Warning: This diary may contain YELLING at Bob Dutton and criticism of Republicans that might hurt legislators’ feelings. If you are a Republican sufferring from male menopause, please strap yourself securely into your fainting couch.

When Jerry Brown offered a pension reform plan on Thursday, Bob Dutton responded with his newest ransom note. Most tellingly, he demanded that the people be allowed to vote to expand the Republican minority veto..

Senate Republicans believe taxpayers should be protected by a 2/3rd super majority vote of the Legislature to change the salary and benefits of public employees.

Republicans are now admitting that they they are so impotent and their party is so damn unpopular that they don’t expect to every be a majority party again. Instead, they want one more constitutional amendment to give them one more minority veto in the legislature. Maybe, just maybe they can hang onto one house for a few more cycles.

These are the same Republicans who prevented Californians from  voting in June to extend taxes by a majority vote.  And the tax extension wasn’t permanent, but instead had a sunset date.

It’s interesting that Dutton prefaced his new ransom list with polling results, confirming that Republicans understand that pension-bashing is the only issue where they have any support from California voters. Without this issue, their platform is extraordinarily unpopular with Californians. As a state, we just don’t believe in their program of bashing immigrants, despoiling the environment, destroying public education in favor of private charter schools, and more tax breaks for banksters, the ultra-wealthy, and the corporations that have been exporting our jobs.

Dutton’s statement didn’t indicate that even acceding to his outrageous pension reforms demands would gain him any more votes for putting tax extensions on the ballot. He still may demand his entire ransom list grew of 53 items including big issues like gutting environmental laws. another permanent budget cap in the state constitution, and protecting tax cuts for giant multi-national corporations at the expense of small business.  That ransom list kept going, restoring $23 million in funding to rural state fairs,changing the date of the Presidential primary, protecting property tax breaks for agribusinesses, and preserving the waste and corruption in redevelopment.

Yo, Dutton, EVEN SOMALI PIRATES NEGOTIATE.

With or without Republicans, Brown will pass pension reform.

It’s on Like Donkey Kong

It’s time for Jerry to call his bluff, and let him start getting signatures. But for every initiative the Republicans propose, we need to put out two.

CFT has done polling and is ready to launch a 1% on the 1% tax inintiative, raising taxes on the wealthiest 1% by 1%. (Brilliant move, CFT).

Why not tap into the same populist anger against the bansksters and ceonistas and add a similar initiative that would restore the estate tax in California on the richest 1%, with the money going to support transportation? (No new toll roads, either)

With $4.00 gas, let’s go after the oil companies with an extraction tax specifically to support higher education.

And let’s step up and put a plan to modernize prop 13 on the ballot. Instead of driving seniors from their homes by cutting vital home health services, why not let billionaires like the Irvine Company’s Donald Bren pay the same percentage property tax as the poor schlub who buys one of the Irvine company’s houses.

And finally, let’s follow through with Brown’s plan to devolve more government to local authority like he promised. This is the best way to make the anti-tax districts of Republican legislators really pay for their anti-tax votes.