"Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill declared legislative negotiations with Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger essentially dead after an apparently hostile meeting Thursday in the
governor's office.
"Cogdill, of Modesto, said Schwarzenegger's criticism of GOP members and leaks from "Big 5" meetings between four legislative leaders and the
governor have undermined talks.
"Cogdill said he would attend future meetings with Schwarzenegger
"out of respect for him and out of respect for his office." But he believes legislative leaders must now broker
their own deal without Schwarzenegger.
"'I believe that the Big 5 process has been irreparably compromised as a result
of comments in the press over the last couple of days,
and it's pretty difficult to negotiate in good faith in that
situation,' Cogdill said. 'I just don't see this process as being productive or helpful.'
"Rather than take offense, the governor encouraged legislative
leaders to meet among themselves Thursday, telling
them, "You don't need me to be there all the time."
"But he also suggested that Cogdill's comments 'might be an excuse not to negotiate.'
"'When you deal with a budget deficit this fiscal year
of $15 billion,' he said, 'you don't look for those kinds of excuses any more.'
"Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, of Clovis, participated in Thursday talks by phone
from Washington, where he was traveling for what he
described as business meetings and a personal engagement.
Villines "shares Cogdill's frustration" with the "Big 5" process, said spokeswoman Jennifer Gibbons."
Meanwhile, the Times has a story that will add fuel
to the fire, as Jordan Rau gets a Republican legislator to tattle on Mike Villines
for supporting a car tax hike.
"Through a spokeswoman, Villines denied Thursday that
he had ever supported raising the controversial fee,
sometimes called the "car tax."
"But the sources said Villines raised the possibility
of GOP support for a higher car fee in budget negotiations
last month, saying he thought that he could bring rank-and-file Republicans along if Democrats agreed to steep
cuts in government programs and a permanent cap on
state spending.
"The sources who were in the room said his suggestion
came after Democrats offered spending cuts they would
reluctantly agree to implement.
"The sources said Schwarzenegger was trying to prod
Republicans to offer ideas for raising more revenue
for the state, which faces a financial crisis.
"'Villines told me that it was the Republicans' idea to put that forward, which shocked me,' said an Assembly member, who told The Times that Villines
later described the meeting.
"The Assembly member, a Republican, said Villines indicated
that hiking vehicle fees was preferable to raising
the state sales tax, as Schwarzenegger has proposed."
"The car fee would bring in more money, Villines said,
and Schwarzenegger would take much of the political
heat for his reversal on it, allowing GOP lawmakers
to "hang it around his neck," the source recounted.
"Villines said in his statement Thursday: 'Republicans have consistently said no to higher taxes,
and our actions have shown that.'"
Dan Walters writes:
"[I]f anything, the worsening situation may have hardened beliefs of
partisan warriors that as the state treasury empties and some kind
of
shutdown, at least of payments to those dependent on
the state, looms
in a matter of weeks, they can force rivals to give
ground.
"It's
a situation that Schwarzenegger, earlier in the week,
likened to a game
of chicken in which each side is waiting for the other
to blink.
"A
final note: The governor's plan, if adopted, would cover only half of
the new deficit number, leaving a roughly $20 billion hole still to be
filled. And no one knows whether the deficit will grow
even larger as
the economy continues to deteriorate."
George Skelton likens legislators to zombies. "California's Capitol has been shrouded in fog -- literally and figuratively. The literal fog is seasonal
and can smother the Central Valley for days on end
this time of year. The figurative fog is year-round.
"Both types are a curse. They depress moods, hamper
vision and are characterized by denseness.
"The literal fog is called tule fog, and it is created
on the ground. The figurative fog develops in the mind
and results in zombie-like repetitive rhetoric and actions -- sort of like in the movie 'Groundhog Day.'"
Meanwhile, the tax commission was appointed yesterday, writes the Merc News's Mike Zapler.
"About half of the tax revenue that California collects
each year comes from personal income taxes, primarily
on capital gains from the stock market and high-income earners. That means when the very wealthy are
getting richer, so is the state, in the form of multibillion
dollar surpluses. But the opposite is true in times
like this: hence a deficit that officials warn could exceed $40 billion over the next 18 months.
