"California residents will pay an additional personal
income surtax while aid for low-income people will be slashed under a decision announced Friday by two top state
finance officials," writes Mike Zapler in the Merc News.
"The ruling by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's finance director, Mike Genest, and Treasurer Bill Lockyer was tied to the budget plan Schwarzenegger signed
late last month to close the state's $40 billion deficit. The deal included $2.8 billion in extra income taxes and program cuts that
would be nullified if the state received enough money
from the federal stimulus package.
"Specifically, the budget agreement said California
would have to receive at least $10 billion from the feds to help offset its deficit through
mid-2010. But Genest and Lockyer said Friday that the stimulus
package, which was still being crafted when the governor
and lawmakers were negotiating the budget, would deliver
only $8.17 billion toward that end."
And, no foolin', sales taxes are going up a penny on Wednesday.
That doubles the reason to buy an American car today,
while you still can.
Mark Barabak and Evan Halper write in the Times that
the GOP's leading candidates for governor are running away
from Schwarzenegger's record.
"By criticizing his painstakingly crafted budget, actively
opposing several of his ballot measures and, more subtly,
jabbing at his work habits and ego, Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner are striving to distance themselves from the unpopular
Schwarzenegger and tap widespread GOP anger over the
incumbent's broken pledge not to raise taxes. It is, in the words
of a strategist involved in the race, a competition
to become "the anti-Arnold."
"It is also an effort to persuade voters -- starting with Republicans -- to trust a pair of candidates with backgrounds similar
to Schwarzenegger, who are making some of the same
promises he did when he first ran for governor 5 1/2 years ago.
"'There's going to be a lot of skepticism, especially among
the broad electorate, about what kind of experience
is the prerequisite for being a successful governor
of California,' said Don Sipple, a media strategist who helped elect the neophyte
Schwarzenegger in the 2003 recall election. 'People think the Schwarzenegger experience didn't work out so well, and they're going to be looking for something very different.'"
One candidate, however, isn't running away from the governor, and is counting on his budget knowledge to buoy his
candidacy. The Chron's Carla Marinucci writes:
"Tom Campbell doesn't have the big guns of his GOP competitors in the 2010 governor's race - not $50 million of his own money to throw in, like former
eBay CEO Meg Whitman, nor the pulpit of statewide office, like Insurance
Commissioner Steve Poizner.
"But Campbell has something more than the label of dark
horse in the primary contest: He actually understands - in painful detail - the seemingly intractable problems of the California
budget process."
And, besides being a budget geek, he's a nice guy.
"'He's one of the brightest people ever to run for public
office - and not just because he's been a Stanford law professor,' said Barbara O'Connor, professor of political science at Cal State Sacramento.
'He's clearly thoughtful, well educated and passionate
about policy. ... He's kind and not nasty. He was post-partisan before it was fashionable.'"
Meanwhile, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who also served as Schwarzenegger's first education secretary penned an op-ed against the May 19 ballot measures in yesterday's Times . . . well, sort of.
"First, to my liberal friends: Can you really support propositions that will drastically
cut services to the state's neediest -- especially after legislators increased the state sales
tax, a regressive tax that places a larger burden on
the poor?
"And to my conservative friends: Will you be intimidated into voting for something
you know is wrong? You should be against increases
in taxes, not for ideological reasons but because they
will be economically disastrous for California. The
rich (and I am one of them) already have their mansions, airplanes and yachts.
There is nothing morally or ethically wrong with increasing
their taxes. But if the burden becomes too great, the
rich will simply take their money (and the taxes they pay and the jobs they create) and move elsewhere. And it is the poor who will be
hurt by such an exodus.
"So can I be persuaded to support the May ballot measures?
"Yes, but only if the governor and Legislature take
action to truly restructure government and cut costs
now, not after the May vote. The pattern in California
has always been that in good times we overspend rather
than saving for the future. We should never allow ourselves
to be in a position like this again.
"The Legislature needs to immediately move to contain
costs by combining duplicative departments in the state
government. The state also needs to stop telling local
governments how to spend their money, and to eliminate
all the anti-business rules and laws that are scaring companies
out of California."
George Skelton talks to Dave Cogdill, who was ousted as Senate Republican Leader for negotiating
the budget deal.
"Cogdill says he believed most Republican senators "knew how bad it was. They knew what had to be done,
even if they weren't going to vote for it" personally.
"Turns out most wanted to renegotiate. Some were even
willing to let the state go belly-up.
