proved once and for all that he can get Democrats to do his bidding by holding firm and demanding massive cuts.
For their part, Democratic legislators likely believe that they are merely living to fight another day, especially on Election Day in November 2010 when they hope to elect a 2/3 majority in both houses.
It seems highly unlikely they will get that result. Democrats have given Californians no good reason to vote for them in state legislative races, as they refused to stand up for Californians and the services they need to survive. They refused to make a strong push for tax fairness. And they refused to plan for economic recovery.
This is the way California ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper. With a failure of leadership so complete, so total, as to leave the state bereft of hope for its future.
Surely you don’t think it wld be terrific for the state to continue to pay IOUs and have no budget!
That the Dems have no power in this bizarre game with 2/3 majoritiy requirements is no surprise. That the Dems are seeking some level of stability and a budget is also no surprise – and not a defeat.
If only we can get some real initiatives on the 2010 ballot — to end the 2/3 majorities; to split the Prop 13 roster so that businesses pay their fair share; to get an oil extraction tax.
And … wouldn’t it be nice, and worth the effort, to get 3 more Dems in recalcitrant districts so that people can get their schools and services back.
If the schools crash – as how could they not – then won’t the Repubs be branded, the “no taxes” minority — as holding the state back from proper funding of schools and services?
cover Spinal transplants? Apparently they are all missing one.
Beginning to think I will never vote for a Democrat again.
I don’t have a bazillion dollars…who the hell represents me?
……when folks get a taste of the CA Ahnuld and his scumbag posse have fashioned it’s gonna be ‘Hasta la Vista…’ to him and his vile policies.
That is if the NYC hooker doan take him down….
What are the consequences of, well, sabotage here?
This is an awful deal. Can we blow it up? What are the consequences of doing so?
Also: why does the Democratic leadership want to do this deal, and what can be done to change their incentives here?
Why not surrender? Not the whole magilla, but put Blakeslee & Hollingsworth in charge of the budget committees and let THEM come up with the 2/3 votes for a change. Every year we claim a moral victory because we only cave on 90% of their demands. Enough’s enough. Let them come up with a budget that gets the support of half of the Democratic caucus instead. It’s not like we can do any worse!
What is the point of voting in state Assembly elections?
You can either vote for the Democrat, who under our current leadership has no power and will capitulate to destroying the state, or you can vote for the Republican who really does want to destroy the state.
Seriously. I love all of this yapping about how we need to reform California, but if the Dems pass off on this deal and the budget slips out of the news, it’s hard to see how any reform proposals stay on the table.
Yes, I’m absolutely bitter, because I feel like there’s simply no hope in this state, not with the open sewer that is the CDP. I accept that they can’t exactly change the 2/3 rule by parliamentary motion, but that doesn’t mean that they can simply surrender in the shadows rather than bringing this state’s crisis to public light.
It’s like we need a new state party or something. I’m not about to vote Republican as they are actively trying to destroy the state. But voting Democratic isn’t fixing the problem either since all they do is cave to the Republicans.
I got an email from Pedro Nava this morning. He’s running for Attorney General and is sending emails about any issue he thinks will cement support. Today’s is oil drilling off the coast. He claims Arnold wants it, the Chronicle reported it, and I should oppose it.
Under normal circumstances, I probably would. But hardly anything is normal in California any more. And I think I have a better idea.
Arnold did a dumb thing when he rejected the bipartisan temporary budget bill. He thought he’d hold out for something he could trumpet as a PR win. Instead he got IOUs, sinking bond ratings, and rising deficits. He needs a win.
Let’s give him his oil drilling under two conditions:
1. Stringent safety regulation
2. Approval of the oil severance tax
Let’s also give him an Assembly commission on government waste. Hand out bonuses to any state employee who identifies viable savings in state government and then institute them. Then tell Arnold that, since he keeps talking about how much this will save the state, we want to offset these HUGE savings by revoking the $2.5 billion in corporate tax cuts that were part of the failed February budget deal. If he doesn’t agree, he’s admitting the government waste he keeps banging on about is really quite small. If he does, we get $2.5 billion to fund programs we need and want.
Arnold gets the PR. We get the money. I can live with that.
Great victories require great sacrifices and daring risks.
CA-Dems just cowered away from a fight in ways strikingly similar to WGA & AFTRA last year: “We can’t fight a battle with these villains because it will hurt a lot of people!”
This failure impulse embedded in the genetic code of the Left comes from a tragic urge to hold onto whatever shitty, patchwork leftovers of Commonwealth remain, as we clutch the charred scraps of civilization in our hands.
It is the weakness within our strength — being good guys — that any ruthless villain can see to exploit: “Their strength is that they are empathetic, constructive, cooperative good guys. So attack the civilians, attack the bystanders, attack the entire society. They stop fighting us in order to protect the remnants of their community.”