"Thursday, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and
Democratic legislative leaders appointed a bipartisan
commission to help end the perpetual roller coaster
ride. The panel has a large Silicon Valley contingent: Among its 12 members are two former heads of the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, which analyzes quality of
life issues affecting the region, and two fellows at
Stanford's Hoover Institution."
Capitol Alert posts the bios.
"California's air quality board approved on Thursday the nation's most sweeping plan to reduce global warming by curbing emissions, a move that state regulators
hailed as a nationwide model for President-elect Barack Obama," reports Wyatt Buchanan in the Chron.
"State leaders predicted that the blueprint, unanimously
approved by the California Air Resources Board, would
stimulate California's lagging economy by creating thousands of jobs and
billions of dollars of commerce, while business owners
said the plan would worsen the state's fiscal woes.
"'Today is the day we help unleash the full force of
California's innovation and technology for a healthier planet,
a stronger and more robust economy and a safer and
more secure energy future,' Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
"The changes called for over the next 12 years are sure to affect the products Californians
buy, the cars they drive and the places they live.
They are designed to allow the state to reach its legally
mandated goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions
to 1990 levels by 2020, a reduction of about 30 percent.
"California is 'taking on a global responsibility that can be a model
for others,' said air board Chairwoman Mary Nichols. "It's a sample of what we think can and should be done" by the Obama administration, she said."
"Republican Sen. Jeff Denham, whose statewide profile grew during the failed recall
attempt of him by Democrats earlier this year, said Thursday he is running for lieutenant governor
in 2010," writes Shane Goldmacher on Captol Alert.
"The Atwater Republican has already lined up the backing
of both legislative Republican leaders, Mike Villines and Dave Cogdill, as well as, which his campaign reports, "more than two-thirds of the membership of both the Assembly Republican
Caucus and the Senate Republican Caucus."
"The lieutenant governor post will be an open race in
2010, with incumbent Lt. Gov. John Garamendi already announcing
he is running for governor.
"His most likely GOP opponent in the primary is Sen.
Sam Aanestad who, through a spokesman, expressed interest in the
race earlier this week.
"On the Democratic side, Sen. Dean Florez of Shafter is the only candidate in the race thus
far. Florez is the new majority leader in the Senate."
The Bee's Shane Goldmacher reads Don Perata's campaign reports and finds that maybe he really didn't care about redistricting after all.
"As the fall campaign season drew to a close, former
Senate leader Don Perata had a choice: protect his party's power to draw legislative seats or shore up his deficit-riddled legal defense fund.
"He opted for the latter, transferring $1.5 million he had ostensibly raised from donors for ballot
campaigns to a legal fund he created to fend off a
years-long FBI corruption investigation.
"Meanwhile, the redistricting measure that the Oakland
Democrat had hoped to defeat was approved by the narrowest
margin of the dozen measures on the ballot – less than 200,000 votes out of nearly 12 million cast.
"'I have no doubt we could have beat it, even with a
modestly funded campaign,' said Bill Carrick, who cut campaign ads for the No on Proposition 11 campaign.
"Perata had amassed a $2.7 million ballot measure war chest, but he tapped only
$161,000 of it for the No on 11 campaign."
Well, it's not like the Speaker's office did much to help...
And finally, there is new scientific advice in one of the longest-running disputes in human history. "One of the longest-running spousal debates may now be settled in favor
of men and for the sake of little boys.
"Leave the toilet seat up, some British doctors now
say. The reason: a rising trend for heavy wooden and ornamental toilet
seats to fall down onto the penises of unsuspecting
(and just potty-trained) toddlers.
"Dr. Joe Philip and his colleagues of Leighton Hospital,
Crewe, in
England detail such penis-crush injuries in the December issue of the
journal BJU International. The team reports on four
boys between the
age "Leave the toilet seat up, some British doctors now
say. The reason: a rising trend for heavy wooden and ornamental toilet
seats to fall down onto the penises of unsuspecting
(and just potty-trained) toddlers.
