From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail:
It’s Getting Sweaty in Sacramento
Day Five of the California Hostage Crisis grinds on with state legislators no closer to approving a $42 billion plan to close the state’s budget deficit with a mixture of spending trims and higher taxes.
The tax hikes have the support of every Democrat in the legislature, but three Republican votes in the Assembly and three in the Senate are needed to meet the requirement that the budget pass with a two-thirds vote. In the Senate, only two Republican votes have been secured. One of them is Dave Cogdill of Modesto, who was unceremoniously dumped late last night as his party’s leader. Republican senators were unhappy with Mr. Cogdill’s role in negotiating the tax hikes, and replaced him with Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, a fierce opponent of higher taxes. Mr. Hollingsworth is likely to try to renegotiate the budget deal.
But Democrats have locked down the State Senate and are preventing members from leaving until they agree to the current plan. Their rhetoric has become increasingly apocalyptic. "We are in a highly unusual and frightening position, and actually close to panic time," warned Sen. Elaine Alquist of Santa Clara, who noted that layoff notices to 10,000 state workers were going out this week.
Republicans so far are unmoved. Senator George Runner applauded the fact that the debate under lockdown conditions was now attracting public notice. "It goes to the core of probably why we got involved in elected office," he said in a floor speech. "Californians aren’t under-taxed. They’re taxed at some of the highest rates in the nation." He was echoed by Senator Tony Strickland, who said it was time the legislature stopped "treating the taxpayers across California like a personal ATM."
For now, legislators are being treated to a version of indoor camping, with sleeping bags and cots littering the legislative chamber’s floor. Democrats are privately acknowledging that if GOP intransigence continues, they may pass the tax hikes by a simple majority vote and take their chances that a court won’t find the resulting budget unconstitutional.
— John Fund