It has been my firm belief since the announcement from his Imperial Majesty Senate President Don Perata that he was so opposed to the tax-relief package negotiated by Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines that he would not even bring it up for a vote in the Senate (let alone work to get it passed out of that uber-liberal body) that the budget passed out of the Assembly was DOA in the Senate. That Assembly Budget while still bloated and largely a product of the status quo that Democrats have created after many decades of majority control in the legislature, GOP negotiators made some important strides in that document.
Still, as Assembly Republican Caucus Chairman Bob Huff points out in an exclusive column today, that tax relief package was a "lynch pin" to the budget garnering enough votes to even get out of the Assembly at all. Huff says, "Without the tax cuts, the Senators will not be dealing with the budget package approved by 9 Republican Assemblymembers."
Huff, of course, was the highest ranking Assembly Republican to vote against the budget in the Assembly. He explains his simple rationale thusly: "I voted against the budget, for one simple reason: the budget spends more than the state is planning to collect. You and I shouldn’t spend more than we have and neither should the state."
I have spoken and e-mailed with a great many Assembly Republicans, including many who voted against the budget, and some who have. All them believe that Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman and his caucus are doing the right thing.
Clearly with the infighting taking place between Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, it seems rather ’round peg in square holeish’ to have all of this drama taking place with a focus exclusively on the Senate, as if suddenly, overnight, the budget passed out of the Assembly is suddenly going to magically become a favorable document to Senate Republicans.
Doesn’t it make more sense for Perata, Nunez (if he is willing to cut short his European vacation), Ackerman and Villines to sit down together and figure out a plan that ultimately all feel comfortable bringing back to their caucuses?
Right now, the resolve among Senate Republicans is as great as I have ever seen it. And solidarity from their colleagues in the Assembly, as articulated today by their Caucus Chairman Bob Huff, is strong.
After all, if Senate Republicans achieve their very modest goal of ending deficit spending it is an important win for California taxpayers and families. For perspective, imagine a belt with 104 holes being tightened from the 104th hole to the 103rd, and you get a better perspective. Especially remembering that not too long ago, that belt had dozens of less holes.
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