Aside from the state's revving economy, George Skelton
attributes the easy budget deal to the absence of a Big 5.
"Back about four governors ago — but mainly with
Pete Wilson — an abomination called the Big Five was institutionalized. It consisted of the governor and four legislative leaders — the two party honchos from each house. They'd sit around the governor's office and write the final versions of big bills, including the biggest of all: the budget."
"This relegated the other legislators to wallflower status, and many resented it."
"
Ever since we stopped doing the Big Five, things have started getting done," says Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles). For one thing, he says, negotiating without the governor helps establish better relationships among legislative leaders."
"Says Perata: 'I believe all of us now are convinced that whatever reasons there were for getting into this Big Five practice, they no longer exist. We've demonstrated to ourselves that we can work together.
We're going back to the way it should be: The governor submits the budget, we rewrite it and give it to him. He uses his [line-item] veto.'"
"Credit the governor, however, for ducking out of the way after basically setting the agenda."
Speaking of ducking, Dan Weintraub writes that this year's budget
again fails to address the structural imbalance of revenues and expenditures. "Schwarzenegger's gamble is that one more better-than-expected year in the economy will wipe out that shortfall and allow him to finally balance the budget for the long term without raising taxes. It would take about a 4 percent bump in ongoing revenues to allow him, assuming he is still governor, to accomplish that goal."
"But without such an economic surprise, Schwarzenegger or Democrat Phil Angelides, who is trying to unseat him,
will have to either cut programs or raise taxes next year. Those are the same choices that state policymakers have faced for most of this decade, but have continually ducked in favor of muddling through with an approach that offends few voters but does not really solve the problem."
...haven't we heard that in advance of every year's budget?
If you thought last November's special election was fun, wait till you see this November's ballot! "Never before has so much taxpayer money been at stake in a California election: a
total of $46 billion in five bond measures and four tax increases," reports Robert Salladay in the Times.
Voters will face a fusillade of messages over who should carry the burden of public programs. Private groups, not elected officials, say the four tax increase measures. Each asks a specific entity— property owners, cigarette smokers, corporations and oil producers — to pay for projects designed to benefit the public at large."
"Set to be finalized today, the November ballot requires some complicated political footwork. Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger will lead conflicting campaigns —
arguing against tax increases favored by his Democratic challenger even as he asks voters to approve more than $37 billion in multiple bonds to fund the biggest government building project in four decades."
"For its part, the powerful California Teachers Assn. is supporting Schwarzenegger's bond package at the same time it backs Democrat
Phil Angelides for governor. Almost every major Democratic politician faces the same awkward dance."
Meanwhile, "Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa's bid to assert significant control over the Los Angeles Unified School District
cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday, with state lawmakers voting 7-1 in support of his plan despite expressing deep reservations," report Nancy Vogel and Joel Rubin in the Times.
"The bill —
AB 1381 by Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez and Sen.
Gloria Romero — Los Angeles Democrats — now faces a vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee after lawmakers return Aug. 7 from a monthlong break. The bill must also pass the full Senate and Assembly before it can go to Schwarzenegger, who has promised to sign it."
"In one of many critical comments by members of the Senate Education Committee, Sen.
Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) told Villaraigosa, 'In looking at this bill, it's going to be more top-down than it's ever been with you in charge….
There is less engagement by parents, the school boards become rubber stamps … all of which is not, in my opinion, what everyone wants.'"
A bill to endorse two more tribal casinos didn't fare so well. "The governor and the city of Barstow were slapped in the face Wednesday by an Assembly committee, which
denied agreements to develop casinos in Barstow along the heavily traveled I-15 - the road to Las Vegas," writes Megan Blaney for the San Bernardino Sun.
"After listening to four hours of testimony from representatives of various American Indian tribes in the state, Barstow representatives, environmental experts and attorneys for each side, the Assembly Governmental Operations Committee, meeting in Sacramento, voted 7-2 to reject the compacts."
"Although committee Chairman
Jerome Horton, D-Inglewood, left the roll open in case more yea votes are logged, the committee solidly rejected the bill to ratify the deals Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had negotiated with two Indian tribes."
"Debate centered around the Big Lagoon Rancheria tribe of Humboldt County and the Los Coyotes Band of Mission Indians of San Diego County, who wanted to build side-by-side casinos near the outlet malls in Barstow."
"'
I wish I could help Barstow but I have to face my Maker at the end of the day,' said [
Dennis Mountjoy,] the Monrovia Republican who represents Apple Valley, Hesperia, Lake Arrowhead, Highland and north San Bernardino."
Apparently, helping Barstow is not big on the Maker's list.
CW's John Howard reports on a looming
fight between rural and urban drivers over car insurance rates. "Next month, 18 years after California voters ordered an overhaul of the pricing of automobile insurance, stringent rules are expected to take effect to force companies to downplay the importance of a driver's address when setting rates. The move will directly affect the pocketbooks of millions of motorists and drive a wedge between rural and urban drivers. Angry insurers are contemplating a court challenge.
Drivers in six urban counties--Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Sacramento, San Francisco and Alameda--likely would see rate decreases, while motorists in 52 rural counties could see their rates rise."
Now, just because the prison guards have given Phil Angelides a few thousand bucks
doesn't mean they're endorsing him for governor. CW's Shane Goldmacher explains.
"While we continue to evaluate the direction we are going to take in the fall, we do recognize that candidates have to be able to reach out to the voting public and voice their vision for California," said
Lance Corcoran, spokesman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association."
Glad we cleared that up.
CW's Malcolm Maclachlan reports on
the Catholic Church's lobbying activity, and their increased activism in 'Latino issues.'
Speaking of which, in Glendale "city officials are asking state Attorney General
Bill Lockyer to
investigate a negative campaign mailer in the 43rd Assembly District race that offended members of the local Armenian community," reports Eugene Tong in the Daily News.
"The City Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday night requesting a state investigation but stopped short of holding its own inquiry."
"'Unless something dramatically changes, we would be going on a fishing expedition,' Councilman
Ara Najarian said."
"Councilman
Frank Quintero, who lost to Burbank school board member
Paul Krekorian in the June 6 Democratic primary, has denied any connection to the mailer, which was financed by an independent committee, the Oakland-based California Latino Leadership Fund. A report in Capitol Weekly, a political publication, traced the group's financing to the state Latino Caucus in Sacramento."
"At Tuesday's council meeting, Quintero pressed for an inquiry that could clear his name."
"'I will either make the motion or second that motion,' he said. '
I've condemned the mailer when it first came out, and I've followed up with a letter to the attorney general and the secretary of state. ... We absolutely had no idea that was taking place.'"
Finally,
Susan Kennedy gets the Political Fortune treatment in CW this week. "Desire for prestige characterizes Capricorn, and the desire for money and possessions characterizes a Taurus. These placings, plus key Saturn aspects, indicate that "responsibility" is her middle name."