Before everything comes together, it seems to fall
apart. So, then, using that logic, maybe there's been some progress on the budget front.
Capitol Weekly reports on the growing public differences between the two legislative
leaders over budget talks .
"Democrats in the Senate are forging ahead with a budget
plan. But they are doing so without the blessing of
Gov. Schwarzenegger – and more notably without Assembly Democrats.
What’s unclear is whether the growing divisions between
Democrats in the two houses reflects a simple difference
in negotiating style between Senate leader Darrell
Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, or whether the growing differences between
the two reflect a wider ideological and tactical divide.
In recent days, Assembly Democrats on the budget conference
committee balked at making millions in cuts to some
state services – cuts that were supported by Democrats and Republicans
in the Senate. Among them were decisions by Assembly
Democrats to push back against the proposed elimination
of money for the California Poison Control System and
some cuts to rural hospitals.
"While Steinberg attempted to unveil a formal Democratic
counterproposal to the governor’s May revision, Bass remained non-committal."
The Bee's Jim Sanders says Bass is now talking more openly about new revenues.
"
"Californians can brace for a new war over raising revenue to close
the state's multibillion-dollar budget shortfall – the first shots are
on their way. Assembly
Speaker Karen Bass said Wednesday that her caucus is
deciding among
numerous revenue-raising options because the $24.3 billion shortfall is
too large to bridge without an infusion."
"We would like for it to be as balanced as possible
– I'd love for it to be 50-50, but it's not going to be 50-50," she said.
Bass
declined to discuss options under consideration or
how much they could
raise. She said some could be implemented by a simple majority
vote of
the Legislature, meaning that they rely on fees or
mechanisms other than taxes.
George Skelton hooks up with Bill Lockyer, who offers some advice for legislative
Democrats . "Bill Lockyer has some simple, blunt advice for
Democratic legislators struggling to make painful budget
cuts: Just
assume you're not going to get reelected. Then dig in and slash.
"Democrat Lockyer -- the state treasurer, former attorney general and
longtime legislator who was Senate leader -- has experienced many
budget brawls, but never a deficit hole as seemingly
bottomless as
this. Never before has the state staggered so desperately
from crisis
to crisis.
Lockyer was invited by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) to
explain the fiscal facts of life to house Democrats
during a five-hour
caucus Monday. These mostly-liberal lawmakers soon will be asked to cut
spending as they'd never dreamed in their worst nightmares.
"I began with, 'Why don't you start with the realization that
probably none of you are going to be back here next
year?' " after the
November elections, Lockyer recalls.
"That's a very liberating thought, and with it you can get
a lot done."
He acknowledges: "They didn't stand up and applaud."
The LAT's Shane Goldmacher casts Schwarzenegger as Newt Gingrich. "
Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed Wednesday to let California government come
to a "grinding halt" rather than agree to a high-interest loan to keep
the state afloat if he and the Legislature do not close the yawning
budget gap in coming weeks.
"A loan would only "give them another reason why
we don't have to do it now," the governor said. "What we need to do is
just to basically cut off all the funding and just
let them have a
taste of what it is like when the state comes to a
shutdown -- grinding
halt."
"The comments, made in an interview with The Times' editorial board,
represent the governor's latest salvo in the battle over California's
budget. An emergency loan -- not routine short-term borrowing but a
longer-term, higher-interest loan -- would require the governor's
approval but not that of the Legislature, unlike his
proposed budget
solutions. He approved the initial step for such borrowing
last year
and can revoke it at any time."
Goldmacher also notes the governor has reversed a plan to cut benefits to families of peace
officers killed in the line of duty.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reversed himself Wednesday
on a proposal to
end health insurance coverage for families of police
officers and
firefighters who die in the line of duty.
In a meeting with The Times' editorial board, Schwarzenegger called the proposal,
reported this week, a "terrible screw-up" and said it is being corrected.
And if you think this budget is bad for you, just be happy you're not a stray dog. The U-T's Mike Gardner reports, "For the first time Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
addressed
the sensitive issue of cutting funding for shelters
and potentially
sentencing strays to quicker deaths.
"I feel terrible about it," he said. But, "you've got to go and make the cuts and we've got to live within our means." Schwarzenegger said "I love animals" and noted his menagerie: "I
have a bunch of animals. I have a pig, I have ducks, I have the dogs."
Pig?? Moving on...
In non-budget news, Malcolm Maclachlan catches up with the man poised to replace Curren Price in the Assembly. "Don’t call him the Al Gore of Gardena.
"In 2006, a Gardena city councilman Steve Bradford came out
of nowhere to take favorite Curren Price down to the
wire in what proved to be the closest legislative primary
race of the year. That race, to replace Jerome Horton
in the Inglewood-area 51st Assembly district, came down to a mere 112 votes.
"Like Gore, Bradford called in the lawyers and demanded
a recount. Like Gore, he eventually relented.
"Unlike Gore, Bradford is now getting a second chance—not to mention a fundraiser with Price and several
other heavyweights in LA politics. This list includes
Assembly speaker Karen Bass,
and former Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, D-Los Angeles. Price won the Senate seat formely heldby
Thomas in a May 19 special election.
Josh Richman says a former aide to Carole Migden has helped her retire
her campaign debt. "The Oakland-based Californians for a Democratic Majority PAC on
Tuesday
gave $100,000 to former state Sen. Carole Migden’s Legal Defense and
Compliance Fund.
"So, who are Californians for a Democratic Majority?
The group’s
treasurer is Michael Colbruno of Oakland, who is Clear Channel
Outdoor’s vice president of public policy; an Oakland Planning
Commissioner; a Democratic activist (a delegate to the 2004 Democratic
National Convention and an unsuccessful candidate
for the Alameda County Democratic Central Commtittee
last year); and
Migden’s former legislative director. Lists of the PAC’s donors for the
2008 and 2006 election cycles show it has been funded by a variety
of labor unions, Democratic officials and business
interests."
Ironic to think that someone who used to work for the
notoriously difficult Migden would wind up helping
her out.
And some good news for fans of good California reporting.
LA Observed reports, "The Center for Investigative Reporting named the editorial
director for its new reporting initiative focusing
on California: Mark Katches, the former editor who oversaw
prize-winning investigations at the Register in Orange County.
Katches
has recently been in Milwaukee, where his team at the
Journal Sentinel
won a Pulitzer and other awards. He'll be guiding a California reporting project with the
mission to go deep "on issues of crucial importance to California and its
future."
And finally, maybe the Integrated Waste Management
Board can settle this one:
"A Spanish trade union
is suing a bakery that allegedly threw the severed arm of an employee
into a bin after it was amputated in an accident with a kneading
machine. The Workers Commissions said in a statement
Wednesday that
Bolivian immigrant Franns Rilles lost his left arm
in May 28 at the
Rovira bakery in the eastern Valencia region.
"The
union said that while Rilles was being taken to a hospital
someone
tossed his arm into the garbage. It says the bakery
then cleaned the
machinery and continued production.
"Police found the arm the next day, the union said,
but doctors were unable to reattach it."