"'Several wanted the state to go off the cliff,' says Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria).
"'They said, 'We need to prove a point that the majority party got
us into this mess.' And my line was, 'Then what?'
"'Only hyper-partisan people believe it's good to send the state off a cliff to prove a point.
Republicans in this building are way out of touch with
reality.'"
Meanwhile, Jim Miller takes time to note the 10-year anniversary of the ouster Assembly GOP Leader
Rod Pacheco.
Why, you ask?
"Pacheco, now
the county DA, was the last county lawmaker to lead
any legislative
caucus until restive Senate Republicans installed state
Sen. Dennis
Hollingsworth of Murrieta as minority leader during
last month's budget
standoff.
"At the center of both moves was Ventura County lawmaker
Tony Strickland.
"In 1998, Pacheco spent time and money to help Strickland,
R-Thousand
Oaks, win an election nail-biter. Strickland later voted to make
Pacheco leader.
"Barely five months later, on April 6,
1999, a majority of Assembly Republicans gave Pacheco the
boot.
Strickland provided a key vote to replace Pacheco,
according to Capitol
historians."
Shane Goldmacher reports:
"A Bee analysis of this past two-year session found the 10 highest-spending employers of private lobbyists shelled out
a total of more than $70 million working the halls of state government. They rarely lost.
"'You're fighting a mountain of money,' said former Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View. 'You have an idea, and they have enormous amounts of
money. Who's going to win?'
"Top lobbyists and their employers use the millions
to amass armies of advocates to build alliances and
cultivate relationships to influence their agenda.
They buy meals and gifts and treat policymakers to
Disneyland or Kings games. They amp up external pressure
by blanketing their targets' constituents with mailers and radio ads."
Today, Goldmacher looks at how those interests recruit and support candidates that will be helpful to their causes.
The Contra Costa Times's Lisa Vorderbrueggen looks into the likely vacancy for Ellen Tauscher's congressional seat.
"Conventional wisdom places this seat solidly into a
Contra Costa County Democrat's hands, although Republican campaign consultants say
a GOP victory is possible.
"The Democratic Party holds an 18-point registration advantage in the district, a nearly
insurmountable lead in a typical election. Party registration
is the most reliable predictor of an election outcome.
"Although the district includes portions of four counties,
two-thirds of its voters live in Contra Costa.
"The early Democratic front-runner is state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier of Concord. The former Contra Costa County supervisor
was elected to the Senate in November after serving
one term in the Assembly.
"DeSaulnier owes his favored status to last week's endorsements from Tauscher and Rep. George Miller."
However, it's not a done deal, report Matier and Ross: "He may have the backing of Democratic Party bigwigs,
but state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier of Concord could find some competition in his run to replace outgoing
Rep. Ellen Tauscher , D-Walnut Creek.
"A new poll of 400 likely voters in the 10th Congressional District by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin
and Associates shows a wide-open race, with DeSaulnier drawing 18 percent and state Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan of Alamo
at 21 percent.
"On the Republican side, San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson clocks in at 14 percent and former Assemblyman Guy Houston of San
Ramon at 13 percent.
"The biggest vote-getter, however, is "undecided" at 34 percent.
"The poll was commissioned by Buchanan, who tells us
she'll probably make a decision about entering the race
in the next few weeks."
The Bee's Susan Ferriss looks at Leland Yee's bill drafted in response to the LPGA's proposal to require players to speak English.
"On Tuesday, the Senate's Judiciary Committee will review a bill he's introduced to change the state's Jesse Unruh Civil Rights Act. The proposal makes
it illegal to prohibit the use of any language at a
work site without a justified "business necessity."
"'It's the right thing to do. It sends a message,' Yee said. 'You want to just make it very clear that you cannot
discriminate because of language.'
"The state's Fair Employment and Housing Act already protects
the language rights of employees of a business, except,
again, for justifiable reasons.
"By using the civil rights act, Yee's bill would broaden those protections, he said, for
patrons or contract workers at a work site where they
are not direct employees."
And finally, "The fundraising idea may seem a little nuts, but Oakdale's annual Testicle Festival is always a big hit. On Monday, volunteers with the
town's Rotary Club plan to fry up 400 pounds of the private parts of bulls and serve them to diners who pay $50 apiece for the sit-down meal.
"The
event, whose proceeds also benefit the Oakdale Cowboy
Museum, has drawn
an average of 450 people and last year raised $28,000.
"According to Rotarians, everyone who buys a ticket
is guaranteed to 'have a ball.'"
