I just appeared on KPFA with Eric Klein to talk about the Governor’s proposed budget cuts, along with several experts and stakeholders, including friend of Calitics Anthony Wright of Health Access California.  I agree with him that it’s almost hard to fathom the amount and severity of the cuts proposed for health care, especially at a time with the federal government is moving forward with a “do or die” plan to reform the health care market, increase access and lower costs.  The proposed Governor Hoover cuts would have the exact opposite effect, and the people gravely impacted by this will not have the luxury of waiting around for the Feds to catch up and fill in the gaps.

Two recent CBP fact sheets help break down the Governor’s proposed cuts to Medi-Cal and Healthy Families, in numbers that are easier to grasp. These fact sheets show:

More than 940,000 California children would lose health coverage if the Healthy Families Program is eliminated as the Governor proposes. More than 240,000 children in Los Angeles county alone would be affected. Want to know how many children would be impacted in your county? Check out the fact sheet to see.

In total, more than 1.9 million Californians could lose access to health coverage within three years through proposed reductions to the Medi-Cal Program and elimination of Healthy Families.

As the Governor said himself today, “behind every one of those dollars that we cut there are real faces.”

Kudos to the LA Times, by the way, for allowing the great unmentionable to get printed on their pages – the decisions made in Sacramento will truly be the difference between life and death for many Californians.

Schwarzenegger argues that the state’s declining economy and plummeting tax revenues have boxed California into a corner, forcing deep and historic cuts in the health and welfare programs that form the state’s social safety net. Without those tough measures, he says, California will cartwheel toward insolvency.

But a 10-person legislative budget panel, which is reviewing the governor’s proposals, listened during a long day in a crowded hearing room to scores of people who said their survival depends on programs set to be hit by the budget ax.

They heard from mothers of children with autism, representatives of people on dialysis, poor parents whose children see dentists on the government’s dime, former drug abusers set straight by a state rehab program.

And they heard from a woman named Lynnea Garbutt who has lived with AIDS all of her 24 years.

She has survived with the help of a state program that provides the expensive antiviral drugs she takes. Now, with that program facing elimination, she pleaded with lawmakers to save it — and her life.

“If these cuts take place, you’re not just cutting money from the program — you’re cutting my life,” she told the panel, her voice shaking and tears falling. “I choose to live. Please don’t make me die. My choice is life.”

This is how Yacht Partier Chuck DeVore responded – move out of the state.  Love it or leave it!

The cuts made to programs like Healthy Families (California’s SCHIP) would eliminate federal matching funds and double or triple the scope of the cuts.  And it would be one thing, by the way, if the Yacht Party simply held the line and said “we can’t afford it.”  But no, they want to spend billions of dollars, only on their own projects instead of saving human lives.

In this article in the San Diego Union Tribune, the same Republicans (and Republican governor) who would eliminate children’s health care and basic services for the neediest Californians, actually want the state to pony up the money for a water bond.

Schwarzenegger, says the article, is still fixated on a whopping $10 billion bond. And Senate Republicans are right there with him:

“Sen. Dave Cogdill of Modesto, the lead Republican on water issues, agreed. “It’s obviously a tough time to bring it forward, but we can’t wait,” the article notes.

We can’t wait? According to my calculator, If the entire $10 billion was sold together, the interest payment could be in the neighborhood of $660 million annually. That’s $660 million more that would have to come out of  schools, health care, and other items on the chopping block.

Similarly, the Yacht Party cried poor about programs that help people, but made room in the February budget for a huge corporate tax cut.

Everyone who has spent 10 seconds on this recognizes that there’s no good way to use current revenues to provide the basic level of services Californians deserve.  To the extent that I have hope that we will overcome the selfishness of the cruel and the impossibility of navigating a broken system, it comes from people, who are fed up and starving for leadership and change from a government that no longer serves their interests.  To turn the figurative starvation literal, Los Angeles teachers are going on a hunger strike to protest budget cuts.  We’re all hungry, and we’ll be a lot hungrier if Governor Hoover has his way.

A few quick updates.

First: Two great sources of Twitter updates. John Myers Capitol Notes here and Anthony Wright of Health Access here.

From the twitter updates I’ve seen so far, it looks like the Governor is leaning very, very hard on Cogdill, Ashburn and Dave Cox.  At this point it looks like Sen. Cox (R-Fair Oaks) is the key vote.  Incidentally, Maldanado is doing us no favors.  Good thing nobody ran against him last year.

Another interesting tidbit from the Capitol: Asm Chuck DeVore, (R-OC) and Republican candidate for Boxer’s Senate seat, attempted a coup on Assembly Minority Leader Mike Villines.  It failed.

Update by Robert: DeVore resigned his post as whip in the aftermath of the apparent leadership struggle, thereby taking his ball and going home:

“For these reasons, I believe it is appropriate for me to resign as Chief Republican Whip, effective immediately.  I can no longer participate as a leader on a team that is preparing to make a fundamental mistake of colossal proportions.  For the sake of California I hope I am wrong – however, I fear I am right and that this tax increase and budget deal will result in more harm to the Golden State than good.”

In the Byzantine world of Yacht Party politics this of course is good news for his chances of winning the party’s nomination to get pummeled by Barbara Boxer in 2010.

Update by Brian: Per John Myers’ tweets it appears Dave Cox is trying to get Prop 10 (tobacco tax) money diverted from children’s health care programs. So far, it seems the Democrats are resisting. While we’re speaking of kids, the CA Budget Project has a chart (PDF) of how much the deal would cut from K12 funding by district.

