Measure R on the Los Angeles ballot would impose a 1/2 cent sales tax on county residents to pay for increased transit lines and services.  This couldn’t come at a more crucial time, as the MTA is poised to become a casualty of the financial crisis:

The next potential victims of the nation’s credit crunch: nearly 1.5 million people who ride buses and trains each weekday in Los Angeles County. Transit officials say riders could soon be facing serious service cuts.

That’s because the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority might have to quickly come up with hundreds of millions of dollars to pay investors under terms of deals it made involving American International Group, the troubled financial and insurance giant.

“I’ve lost a lot of sleep over this,” said Terry Matsumoto, the chief financial service officer and treasurer for the MTA. He said it was “absolutely” certain the agency would have to cut service if the deals sour.

The state is already cutting transit funding in the budget, and sales tax revenues, which already partially fund the MTA, are seizing up, as the economy slows and job loss increases (fortunately unemployment flattened out in September, albeit at 7.7%).

This is not the time for cutbacks in service at the MTA.  Ridership is at record highs, as people both avoid still-high gas prices (historically speaking) and more attention is paid individually to greenhouse gas emissions.  The Air Resources Board just released their final draft for compliance with AB32, and I can’t see how they could possibly reach their goals for greenhouse gas emission cuts without an increase in transit.  That includes passing high-speed rail, of course, but obviously the existing transit structures, can’t be pulled back at this important time.

Speaker Bass has been calling for the Governor to prioritize a federal stimulus package and has also been making noises about a state-based stimulus as well.  That has to include protections for transit concerns like the MTA, and increased funding flowing to them as well.  It’s a job creation engine, an economic sustainability engine, and an engine to a better environment.

We can all do our part in Los Angeles County by passing Measure R as well.

So the Governor kicks sand in the face of the entire state Legislature, vetoing 130-odd bills with the same generic “Sorry, I couldn’t persuade any Republicans on the budget so now you will pay” message, including some which were passed out unanimously, and the leadership’s response is not “Time to override” but… “Oh yeah, well just try that again!”

Of course, the governor has always made it clear he prefers campaigning to governing. That has to change if we have any hope of solving California’s challenges. The people of California deserve better than constant campaign mode. The people of California deserve better than staged fights for the cameras.

I’m willing to look past all this and hope we can see a new start. Part of that should involve the new bipartisan blue-ribbon commission I’ve been pursuing to look at tax modernization and two year budgeting and other potential solutions to California’s chronic fiscal crises. The governor has been supportive of that effort, and it’s a good place for us to move forward from.

I will also be asking Assembly members to reintroduce all the blanket-veto bills and will expedite their passage so the governor can have a second chance to act responsibly on them.

That is weak from Karen Bass.  There is absolutely no reason not to go back into a lame-duck session in November after the elections and get this done.  Otherwise you are enabling a bully.  At least some lawmakers get this:

Assembly Majority Floor Leader Alberto Torrico vowed today to push for a bipartisan legislative backlash against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by overturning many of his recent vetoes.

“We’re all very frustrated, both Democrats and Republicans,” the Fremont Democrat said at a news conference this morning. “I don’t think there’s going to be any problem attaining the votes for an override.” […]

Torrico said that when the Legislature reconvenes in January, he will push for overriding vetoes of both Democratic and Republican bills that received two-thirds support in the Legislature. Dozens of bills could qualify, he said.

Torrico said that he had not yet discussed the idea at length with legislative leadership, but “I think that’s going to be the first order of business upon our return.”

Sadly, Torrico doesn’t know what he’s talking about.  The bills expire at the end of the legislative session and cannot be taken up in January.

Just leaves you brimming with confidence, doesn’t it?

Instead of just stamping your feet and talking tough, this is a perfect opportunity for action.  Go back to work before November 30 and override these vetoes.

