In response to Cap Weekly’s mention of possible GOP leadership rumblings over the current budget deal, Jon Fleischman notes in a post below that he typically refrains "from commenting on legislative caucus politics."

Fair enough.  However, the rumors of rumblings does evoke some memories of the last Assembly GOP rumble.  Then-Republican Minority Leader George Plescia was ousted a bit over two years ago — and replaced with Mike Villines — ostensibly for the crime of being too accommodating of legislative Democrats and Governor Schwarzenegger, meaning not standing firm enough in representing GOP Caucus interests and ideals when it came to budget negotiations.

Fast forward.  Today we have an Assembly Republican Caucus, a clearcut majority of its members sharing the conservative, no taxes stance of the 2006 version.  Just last November, the GOP leadership in both houses excoriated the Governor for proposing tax increases.  Yet, the budget deal to be considered tonight, as negotiated by leaders of both parties and Schwarzenegger, includes a myriad of tax increases.

Fleischman may be correct in his earlier commentary, that the strange nature of being a minority leader in a Big 5 budget negotiation ends up ideologically pitting the leaders against their own caucuses.  Yet, it would seem that a caucus being abundantly clear about any expectations for its leader, would be just as significantly compelling as any signed "No Taxes Pledge."

That said, I hope this Valentine’s Day, retired Assemblyman George Plescia finds the current situation in Sacramento as "ironical" as I think he should.  I hope he’s enjoying his day in San Diego with his wife, as opposed to a cold night ahead in the Capitol.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 14th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.