It’s rather infamous that February’s “big budget/big taxes/open primary” deal which spawned a series of a half-dozen ballot measures, Proposition 1A – 1F, was crafted in order to co-opt the state’s most aggressive public employee union – the California Teachers Association – and get them on board with the deal. Some of the signs of this accommodations include the questionable language surrounding Proposition 1A cap (there is no doubt that the language could have been much tighter and stronger), the presence of $16 billion in additional taxes that are triggered with the passage of 1A, and then there is Proposition 1B – a measure that, if it and 1A were to pass, would restore billions and billions in cuts that education took in the budget deal.
It would appear, at least preliminarily, that to the extent that all of this accommodation was designed to keep the CTA from nuking the budget deal and supporting the ballot measures, that the first part was definitely achieved (too many Democrat “union tools” of the CTA in the legislature voted for the budget deal, which would only happen with their sign off). As to the latter part, support from the CTA for the ballot props – well, it’s been reported that the CTA’s PAC is giving $50,000 towards the passage of the props. That is hardly a major contribution by a union that has millions of dollars at its disposal for political purposes. That’s the kind of “courtesy gift” that would be analogous to your giving your crazy cousin a small contribution when he decides to run for city council. I am sure that must be bitterly disappointing for Proponents of 1A, who undoubtedly would prefer big bucks from the union.
I should add that it really shouldn’t come as any surprise to politically savvy folks that there is snowballing opposition to the measures, especially 1A, coming from fiscal conservatives (including, now, well over a majority of GOP state legislators). That had to be part of the political calculus – the very same accommodations to the unions that are keeping them at bay, or making nominal contributions of support, become the center point of why Republicans have a problem with this measure.
There is a saying – garbage in, garbage out. Or put another way, if you accommodate the left, you have to understand that you are going to lose support on the right.
P.S. The lesser teachers union in the state has come out against A, and supports B. I guess they weren’t as engaged in the budget kabuki that brought us the largest tax increase in state history.