It’s already looking ugly:

California lawmakers and their budget advisers estimate that the Legislature, which on Friday approved a $104 billion general fund budget that plugged a $17 billion gap 81 days into the current fiscal year, will be looking at a deficit of at least $1.6 billion nine months from now.

But that number could easily balloon to $7 billion or more…

“All these (projected deficit) numbers will be dwarfed if in fact we are heading into a serious recession because with what’s happening nationally – the credit crunch, people spending less money – projections of state revenues will go into the toilet,” said John Ellwood, a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.

The article makes the good point that the one-time budget solutions have now been exhausted. We’ll have “securitized” the lottery, done all kinds of accounting tricks, closed the Yacht Tax loophole, and done pretty much everything except what’s necessary – fix the structural revenue shortfall.

Some of us are talking about constitutional solutions, and it is my earnest hope that 2/3 is on the special election ballot next spring. But Democrats also need to get out in front on defining the budget crisis as a revenue problem. I had been tracking since December the tendency of the media to frame this as a spending crisis, which likely helped Republicans get away with their no new taxes demands this summer.

The public reaction against the Bush bailout should suggest the power of a populist approach, blaming deregulation and giveaways to the wealthy for our current problems. Karen Bass began using that language herself, equating the $12 billion in tax giveaways California has approved since 1993 to the Bush tax cuts earlier this summer.

Bass and John Laird also proposed a very good revenue plan emphasizing the restoration of the Reagan and Wilson-era income tax brackets and making corporations pay their fair share. Dems should have stuck to that plan more strongly, but it is a good starting point for the 2009 fight.

Democrats will also benefit from new leadership. Karen Bass is a good progressive and as we saw helped craft a very good revenue solution, and did the right thing in resisting Republican demands as long as she could. Had she come to power earlier in the year she might have had more time to craft a better strategy than what Núñez left her, which wasn’t much. It will be especially good to be rid of Don Perata, who lacked proactive leadership on the budget, instead reacting to events and eventually cutting a bad deal with Republicans and Arnold without meaningful input from Speaker Bass. Darrell Steinberg will likely provide stronger, more progressive leadership as well.

I have a lot of hope for both Bass and Steinberg in their first real opportunity to craft a better budget. But if they are to succeed they need to start defining the terms of debate now – frame this as a revenue crisis. That helps explain how the Republicans are responsible for these ongoing delays as they exploit the 2/3 rule for their narrow ideological agenda. And it can help build public support for the smart, fair, progressive revenue solutions that must be at the core of the 2009 budget.

As the economy continues to sink into what may well be another Depression, it is absolutely vital that California’s public services are up to the task of helping us survive it. The stakes for the 2009 budget cycle could not be higher.

Maybe George Skelton took my post last week to heart, or maybe the self-evident truth smacked him upside the head, but in today’s column Skelton calls for eliminating the 2/3 rule:

It’s a good bet that 51% of the Legislature would have voted for a budget by now — maybe even had one in place for the July 1 start of the new fiscal year. But 67% is required.

Only two other states have such a monstrous hurdle. And both are better positioned to deal with it because, unlike California, their legislatures are lopsidedly dominated by one party….

State Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), a hero of fiscal conservatives, long has favored allowing a majority budget vote.

“The two-thirds vote for the budget has not contained spending, and it blurs accountability,” McClintock says. “If anything, in past years, it has prompted additional spending as votes for the budget are cobbled together.”

The rub is that while McClintock is willing to support a majority vote for a budget he is not willing to support majority vote for taxes. That is the one that really matters. If we had a majority rule for the budget but 2/3 for taxes, it would do nothing to change the current budget standoff as Republicans would still use their numbers to block a tax increase and therefore block a budget.

The column has some good quotes from Steinberg and Bass, who are showing welcome interest in fixing the odious 2/3 rule:

Both incoming Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) say they’ll consider developing a 2010 ballot initiative to permit majority-vote budgets.

