"With their love affair with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
officially ended, Republicans in the nation's most populous state feuded over the weekend in a long, hard debate about
their party's future - and it wasn't pretty," report Carla Marinucci and John Wildermuth in the
Chron.
"On Sunday, with more than 1,000 Republicans convening at the Sacramento Hyatt Regency
for their spring state convention, delegates approved
a watered-down measure aimed at chastising the six Republicans
who broke ranks to vote last Thursday for a new state
budget package, which included $12.5 billion in new taxes.
"Although the original resolution called for censuring
the six legislators, the final version says only that
the party doesn't plan to provide financial support or send out mail
for any of the targeted lawmakers during the 2010 campaign season. The only one of the six on the ballot
in 2010 is Assemblyman Anthony Adams of Hesperia (San Bernardino County).
"The bad blood in the party was evident at the convention.
On Saturday, state party vice chair Jon Fleischman angrily confronted state Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County), who made his name last week by providing the critical
vote needed to pass the state budget.
"'You voted for the largest tax increase in the country
when you could have stopped it,' said Fleischman, publisher of the GOP Web site Flashreport.com,
which had publicly pressured Republicans to stand united
against the package of $15 billion in spending cuts and $12.5 billion in new taxes. 'Good call.'
"As an open-mouthed crowd of Republicans looked on, Maldonado - viewed as a turncoat by some Republicans, and a hero
by others - coolly shot back: 'We need a change.'"
"Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner joined nearly 1,000 delegates this weekend at the three-day state Republican convention, a gathering where party activists in decidedly blue
California met to hear candidates and talk strategy
for future elections.
"Whitman told a packed lunchtime gathering that it is
"time to run California like a business" and called for slashing the state's workforce in an effort to ease the state's financial crunch.
"Poizner took a hard line on immigration, telling a
breakfast session that as governor he would send the
National Guard to the Mexican border to shut down the
flow of illegal immigration, which he called a threat
to national security and California's economy.
"'We absolutely need to secure our borders,' he said, complaining that schools can't afford the financial burden of educating the children
of undocumented workers.
"The gathering came just days after Republicans lost
a bitter three-month battle over the state budget, which was signed
Friday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Both Poizner and Whitman insisted that the GOP can
seize on the current financial crisis by crafting a
message of accountability - and conservative values - to make its case to voters in coming elections."
But now that that pesky little budget is out of the
way, the governor can get back to doing what he likes
to do most -- playing to the national media. The guv headed back east for the Republican Governors
Assocaition meeting, and stopped by the Sunday talk shows .
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday defended his decision to raise taxes as a necessary step to stem California's staggering economic crisis," writes Ari Bloomekatz in the Times.
"During appearances on morning news shows in Washington,
D.C., Schwarzenegger said he would gladly accept money
from the federal stimulus package approved by Congress
last week even though some fellow Republican governors
had balked at the program. And he predicted that although
California's economy would begin rebounding next year, it would
take "years from now to get back to where we were."
"'I don't think that we have turned a corner yet,' Schwarzenegger said on CNN's 'State of the Union With John King.'
"The $130-billion state budget signed Friday by Schwarzenegger
has earned the second-term governor jeers from state Republicans, some of
whom argued for more spending cuts over tax hikes,
which include across-the-board sales- and income-tax increases for the first time in 17 years. Schwarzenegger said that he drastically slashed
spending in the new budget and that elected officials
who disagree with his approach are "not in touch" with the public.
"'It's very simple. Listen to the people,' Schwarzenegger said on ABC's 'This Week With George Stephanopoulos.'
"The governor called the federal stimulus plan a "terrific package" and said Republican leaders throughout the nation
needed to shelve party ideologies in the face of the
ongoing economic crisis. He cited, for example, South
Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who has said he may refuse federal stimulus money
for his state."
"Listening to the people, he said, is more important than 'getting stuck in your ideology,'" reports Rob Hotakainen for the Bee.
"'Even though it maybe is against your principles or
philosophy, you still have to go, because that's what the people want you to do,' the governor said.
"Noting that Republicans and Democrats alike were putting
the heat on Schwarzenegger back in Sacramento, Stephanopoulos
asked the governor: 'Is D.C. the safest place for you this weekend?'
"Schwarzenegger replied: 'When you're in the center, you get attacked from the left and
you get attacked from the right. And this is a good
sign, actually, because that means that you're in the right place.'"
The guv caps his visit this morning with an appearance with President Obama on the White House lawn.
"Democrats auditioning for governor of California stepped one by one onto a Northridge stage Sunday for an opening scene of the campaign to replace Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger," reports Michael Finnegan in the Times.
