Robert mentioned the looming teacher layoffs, but there will be some layoffs that will be coming down the pike right away.

In low-key votes, lawmakers slashed nearly $1 billion from the state’s prison system, chiefly from inmates’ medical care, and approved a $540 million reduction in state workers’ paychecks. The state Senate had approved those measures last week, and on Monday the Assembly passed them on party-line votes. (SJ Merc)

In this series of votes, the Assembly didn’t look at the Amazon.com tax nor the plan to change the way the gas tax works.

What it did do, slashing prison health care funding, is perhaps without controversy in the Legislature, but the federal courts might look at this slightly differently. Further cuts to the salaries of state workers, who have already seen cuts due to the furloughs, will increase the strain of many workers who are just struggling to keep their heads above water.

Given that Sen. Steinberg has already said that he wouldn’t seek broad tax increases, it appears that cuts are going to be the name of the game.  And Arnold doesn’t even want to look at simple majority tax/fee exchanges. While the stimulus from DC appears to be doing some good, the biggest of the 50 Little Hoovers is right here in Sacramento.

Arnold Schwarzenegger did a swing on the DC fun ride this weekend.  And, of course, he did his standard trip of the Sunday talk shows.  This week it was ABC’s this week to look on endearingly as Arnold spills a load of bull all over the ground.

Apparently when Arnold enters the Eastern time zone, he becomes all magically magnanimous towards Democrats. Apparently, if you talk trash about your own party, it’s big news in DC. There were a whole slew of stories about Arnold trashing the GOP. There’s Arnold on the stimulus:

“I find it interesting that you have a lot of the Republicans running around and pushing back on stimulus money and saying this doesn’t create any new jobs, and then they go out and do photo-ops and they’re posing with the big check and they say, ‘Isn’t this great! Look the kind of money I provide here for the state! And this is great money to create jobs, and this has created 10,000 new jobs, and this has created 20,000 new jobs,'” Schwarzenegger said on ABC’s “This Week.” “It doesn’t match up.” (The Hill)

And Arnold on Health Care and the President:

And he sided with Obama, saying it would be wrong to start all over in preparing health-care legislation for Congress to consider.

“I think any Republican that says you should start from scratch, I think that’s bogus talk, and that’s partisan talk,” the governor told reporters.

*** *** *** ***

“It was truly encouraging to see him being so interested in talking about job creation being his number-one priority,” Schwarzenegger said.(CapAlert)

Now, there’s two ways to read this. Either it’s just Arnold doing what Arnold does best, play showman, or it’s Arnold beginning to angle for some sort of position in the Administration.

Look, Arnold has always been something of a wild card, in terms of what he says, but when it comes to where the rubber hits the road in Sacramento, he’s the CalChamber’s go-to guy. He sides with corporations over people, and fights for corporate tax cuts while MediCal is slashed. Hardly the great bipartisan hope that some would like to depict.  

During this whole multi-year budget season, the Republicans have consistently been fighting to put the reduction of taxes as the top issue on the table. And Steve Poizner’s “10-10-10” Plan calls for a 10 percent cut in taxes as well as a 10 percent cut in spending. Of course, we’ve cut far more than 10 percent in each of the last few budget years, so his plan doesn’t carry much meaning, but the sentiment is still there.



But, like so many issues facing California, the Republicans are out of touch with the people they are supposed to be representing. In a poll by the Datamar firm (PDF), taxes as an issue didn’t even rate. It just got lumped in with “all other issues.”  Meanwhile, “budget cuts” rated as the second leading issue among all groups except Republican respondents. (They’re still hung up on the immigration issue, despite the fact that we are still in the middle of a slow, if not nil, immigration flow on our southern border.)

Of course, the economy is still front and center, as “jobs” and “economy” could conceivably be pushed together in terms of responses.  But, as voters are looking around the state, they see the effect budget cuts are having. Transit and roads programs are being slashed, you get charged for 911 calls, and the social safety net is falling apart. Workers across the state are falling into semi-permanent states of unemployment that just become harder and harder to break out of.

So, why then are we still arguing? Why not fix the budget? Well, the Republicans have played their hand well. It’s always easier to be a party of no, and as well as they’ve played that game in DC, they do it better in Sacramento.  Because despite the minority’s rejection of even the budgets proposed by their own governor, they are attributed a relatively small share of the blame.