“I’m telling you, I’m very serious about it,” Steinberg says. “We can’t keep doing this. This is ridiculous. It’s unproductive.”

Bass figures there would be plenty of financial support for a ballot campaign from labor unions, healthcare providers and others who rely on public funds and are frustrated by incessantly tardy budgets.

“This budget crisis we’re in is a perfect example of why we need to be like 47 other states,” Bass says. “I’m not sure what we have in common with Arkansas and Rhode Island. . . .

“We would have had a budget by the constitutional deadline, June 15.”

Both Bass and Steinberg need to move on a fix for the 2/3 rule. But since that won’t happen until 2010, we need a solution to THIS budget crisis – a solution which will require voters to hold Republicans accountable for their hostage tactics.

Lest we let Skelton off easy today, he still shows he believes in the Media’s First Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Speak Ill of Republicans:

Don’t blame Republicans either. They’re being asked by the governor to break their pledges — however misguided they were — not to raise taxes. Moreover, most are philosophically opposed to taxing people more — particularly during a recession — and are sticking to their principles. That’s supposed to be an admirable trait.

Nonsense. The 2/3 rule isn’t a problem unless one party makes it a problem. The Republicans are using the 2/3 rule as a weapon to destroy this state and make its residents suffer. Don’t let them get away with it.

This proposed Sen. GOP budget is a joke. Pure and simple, it is not acceptable. Period. Finito.

Here’s the statement from Speaker Bass on this ridiculous pile of personal affronts to our state:

“The Republican proposal isn’t a plan; it’s a blueprint for economic disaster. More than $5 billion in permanent cuts to education, $2 billion in borrowing from a phony lottery scheme, and $1.5 billion in cuts to the safety net for our most needy citizens — coupled with deficits for as far as the eye can see — are not reflective of California values. Our state is better than this.”

They say that a budget is a set of priorities and values.  Apparently the Republicans value personal hording of wealth over education and the future of our children.  They value deforming our budget process even more over making a system that works with for our state.

First, the spending cap is a non-starter.  They only describe it as “strict” in the press release, but one can be assured that left-leaning organizations will fight any “strict” spending cap tooth and nail. Why? A spending cap would mean that we would never be able to truly fund the important programs of the state, and the ever-increasing prison budget would end up gobbling greater and greater percentages of the budget.

The Republicans like to speak of responsibility, but as Dan Walters pointed out last week, they dug this hole themselves.  But, they’ll continue digging by adding more initiatives on this crap, and continue to propose more spending. And we’ll see services to those who didn’t commit crimes continue to plummet.  Good work GOP!

We’ll most assuredly get more details on this soon. But, really, what’s the point? It’s not like this thing has any basis in reality.

From today’s Beyond Chron

If Democrats could choose a city for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to visit, Sacramento should be near the top of the list. The city’s current political situation says a lot about the state of the Republican Party – not only in California, but across the country. Once a juggernaut of party unity, disciplined messaging, and perceived ‘toughness’, Republicans now look more like a petty group of infighting children unable to make the tough decisions necessary to lead the most populous state in the Union. While the Democratic National Convention tears out of the gate, John McCain’s visit to California’s state capitol yesterday for a fundraiser represents an opportunity to underscore the striking similarities between the severe problems both the state and national Republican party face.

“Read My Lips…No New Taxes”

Back in February, McCain made the rounds on the Sunday talk shows to declare that “under no circumstances” would he raise taxes. By July, he started to backtrack, stating he would consider increasing the Social Security payroll tax. But after receiving a harshly-worded open letter from the notorious Club for Growth lambasting the idea, McCain quickly reaffirmed his anti-tax stance, telling a group of voters at a town hall meeting in Colorado, “I want to look you in the eye: I will not raise your taxes nor support a tax increase. I will not do it.”

