Well, after all that, it looks like we're back on track. The budget is moving ahead, the cuts
to state prisons will be delayed for two weeks (for some reason), and we can all go back to declaring victory.
LAT's Michael Rothfeld reports, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders
on Wednesday held
together their plan to close California's $26.3-billion deficit by
delaying until next month a vote on a controversial
provision to reduce
the amount of time that thousands of inmates spend
in prison.
"The
decision followed a blowup a day earlier in which Assembly
Republican
leader Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo said after the details became
public that he had no knowledge of the prison plan
and threatened to
withdraw his support for the entire budget deal if
the proposal to cut
the inmate population by 27,000 was included.
"
"Everything's on track," Senate President
Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said as he and Assembly
Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) emerged from a meeting with the
governor. Blakeslee said his caucus was now ready to
"move forward,"
and would offer its own plan "to achieve the necessary savings without
jeopardizing public safety."
The governor, speaking to reporters, said the prison
issue had caused "some misunderstandings, and we are ironing them out."
"There will be difficult moments," Schwarzenegger said. "But the bottom line is we're going to get this budget done."
Will the meldrama never cease?
Capitol Weekly's news analysis says the budget deal was almost derailed by ... silence.
"There are times in politics when it is dangerous to
say too much. But the lessons from the California budget
this week also illustrate that sometimes it can be
just as hazardous to say nothing at all.
"Gov. Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders reached
a tentative budget accord Tuesday. But in the days
that followed, legislative Republicans and the governor’s office were incommunicado. That gave Democrats unfettered
access to the media to shape their budget narratives
in the immediate wake of the budget deal.
"In the process, two budget pieces that were seemingly
designed to give the Republicans some political cover
evaporated entirely, and left Republican lawmakers
caught between angry constituents and their negotiating
partners in the Capitol."
Steve Harmon reports the Republicans' got their delay of the inevitable , which apparently is enough to put up some budget
votes. "All
it took, apparently, was the governor's reassurance that Republicans
will only be asked to vote for an "unallocated" cut in corrections of
$1.2 billion on Thursday. A vote on details of the plan
would go before
the Legislature when lawmakers return from summer recess
in August.
"Having
been assured that the budget measures do not include
the early release
of inmates, we are prepared to move forward," said Assembly Republican
Leader Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo. "With the promise of a policy
debate on the corrections budget in August, we will
be offering our own
proposals to achieve the necessary savings without
jeopardizing public
safety."
Another thing we can all agree on is that the big losers in the budget fight were local governments. And the LAT's Alexandra Zavis reports the budget it headed to court.
"More
than 180 California cities have passed resolutions threatening
to sue
the state if lawmakers approve a budget plan that would
seize $4.7
billion in local funds to help close the state’s massive deficit,
according to the League of California Cities.
"Judy Mitchell, mayor of Rolling Hills Estates and president of the
League of California Cities, described the budget proposal
as a “ponzi
scheme that passes off responsibility to future governors,
legislators
and to our taxpayers.”
A new ad campaign launched by the League of Cities
says the budget amounts to the "Enronification" of California.
Does that make the governor Ken Lay?
CW's Nick Brokaw turns to Washington to check in on a fight between small and large business groups.
"In a clash of business interests, the California Chamber
of Commerce finds itself in an odd position: It doesn’t support federal legislation that would generate billions
of dollars for California small businesses.
Is the Chamber’s neutral position on the bill an indication that its
interests may be more aligned with protecting large
businesses than smaller ones?
“Both [the U.S. and California Chambers of Commerce] are funded by, and run for the benefit of, the Fortune
500 firms that I am trying to stop from receiving federal
small business contracts,” American Small Business League President Lloyd Chapman
said."
Speaking of representing the little guy, Capitol Weekly's gossip column, the Skinny, takes a look at who was getting a post-agreement budget briefing directly from a member of
the Big 5.
"Less than two
hours after the accord was announced, Senate Republican
Leader Dennis Hollingsworth was at Chops, huddling with a troika of powerful lobbyists
– Bev Hansen and George Miller, partners in one of the state’s lobbying superfirms, and Carolyn McIntyre, president of the California Cable & Telecommunications Association. We’re sure it’s just coincidence that Miller and Hansen represent
Intuit, which had asked for some help from the Big
5 to crack down on California’s free ReadyReturn tax program, which Intuit feels
is competing with their not-free Turbo Tax program. (This is the same Intuit that dumped $2 million into an account to help Tony Strickland in his run for state controller against John Chiang). And it’s probably an accident that McIntyre represents cable
companies that wanted the benefits from last year’s “single sales factor” cuts to be applied to them as part of a budget deal."
CW's Angela Ruggerio looks at how the budget is affecting state worker morale.
"Deanna Regale is an office technician at Wasco State
Prison in Kern County. She had been working there for
13 months when she received her final notice in May that
she would be getting laid off.
“They told me not to look for work in the Department
of Corrections because I would just get laid off again,” said Regale. “That doesn’t leave me much choice in Kern County.”
And finally, a bit of sad news, as one our favorite actors passes on
. "Gidget the Chihuahua, whose Taco Bell commercials made her a star, has
died. She was 15.
"The owner of Studio Animal Services in Castaic says
Gidget suffered a
massive stroke late Tuesday at her trainer's home in Santa Clarita and
had to be euthanized.
"Gidget was the sassy mascot in Taco Bell
commercials from 1997 to 2000. While other dogs had bit parts, it was
her bug-eyed, big-eared face that was seen pronouncing "Yo quiero Taco
Bell," Spanish for "I want Taco Bell," in a male voice dubbed by
Argentine actor Carlos Alazraqui. A few years later, Alazraqui landed
the role for which he is best known: Deputy James Garcia on Comedy
Central's "Reno 911!"