Update by Brian 6:30am: Well, it seems the legislators have pulled an all-nighter, as the Senate continues to be one vote short.  John Myers has been a real sport and tweeted throughout. Sen. Cox announced at about 1am that he was a no on the budget, despite the changes to Prop 10 that were done only to please him. On another note, apparently when the Assembly went into lockdown, they really went into lockdown, Assembly sergeants-at-arms at the doors and everything. Over in the Senate, they dimmed the lights.

This process has been a disaster.  The worst of everything that we’ve been going through for months, even years, with the Republicans.  This is a fancy stick-up, with a patina of legitimacy. Who knows if a deal will be reached, but at this point there can be no question from the High Broderists who caused this.  Every newspaper, every television station, every radio station should do what the Media News group did and call out the Republicans for their stickup of the state.  

Their sheer cowardice to face down their own interest groups is remarkable. It is truly a sad day when a group of elected leaders, when faced with a clear policy decision between what is good for the state and what is good for the politician, have decided that they choose themselves.  They have willingly played along with the anti-tax rigid ideology, and their capacity to actually lead on their own has withered away.

What happens from here is anybody’s guess. Maybe they get the additional vote, maybe they don’t.  Perhaps, Arnold will be willing to sign the majority budget agreement that the Democrats passed back in December now, because lord knows we cannot simply do nothing.  Arnold wanted to play brinksman, well here it is.  We are standing at the precipice, does he want to jump?

Update by Brian: Quick thought – how big is that LA Board of Supes victory by former Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas.  If he were still in the Senate, rather than the seat being vacant until March, the deal would have gone through by now. You have to wonder whether maybe labor wishes they hadn’t worked quite so hard to help him defeat Bernard Parks…

Just a reminder about the Internet  for Everyone Townhall on Saturday at the Radisson at USC.  Should be interesting, just click that ad to the right. Now, to the links

• Chuck DeVore has his first TV ad for the 2010 Senate race against Sen. Boxer.  No word on other candidates for this race, but if DeVore is it, well, I’ll be entertained.

• CA-41: Is Jerry Lewis in more legal trouble related to a plea bargain by Duke Cunningham briber Mitchell Wade?  Lewis has dodged these bullets plenty of times before, but Wade is apparently singing like a canary.

• Check it out, our own Dante Atkins’ ad about Prop. 8 and the Mormons found its way into a Jonah Goldberg column and, apparently, Hannity and Colmes last night.  The column is Goldberg’s usual collection of deliberate omissions (that whole “separation of church and state” thing) and outright falsehoods.  Hey, Dante, the author of Liberal Fascism wrote about you!  Swell company!

• Some folks on the local level are fighting back against the raid on their money. In this case its redevelopment agencies suing the state for taking money from their fund to put into the general fund.

• This is a very favorable ruling for California consumers, protecting them from getting squeezed when they use an out-of-network provider for emergency room visits.

• Gov. Schwarzenegger isn’t asking for money to pay day-to-day expenses, but rather for money for infrastructure projects. This directly contradicts the letter that Speaker Bass sent Speaker Pelosi and our Senators. Bass asked for money more in the form of a “bailout.”

• While everybody else is focusing on the Prop 8 numbers from the PPIC poll, Joe Matthews is looking at the opportunity for initiative reform.  There are some interesting possibilities there, including greater transparency and the possibility of getting a legislative review process.

Despite the expected post-election lull, there is actually a lot of intrigue over various open seats and 2010 prospects happening right now.  Mark Ridley-Thomas’ vacant State Senate seat will draw an election, likely in March, and potential gubernatorial candidates are jockeying for position (much more on that in the weeks to come).  But there’s also the matter of the 2010 Senate race against Barbara Boxer.  The ongoing rumor was that Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is termed out in 2010, might go after this seat.  However, being a complete failure as Governor has dampened that speculation somewhat.  So into the breach has stepped… Chuck DeVore?

Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore will announce Wednesday that he will run for U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer’s seat in 2010.

DeVore, R-Irvine, is declaring his candidacy just one week after winning his third and final term in the 70th Assembly District, representing Laguna Beach, Irvine, Newport Beach, Tustin and other portions of Orange County.

DeVore has scheduled an Internet news conference at 1 p.m. Wednesday to make the announcement. He confirmed his intention Tuesday in a phone conversation with Capitol Alert.

Now, Chuck DeVore is, frankly, crazy, and there’s blogospheric evidence to back up that opinion.  I don’t think I have to cite much more than his opposition to marriage equality because it would embolden NAMBLA.

DeVore, well-liked by hard-right conservatives, is a down-the-line Yacht Party regular, in a state where the last statewide election favored the Democrat by 24 points.  The lesson learned by Republicans, I guess, is to “go boldly in the direction of the insane.”  I’ll say this – it will be an entertaining race.

UPDATE: Chris Prevatt at The Liberal OC has Chuck’s letter of intent.  

(Now with video. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

THE STATE ASSEMBLY JUST APPROVED MARRIAGE EQUALITY ONCE AGAIN!

But anyways, as I was starting to feel happy that the Assembly approved legislation that would allow me to find the hubby of my dreams, Chuckie just had to piss me off by saying this. Whatever. All I say to him, and to others who oppose equal rights for all, is that allowing all loving couples to make lasting commitments for life strengthens marriage. Discrimination doesn’t.

Families worrying about what to eat weakens families, and marriages at that. Families worrying about where to live weakens families, and marriages at that. Families worrying about health care weakens families, and marriages at that. If Chuckie DeVore really cares about families and marriages, then maybe he should do something about what families are actually worried about.

But enough of Chuckie, let’s get back to the good news of today! Fortunately, most Assembly Members don’t share the same distorted views as Chuckie. They recognize that the institution of marriage is only strengthened when the state does not discriminate over which loving couples can get married and which ones can’t. Thank goodness they did the right thing today. : )