Of course, he still remains silent on exactly how he would preserve Social Security benefits in the future without increasing revenue. McCain’s strategy of using an unrealistic and dishonest pledge to oppose tax increases as a weapon to paint Barack Obama as fiscally irresponsible, while simultaneously avoiding discussions of how to maintain current levels of public services without tax increases, presents some startling similarities to California’s Republican legislature.

With the state budget now 57 days overdue, Republicans in the Senate and Assembly remain vehemently opposed to any tax hike. Yet throughout the process, they have yet to offer any proposal to solve the state’s budget gap that would rely solely on cuts. The reason is simple – the disastrous consequences such a proposal would have on millions of Californians would be a public relations nightmare.

So, they continue to hide behind their anti-tax pledge and eschew any real negotiation on how to solve the current crisis. The election of McCain, like the reelection of the obstructionist Republican state legislators responsible for the current budget impasse, will leave citizens in the same old tired mess – declining public services without any substantive discussion about how to stop the bleeding.

Republican ‘Unity’

Over the past 20 years, Republicans became increasingly identified with a remarkable degree of party unity. The seemingly disparate coalition of blue-collar, rural and religious voters and big business proved to be a powerful one, resulting in a simple and easily maintained set of core values – tax breaks for economically powerful interests, socially conservative edicts, and above all, the aforementioned ‘no new taxes’ promise.

As the Bush Jr. administration comes to a close, however, this national Republican coalition appears to be severely cracking, and McCain represents an excellent representation of this demise. So far, he has been unable to reassure religious voters that he’ll fight for their interests. And, despite his recent promise to not increase taxes, hardcore fiscal conservatives remain suspicious of McCain, due in large part to his previous efforts to enact campaign finance reform. Should McCain be elected, the possibility of an Executive divided with his own party’s legislative caucus remains very real, no matter how far McCain bends over backwards to prove he won’t raise taxes.

These fissures can also be seen in the state Republican Party. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, unlike his fellow party members in the legislature, has offered a budget proposal that includes a three-year hike of the state sales tax. While this represents a stopgap measure that will not lead to a structurally sound budget, it still reveals the Governor realizes that walking in lock-step with the rabid anti-tax crowd is not a viable option when it comes to successfully running a state.

Schwarzenegger, however, can’t seem to convince fellow Republicans of this fact, as they remain steadfastly opposed to his budget proposal. The Governor’s inability to maintain party discipline regarding the best approach to the budget reveals a deep chasm forming between the Executive and his supposed allies in the legislature. As the state budget morass deepens, so do the cracks in the formerly unassailable unity of the state Republican party.

Democratic Opposition

The Democratic Party stands in stark contrast to the current state and national Republican disarray.

On the national level, despite media narratives of disgruntled Hillary supporters and undecided blue-collar voters, Democrats stand to display an impressive degree of unity not seen for some time. Speeches by both Bill and Hillary Clinton will cement broad inter-party support for Obama’s candidacy. The unprecedented number of youths involved in the convention will highlight renewed vigor among an important element of the party’s base. And the convention’s location in Colorado signifies growing support amongst a group of Western states formerly considered reliably red.

In California, Speaker Karen Bass passed the first test of her tenure with remarkable aplomb. The Democratic Assembly remains consistently on message concerning the budget, arguing that the Governor’s proposal does not represent a sound solution, that the Republican legislature has no solution, and that Democrats will not give up core values simply to pass a budget. When Assemblywoman Nicole Parra of Hanford strayed from her caucus and refused to vote on the Democratic budget proposal, Bass took the necessary steps to discipline her and ensure her party remains united in its efforts.

McCain declined to hold a public event in Sacramento yesterday, opting instead for a private fundraising affair with donors. But his reticence to take the spotlight here should not distract the public from the obvious and growing connection between a weakening Republican Party here in California and nationwide.

This is a terrible, terrible idea.

With the end of the legislative session approaching, no budget in place and a $15.2-billion deficit hanging over their heads, the Assembly’s Democrats on Friday unveiled their plans for the next week: a three-day vacation from the Capitol.