"It was hardly representative of the whole campaign; each focused more on platitudes and buffing his own
accomplishments than on forwarding specific solutions
or reality checks on their opponents. Nor was there
much talk about their GOP opponents -- at least two of whom will have tens of millions in
personal money to make their case at the expense of
the Democratic nominee.
"Still, Newsom, Garamendi and Villaraigosa each made
clear that they approve of the tax increases in the
state budget that passed last week. Only Brown, in
an interview, declined to say whether he would be open
to higher taxes in a budget crunch.
"'I don't want to say it, because Republicans use it in TV
commercials and they exploit it with $100 million,' he said. 'Anything you say can be taken out of context.'"
George Skelton argues in support of the spending cap, and several
other measures to reform California government.
"A spending cap has long been needed in the Capitol
to enforce fiscal discipline -- to keep politicians from launching expensive new programs
in boom times and being unable to afford them when
the economy goes bust.
"I'd add two more parts to this fiscal control:
"Any tax cut would be temporary -- "sunsetted" -- and subject to periodic renewal. As with excessive
spending, the state shouldn't be stuck with a permanent tax cut as revenue falls
and a deficit looms.
"I'd also require any ballot measure that forces new spending
to identify the source of needed revenue. "The general fund" is not an acceptable answer.
"Switching gears, California also should junk its closed
primary system and install one that's open to all voters. As part of the budget deal, legislators
reluctantly agreed to place a "top two" primary system on the June 2010 ballot."
And the AP's Steve Lawrence looks at the effort to change the state's two-thirds budget requirement.
"'We have to do something,' said Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael. 'I think anybody who's watched this slow-motion train wreck over the last three months ought to agree that this system no longer works, if it ever did'
"[Sen. Loni] Hancock has introduced a constitutional amendment that would require only simple majorities to approve budgets.
"California needs to have a normal democracy like every other state in the nation except Rhode Island and Arkansas," she said.
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, has proposed one that would allow lawmakers to approve budgets with 55 percent majorities if they do it by June 15. After that, it would take two-thirds votes."
Meanwhile, Dan Walters looks at some of the special provisions added to the budget for local government in swing districts, and suggests they may be opening the door for much wider demands.
The Bee's Peter Hecht looks at the California Integrated Waste Management
Board.
"The waste board had its origins in lame-duck politics, as Gov. George Deukmejian created it in an end-of-term deal with legislative leaders in 1989. He quickly set up his finance director and chief
of staff with well-paid appointments to the panel.
"While two board members represent environmental and
waste-management interests, critics charge that appointees
often have little experience in recycling, landfill
operations, oil and electronic waste disposal, toxic
cleanup and other issues the board faces.
"'They shouldn't be former legislators, particularly people who are
not qualified to serve. These people are not experts,' said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies
in Los Angeles. 'They should probably be getting paid $300 to $400 a day. But they're getting full-time wages while only working part time. And that is
a problem.'
"Waste board members last year held 12 meetings and attended 45 committee hearings and conferences. Members say they
work full time on research, visiting landfill and recycling
facilities and conferring with municipal officials
and industry, environmental and community members."
The Union-Trib's Greg Moran looks at the ramifications of language in the last year's same-sex marriage ruling.
"In essence, the court said discrimination against gays
and lesbians was equivalent to racial, age or gender
discrimination, giving same-sex-rights advocates a powerful legal weapon in the future.
"Already the first echoes of that determination are
being heard in some of the arguments that will be made
in the upcoming challenge to Proposition 8, the voter-approved measure that rebuked the main aspect of the
court's May ruling and declared that only marriages between
men and women are valid.
"The special protection the court gave in May – which Proposition 8 does not affect – means that any state law or policy that is alleged
to discriminate against gays and lesbians now will
be analyzed under the most stringent legal standard
a court can apply. Few laws survive such a test, known
as “strict scrutiny.”
"No other state supreme court in the United States has
gone so far in giving gays and lesbians such legal
status.
"Laws the Legislature has passed over the past several
years already prohibit discrimination based on sexual
orientation in employment, health care and other areas.
Julie Greenberg, a law professor at Thomas Jefferson
School of Law and an expert on sexual-orientation legal issues, said the court's finding strengthens those protections significantly."
And finally, from our All Politics Is Local files, someone took the time to compile some recent greatest hits from the Santa Cruz City Council's public comment period. We're sure anyone who's had to sit through a city council meeting can relate.
Miss Teen South Carolina, eat your heart out...