Senators Aanastad, Ackerman, Ashburn, Battin, Cogdill, Cox, Denham, Duttin, Harman, Hollingsworth, Margett, Maldonado, Runner, McClintock, and Wyland —
The fifteen of you are an inspiration to all California’s who believe that sound budgetary management is an important part of running state government. You are serving as a reminder that the GOP can be proud of each of one you, as you stand up to the special interests that have become the dominant players in California politics over four-plus decades of dominance of liberal Democrats in the legislature. You are showing that united, Republicans can make a difference in reigning in excessive spending in California.
And the message we want to send you is — hold tight, the best is yet to come.
There is an obscene amount of pressure being put on all of you to approve the budget sent over to you by the Assembly Democrats, along with slightly less than a third of Assembly Republicans. So far you have stood tall against this pressure, and you are to be commended.
Of course, Senator Don "The Golden Pig" Perata won’t let any of the tax cuts that were passed in the Assembly even come up for a vote in your chamber, and so the reality is that you are facing a budget that likely would never have passed out of the Assembly at all.
About now, you will all be getting a lot of pressure from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He and his senior staff members will start to make promises. They will promise to cut spending, maybe as much as three quarters of a billion dollars, to get you, as a caucus, to sign off on voting out the flawed budget package.
Then what? Well, remember, these negotiations aren’t taking place in a vacuum. Senator Perata and his team see what the Governor is doing. Which them becomes the sheer bueaty of having so many Democrats on his staff. Undoubtedly, his most famous Democrat staffer is Susan Kennedy, his Chief of Staff (the former Executive Director of the California Democrat Party, and former Deputy Chief of Staff to the recalled Governor Gray Davis). For every minute that is spent making iron-clad commitments to Senate Republicans to pass a budget, you can be sure that promises are also being made to the Democrats as well. Since all of you are there at ground-zero in the legislature, you can only imagine what the legislature can pass with a majority vote, and the Governor can sign, that would offset the spending cuts he promises to your caucus.
The reality is that major items that you have proposed, such as the overhaul of the CalWORKS program, cannot be achieved by adopting this budget. Structural reforms to reduce the very real anticipated deficit that will hit the 2008-2009 budget cannot be achieved with blue line cuts by the Governor.
As Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters so correctly pointed out yesterday, we are in this position because over the past few months, the Democrats have treated you as non-entities as hundreds if not thousands of bills have passed out of the Senate without any thought of working meaningfully with Senate Republicans.
We urge you to reject the notion that your principled stand here can be ‘bought off’ by the promise of blue line cuts, that you know in your heart will be pre-negotiated with the Democrats, and offset by other promises.
The only way to have real reform is to reject any such offers, and cause a re-opening of the budget negotiations amongst the big four. Then, with the demonstrated resolve of 15 united Senators fresh in everyone’s memories, negotiate from a position of strength. I know you’ve inspired many Assembly Republicans who would welcome the opportunity to renogiate a new budget plan.
We’re proud of all of you. Beware of promises made by those that are anxious to move on to regulating California to death in the name of battling ‘global warming’ and who want to tax working Californians in the name of massively increasing the government’s role in health care.
July 31st, 2007 at 12:00 am
Well spoken words. Let’s hope that these 15 leaders will stand tall and make us all proud. The only way to save this state is for our leaders to show real back bone.
July 31st, 2007 at 12:00 am
People need to remember that Governor Schwarzenegger is focused on California and not capitol gridlock. They also need to remember that he has been fiscally responsible with taxpayer money. In fact his track record shows he has reined in spending, held the line on using one-time money for ongoing expenses (a great sin of the Davis years), and cut taxes; and the current budget under consideration in Sacramento builds on that record.
I’m not arguing that this budget is the best of all Republican worlds, but it’s also nowhere near close to being the worst.
Republican legislators need to take a page from President Reagan’s playbook and learn how to look like they’re winning even when things might not be going their way. They need to remember it’s always better to bend than to break.
So yes, kick, scream, and drag your heels, but in the end, compromise on a budget because California needs one and because it’s the right thing to do.
July 31st, 2007 at 12:00 am
AMEN Jon!!!
These 15 Republican Senators, even though a very small minority, can change the course of CA if they stick to their guns. If they don’t cave, CA can actually have a long overdue balanced budget!
Hopefully the spineless Assembly Republicans are encouraged into trying to do something great.
Along with offering encouragement, we need to keep the 15 in our prayers.
July 31st, 2007 at 12:00 am
Jon,
While you raise important concerns about unknown (and unknowable) future budgetary game-playing in Sacramento, we need to remember the facts about this budget and about this Governor. Some of our own “inside the beltway” insider Republicans are fond of repeating the canard that somehow Governor Schwarzenegger has been a profligate spender in Sacramento, or regularly fails to live up to his promises to the taxpayers. The problem with knee jerk reactions is that they are rarely based in reality, and this one is no exception. The Governor has kept his promise to California taxpayers to reign in spending and hold the line on tax increases,which he did from day one of his administration and continues to do every day, without pompous grandstanding before the cameras (he’s had his share on the big screen). He has maintained a fiscally conservative stance just as well at Governor Wilson did and, many would argue convincingly, better than governors Reagan and Deukmejian did. No one can know what the future holds, but by looking to the past and understanding it, hopefully we can avoid the mistakes of those who came before us. I would urge my fellow Republicans, particularly those with the power of the pen, to avoid demagoguery and ad hominem attacks, and focus the arguments on the facts.
July 31st, 2007 at 12:00 am
Now is it principle or is it leader Ackerman trying to fend off the ambitious Battin??
Or is it a small group of unrepresentative self-important politicians??
Should not their mettle be tested by making their environment uncomfortable? Should not martyrdom be accompanied by the pyre?
August 1st, 2007 at 12:00 am
Bill, all of those years working for Willie Brown have clouded your senses. Senate Republicans are standing up to your left wing agenda and should be praised.
You will not be happy until every business flees California to other states where costs are reasonable.
But then, you see business as evil, so that’s probably okay by you.