SInce 1978, the Republicans have almost always been in the minority in the Legislature, but have wielded that minority as a club to make some serious and far reaching cuts to the system.  In addition to commanding the governor’s position most of that time, they have been able to bully Democrats into adopting budgets that would never be approved under any majority vote system. It has skewed the actual state of the government and

Yet by allowing just the stray vote or two to cross the lines, they keep their names out of the filth of the actual budget and can blame the Democrats for the perverse effects of a system gone astray. Thus, you get this graph to the left, where the Dems, despite there willingness to give and give to the Governor and the Legislative Republicans being seen as the source of problems. Despite all facts to the contrary, no matter how many ways you can show historically what the supermajority has done to the state, it doesn’t matter. You end up with this garbage.

Of course, given our string of pr debacles, nobody should be surprised to see that nearly 70% of Republicans blame the Democrats, while only about 30% of Democrats blame the Republicans in the Legislature. We have simply failed to tell our story. And at this point, it’s not even clear if Californians are really wiling to do what is necessary to create a working and sustainable government.

That being said, it is imperative that we not only continue to fight for the majority of Californians who are more concerned with cuts than taxes, but we frame it as such. Every day, Democrats need to take the fight away from a frame as a fight with the Republicans and transform it into a populist crusade for the rights and values of the majority of Californians.

Dianne Feinstein has always been quite cozy with the politically powerful agribusiness of the Westlands Water District. That’s very popular with Sean Hannity’s Gang, but amongst fisherman and others living in and around the Delta, not so much.  Four members of the house, Reps. Garamendi, Lofgren, Miller and Woolsey, wrote a letter questioning her position.

The lawmakers’ letter urges Feinstein to cancel her plan to introduce legislation to speed more water withdrawals out of the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem.

“Salmon may not have high paid lobbyists like the corporate agricultural interests in the Central Valley, but they are critical to our coastal economy,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, who was among the letter’s signatories. “The Feinstein plan will put thousands of families out of work from the fishing industry and local economies of the Pacific Coast.”

The farmers are trying to argue that the question of water in the Delta is all about jobs there. And to an extent, that is true.  But, at the same time, the agribusinesses there have failed to do anything substantial to change the way they grow in the Westlands. They’re growing crops that frankly do not belong there, and then getting righteously indignant about the whole affair.

And on the other side there are the fish.  Hannity wants to paint the fish as just the Delta smelt, and that is a serious matter. We really shouldn’t be quite so cavalier about wiping another species off the globe. However, there are jobs on the other side of this issue.  THis is a question of jobs vs. jobs.  Fisherman, while not quite as politically connected as the agribusinesses, are hurting. They are fighting to maintain their way of life, and frankly, as the salmon runs putter out, crabbing season tightens up, further cuts from the Delta would further ravage the coastal economy.

I spend a lot of time up in Bodega Bay these days.  It’s a fishing town, the largest fishing fleet between San Francisco and the Oregon border to be more specific.  And neither Sean Hannity nor Dianne Feinstein could ever convince me of the fact that these fisherman aren’t hurting.  Salmon is their cash crop, and the water diversions threaten to eliminate these runs completely.

Pretending there are jobs, and people, on only one side of this issue is misleading and dishonest. Perhaps Feinstein, and the Governor, should take a trip to talk to some of these fisherman, and see if they’re all hunky dory with the proposed water changes.

I’ll be on KOGO radio with San Diego U-T editor and blogger Chris Reed at 6:35 this evening. You can listen online or catch it on the radio in San Diego at 600 on your AM dial.

The internet, 15 years into its serious commercial life is still something of a wild west. In theory, sales tax (or its counterpart the use tax) is supposed to be paid on all purchases.  In practice, it’s only paid where the stores collect it.  While the state has begun making a push for Californians to pay use tax on products that they buy from online stores, few  people  actually do so.  I’ll admit that keeping track of my online purchases is a pain in the butt. I just end up guessing and paying on that guess. But, I’m just guessing here, but I bet I’m in a pretty small minority here.

New York has gone the additional step of requiring Amazon and other online companies collect and pay that tax.  Amazon, and fellow online retailers, aren’t so enthused. From Amazon’s website:

Effective June 1, 2008, Amazon.com LLC will begin collecting sales tax on items shipped to destinations within the State of New York as New York has enacted a new law requiring out-of-state sellers to collect and remit sales tax based on advertising. Amazon has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of this provision. However, as required by the law, we must still begin collecting New York sales tax beginning on that date.

