by Randy Bayne
x-posted at The Bayne of Blog

In a desperate move to force Democrats to accept other draconian cuts, GOP leadership in the state legislature has threatened to slash $400 million from schools as part of the budget deadlock that will soon enter it’s fourth week. A move that will go nowhere and only serves to further delay a budget agreement.

Education groups are already mobilizing to block any proposed cuts. The California School Employees Association and California Teachers Association have already begun asking members to call their legislators, particularly Republicans, to express their extreme dismay at cuts that will hurt school children and force severe cuts in spending.

Many school districts have already adopted budgets for the coming school year based on assurances that education would not be cut. Cuts in education now would force districts to dip into precious reserve funds. Education leaders say the proposed cuts would “wipe out a good chunk” of their discretionary spending.

Republicans are asking for draconian cuts in other areas of at least $2 billion, and the proposed education cuts may be a ploy to get Democrats to move away from their opposition to these cuts to social services by forcing them to make a choice between cutting social services or cutting education.

The two leaders of Republicans in the legislature refuse to stand by their plan to cut education. In order to avoid answering questions and defending the move, “Assembly Republican leader Michael Villines of Clovis and Senate Republican leader Dick Ackerman of Irvine left through a back door after two hours of budget negotiations with Democrats Tuesday evening,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

Republicans aren’t even on the same page as their own governor. The current plan being offered by Democrats is similar to the one crafted by Governor Schwarzenegger. Because of the similarities, it was thought early on that the budget process would be completed on time. That bubble was burst when Villines and Ackerman demanded unspecified cuts to social programs. Assembly Speaker Nuñez has been critical of members of the governor’s own party for not supporting his plan. Six Republican votes are required to reach the 2/3 threshold for passing a budget.

This whole episode, the Republican determination to cut funding for social programs and education, reveals just how soulless Republicans, as a party, are. They have no qualms about cutting services for the less fortunate and truly needy families. No qualms about cutting off educational opportunity for school children. The Democrats, on the other hand, have been extremely reserved about proposing tax increases on the wealthiest Californians. So much for Republican rhetoric about family values and bi-partisanship.

The amazing thing in all this is that six Republicans can’t be found who will break with their party leadership and do the right thing by supporting children, schools, families, working Californians, and the poor. Shame on you. 

X-posted from California Notes. H/T to juls for her response to Grossman that encouraged the x-post.

by The Bayne of Blog

Look at any election results map and you would think that California is two states. Progressives democrats have a very strong hold on coastal areas, especially Los Angeles and San Francisco, with conservative, moderates and republicans claiming majority status on most of the inland areas.

Those are my words from a couple weeks ago when I wrote about the meeting of a group of rural Democratic Central Committee chairs meeting in Fresno. One of the outcomes of that meeting was a determination to increase the influence of progressives in rural counties.

Joshua Grossman, President of Progressive Punch has written a piece for California Progress Report entitled “The Secret is Stockton” in which he looks to the progressive central valley city as a key to California’s blue hue. [Grossman’s article is also posted here, at Calitics.] All that’s needed is a little  help.

This land could be fertile terrain for political progressives, as long as it receives a modest irrigation flow of money and political expertise. This land is called Stockton.

[Join me on the flip for more.]

In a bit of a history lesson, Grossman talks about the influx of working class people as “Democratic Okies” came to the valley to escape the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. The same thing is happening now, though on a lesser scale, as people escape the outrageous home prices of the Bay Area and move inland. Of course, many of these people are progressives and Democrats. That, Grossman says, affords valley progressives a great opportunity, an opportunity progressives waste at their own peril.

California’s coastal progressives ignore the Valley at their peril. It’s rapidly growing while the Bay Area’s population is essentially stable. Without combating Republicans and conservative Democrats in the Valley so that it doesn’t become their 21st century equivalent of what Orange County represented for the right wing in the 1980s and `90s, California will slowly but inexorably slide from being a blue state to being a purple one overall. That’s because the other rapidly growing parts of California, the Inland Empire counties of Riverside and San Bernardino lean to the Republicans and carry increasing heft in California politics as they mushroom in population and Los Angeles stagnates along with the Bay Area.

  I don’t completely agree with his premise that no one is “doing partisan electoral work from a progressive perspective on the ground in Stockton,” but I do think we could be doing more. Like involving the new folks in town in progressive actions in the rural areas and the valley. This means we have to stop hiding and stop being afraid of showing our progressive side in public. Progressives should be working hard in every “red” area of the state. I believe we can make a difference, not overnight, but our actions will pay off in the long run.

That’s why I disagree with this statement by Grossman.

California coastal progressives from places like the Bay Area need to think strategically. We shouldn’t be channeling scarce resources to the sparsely populated Gold Country Congressional districts of Doolittle & Lungren, however much their stench offends our nostrils. Those districts are just too Red. Even if we defeat Doolittle because he’s indicted (the only way it’ll happen), we’d lose the seat back two years later.

If we don’t start now, then when. This attitude is one of the chief reasons California remains two states, one red and one blue. Too many Democrats refuse to believe the red areas are worth fighting for, and they do it at their own peril.

Stockton is a good starting point, and for now it may even be key, but California has 58 counties, most of them inland and most of them rural. The red districts aren’t asking for the whole pie, just a fair share to help us move toward blueness. As we talked about at our recent meeting, we’re

not interested in a “one-size-fits-all” approach that may not address the unique situations found in individual rural counties, but want to make decisions based on the needs of their particular counties with support and resources from the state party. They also want the state party to focus on them early, not after polls show they can actually win tough races.

[snip]

Part of that plan will focus on getting Democrats into local elected and appointed positions to begin building a “farm team.” They feel it is important to not only elect Democrats in red counties to the Assembly and Senate, but also get Democrats established in local positions, such as Board of Supervisors, School Boards, and a myriad of commissions and special districts, so that a viable farm team can be built for future candidates for Assembly, Senate and even Congress. Early involvement, they feel, means a better chance at success, both immediately and down the road.

Stockton has already set a great example. Look at what they did in the last election. Perhaps they are the key, so why not open the door wide.