Their scheduled time away coincides with the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where 31 members of the Legislature are expected as delegates. But that has nothing to do with the decision not to hold sessions Tuesday through Thursday, a spokesman said.

“If we had work to do, we’d be here,” said Steven Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles). “It’s literally silly for some of them to sit around in Sacramento.”

I know that and you know that, but ordinary people who aren’t political junkies don’t, and when they see the commercial run by the Yacht Party that says “When the budget crisis was at its height, California Democrats left town to party,” they will be unsparing in their opinion.  You never give your opponent ammunition like this.  At a time when real people are suffering from the lack of services and prospective cuts, you can’t leave to hit the cocktail circuit at the DNC if you’re an elected representative in a time of crisis and you have something to say on the matter.  I know this is a Big Five question at this point, but it looks awful.

Good on Sandre Swanson for cancelling his plans to attend, by the way.  Karen Bass isn’t going, either, but obviously she has work to do.

Get this, here’s why the break is only three days:

Even though many will not be in Sacramento, Assembly members will still get paid more than $1,000 in tax-free living expenses for the next six days because they scheduled a Monday afternoon meeting on water bond legislation and other matters, Maviglio said. Under Assembly rules, they can collect their allowance as long as they don’t go four days without a meeting.

I give up.

The Speaker won’t tolerate patheticness:

In the latest episode of Capitol punishment, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass tossed Assemblywoman Nicole Parra from her office on Monday morning after the Central Valley Democrat failed to vote for the budget on Sunday.

In a twist, Parra hasn’t been reassigned to more cramped quarters in the Capitol itself – but booted straight across the street to the Legislative Office Building. She will be the only member of the Legislature whose office is not housed in the Capitol.

Love it! But don’t worry, Parra is acting quite mature in her budget negotiations:

“Is it worth it? Yes,” Parra said.

“If there’s no future for water, then let’s pave over the Central Valley and let’s import all our food,” she added.

I think Bass should start running local ads that Parra told the Sacramento Bee she wanted to pave over the Central Valley. What suggests do you have on how Karen Bass can stop the wankers from splintering the caucus?

The Assembly Republicans have been practically begging for a vote. They really, really want to show the Club for Growth that they love them and put their anti-tax pledge over what’s best for the people of California.  We get the point, you oppose services to the elderly, you oppose school funding, you oppose state parks, you oppose services to the mentally impaired, you oppose law enforcement funding, etc.  

Of course, they won’t admit the last one, but to what other conclusion does the Party of Incarcerex^TM want us to come? They don’t support funding counties and municipalities, thus they don’t support local law enforcement. Ipso facto and all.

So, Speaker Bass and the Assembly Democrats have decided to give the Republicans their greatest wish: a vote.  They’ll get to vote it down, and they can once again bow at the feet of the Club for Growth:

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, said lawmakers plan to vote Sunday on a modified version of the Democratic conference committee plan, which relied on tax increases on the wealthy.

“It will be on a compromise version from the conference committee to where we are now, and reflect a variety of areas where we’ve compromised,” Bass said. “And it is critical that we take action before Monday because the Democrats have taken budget reform very seriously.”

For his part, Senate President Pro Tem Perata has said that the Senate is on-call for a vote on Sunday, but nothing definite has been scheduled.  As every day passes, it becomes more clear that the Republicans lack the faintest notion of how to address the budget crisis. Any vote just emphasizes that all they have to say is one simple word.

No.

UPDATE by Robert: There’s going to be a rally at the Capitol in Sacramento at 12:30 today to protest the concept of a spending cap. It’s being put on be the SEIU California Council, AARP, CA Alliance for Retired Americans, and many others who understand the catastrophic damage a spending cap would mean for our state, especially for health care. It’s a good way to start pushing back against the Republicans, but it’s overdue, and needs to be the beginning of a much bigger effort to educate the public about what the Republicans want to do to this state.