Please note that if you place an order prior to June 1, 2008, your Order Total may not include an estimate of New York sales taxes, but those taxes may still be charged if your order is readied for shipment on or after that date.

But what does Amazon have against this practice? Is it too challenging for them to do the work of collecting taxes? Not really, at this point, payment processing systems can be programmed fairly easy to collect and submit sales taxes.  

No, at this point, it is completely about the online stores’ efforts to undermine local businesses.  They believe that their purchases should not be subject to taxes, while if you go down to the local bookstore, you have to pay up.

Perhaps the idea made sense when the Internet was a struggling venture.  Amazon.com is now the world’s largest book retailer.  More music is sold online than off.  The internet does not need any more boost through accounting trickery.  These stores should be collecting taxes.

While the loss to the states is relevant here to the budget, of equal, if not greater, concern is the loss to local companies. They have to collect the taxes, and then are left with seemingly higher taxes. It’s about time that we level the playing field. Let internet and brick and mortar retailers at least compete on a level playing field. Local businesses already contribute more to the local economy in jobs and recirculating money, why would we tie an arm behind their backs?

Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger continues to oppose small businesses right here in California, and says he plans to veto the measure if it gets to his desk.

Remember ArnoldBucks? Well, I hope you like them, because they are on their way back.

“Here we go again,” said state Controller John Chiang, warning lawmakers that the state will run low on cash this spring unless they make adjustments in the weeks ahead.

California is falling $6 billion short of the revenue it needs to fund basic programs in the current fiscal year and is projected to be short by another $14 billion in the fiscal year that starts July 1.(AP)

Of course, the response thus far has been talk of cuts-only deals and some budgetary gimmicks. Instead of real solutions that will allow the state to provide for the general welfare, we get more threats of increased withholding and other ways for the state to get some interest free loans from the people.

Last year, the ArnoldBucks IOUs ended up costing the state millions of dollars in additional interest, setup and processing, and hurt our credit rating as the world saw our dirty laundry. I can’t wait for this year’s excitement!

Well,  it looks like Arnold got around to reading the law, and perhaps the words of the author of that law, and decided that seating St. Abel without the 41 votes is probably a bit rash.  So, another tack.

The Governor has withdrawn the original nomination, and then resubmitted Maldonado for the LG post.  

This means two things.  First, Mona Pasquil, Garamendi’s former CoS, and the state’s first Filipino statewide official, keeps her position on the State Lands Commission and the other administrative posts that the LG sits on.

But, the real key here is the timing. The new nomination gives the Legislature another 90 days, and a chance for them to push the nomination back to be combined with the June primary, and to also grab a chance at getting Maldonado’s vote for any potential budget deal.

To me, it’s not clear that a combined primary/special election really helps John Laird all that much out in the Senate election. However, it would save the state money. Given the rhetoric the Assembly has been using, it seems like it would be quite challenging for them to switch back now to allow him to take the seat.  But, stranger things have happened, and this is Sacramento. Your word is only your bond until the next deal comes up.

The good Governor Schwarzenegger is pretty fond of his own abilities. I mean, if it were all up to him, those boxes would have been good and blown up by now.  Yet that damned meddling legislature is always getting in his way.  Oh, and the people have the temerity to refuse his power plays.  

But that doesn’t mean that he’s given up on taking power for himself.  The most glaring example is the “seating Abel Maldonado” without getting confirmation thing.  We’ll see how this turns out, but at this point, he seems like somebody who wants to grow his power at every turn.  The courts have served the job of backstop for the separation of powers, but is this really where we want to be? A legislature that has to go running to the courts every week to get approval for its very existence?

The St. Abel issue isn’t the only one.  Take this instance of Arnold unilaterally deciding that a law is inconvenient:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had no legal authority to disqualify everyone with a felony record from working in the program that provides in-home care to 430,000 low-income elderly and disabled Californians, a judge ruled Thursday.(SF Chronicle)

The actual law states that felons are ineligible for ten years.  You can see why this regulation is in place. These are people who are vulnerable, and we want them to steer clear of possible con artists and all that.  But Arnold’s recent stunt of cutting off all convicted felons has nothing to do with that. Rather, it’s some sort of crazy budget issue. He’s trying to save money by firing any IHSS workers who currently have a client and have a criminal record, and then hoping that they won’t be able to find a replacement for a while.  You know, save a few bucks while the disabled person has no care and has to go looking.

It’s all about instability. Instability breeds confusion, which causes less people to take advantage of state services.  It’s a really crappy, and cowardly, way to try to save money. Arnold, if you’re going to try to make cuts, do them honestly, and let the people know what you are doing. Come tell the recipients of IHSS care that they are going to have to go to a more expensive residential facility. Oh, right those facilities don’t exist. So, how about this, Governor, why don’t you just go ahead and tell these people that you wish them well as they struggle to survive.

And maybe if you toss in a copy of Terminator 2, all will be forgiven.

Today seems to be the big day to make a media blitz of sorts for the plan to repeal AB 32. Take this choice morsel from the Senate Republican caucus in their email “briefing report”:

The term “global warming” has recently shifted to “climate change” (thus allowing the alarmists to blame any change in weather/climate on humans).  Few deny that climate change exists; change is a defining characteristic of climate.  Whether mankind causes climate change and has the ability to overcome natural forces to stop it is another story.  It should be remembered that CO2 is a gas that occurs naturally in the atmosphere.  It is exhaled by humans, and is absorbed by trees and plants to produce oxygen, is not toxic and in fact, is essential to life on earth.  The growing body of evidence suggests that CO2 impact on climate change is marginal (if there is an impact at all).  Additionally, it has been revealed that much of the data to support AGW heretofore has been manipulated, skewed and compromised to support a highly politicized environmental-industrial complex.  The scientific “consensus” of AGW does not exist.  The state ignores this reality at its own peril.

Except, oh, right consesus does exist. It is called the 2007 IPCC report, a report that surveyed all the literature, a great deal of scientists, and a whole mess of data.  To quote the IPCC:

“Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.”

The Republicans counter back with some junk science bought and paid for by the oil companies, and just try to muddy up the waters enough so that they can pretend that the consensus is just a bunch of nerdy eggheads who don’t step outside. Meanwhile, the Sacramento Bee has a profile of Asm. Dan Logue, who is shepherding the AB 32 through the initiative process. After they get done with their comparisons of Logue to Peter Falk’s Columbo (the visual similarity is kind of hard to miss), they move on to the thornier issue for Logue: he hasn’t the resources to get this measure off the ground.

But Logue has not yet started gathering signatures and his drive is gasping for money – lots of it. He says he has $600,000 in commitments, but none has been collected, and $1 million more is needed. (SacBee)

Logue is facing a very steep battle here. There are many industry groups opposed to repeal, and the CalChamber has yet to come out either way.  But, in terms of money, Logue is going to face the biggest test there.  You see, Arnold Schwarzenegger views AB 32 as central to his legacy in California. Repeal would be the complete repudiation of what little big change he has accomplished in the state. You can be sure that Arnold will do his damndest to ensure that no big donors give to this POS.

No doubt that there is a lot of right-wing craziness out there right now. And they are certainly itching for a fight on AB 32, but whether this actually gets on the ballot to be considered, let alone passing, is an open question. Nonetheless, if you care about the climate change issue, the November 2010 election could be critical with or without this repeal. Meg Whitman has already signaled her intention to suspend AB 32 as soon as she gets a chance. The right-wingers have two cracks at the apple here, and only one needs to succeed to set our state back from our position as a leader on the fight against climate change.

Oh, and just as a toss-away in the Logue story, and a fact worth knowing about the man, the Bee mentions one of his big achievements as a Yuba County Supervisor: attracting a Wal-Mart to Marysville.  I’m sure the local businesses sincerely appreciated his efforts.

I don’t normally post vague, unsourced rumors, but I think this is a general sense of those around the Capitol. Specifically, the rumors of Dianne Feinstein entering the governor’s race are heating up once again.

It’s hard to keep genuine interest, especially from somebody as noticeable as DiFi quiet very long. However, as Robert noticed, DiFi does seem to want people to keep noticing her. I’m not sure all that much has changed since Robert wrote that post back in November, but it seems her attention to the governor gig has increased over the past few months.

So, how’s that for some blind rumors on a Friday morning?