From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

Arnold Wins a Round

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Unfortunately I can’t "leak" a memo from Senate Republican Dennis Hollingsworth. In addition to being a fine conservative, he is a personal friend. I wouldn’t risk my friendship by leaking private correspondence that he generates.

That said, Capitol Weekly doesn’t have the same chains on them. They have a "leaked" memo from Hollingsworth to Senate Republicans that is worth a read.… Read More

Is there any statewide group out there that represents cities besides the California League of Cities — I would like to know? I just got a press release on League letterhead that some local elected officials are protested the raid on local government dollars in this budget deal.

Where were they during the last budget deal, which “raided” the pockets of taxpayers (their constituents) with billions in higher income, sales and car taxes?

While I appreciate the policy reasons for why the raid on local government funds is a bad idea, I am having real troubles building up sympathy for politicians that protest this under the banner of the pro-tax increase League of Cities.

The League needs some new political leadership — that will push for smaller state government — not look out for its narrow interest by supporting tax increases on city residents.… Read More

It appears that the back-room negotiated budget deal has hit a snag. Apparently in the area of cuts to the Department of Corrections, the Big 5 agreed in concept to an overall amount of cuts, but not in any degree of specificity to the exact cuts. As we all know, there has been a wide disagreement between the left and the right about how to make cuts (or whether to make cuts) to this part of the budget — Dems favoring reducing the prison population, some Republicans calling for other cuts in the Agency that don't impact prisoner population.

Apparently the thought was the the “epic debate” over this issue would be sorted out sometime after the rest of the deal was adopted.

From what I understand, word started to spread around the Capitol that Democrats were planning to, in fact, not leave these cuts “to be named later” and put up the cuts for a vote that would lead to over 30k inmates being released from prison earlier than the end of their sentences.

The bad news is that this puts a serious pause in the budget negotiations — but the good news is that the marketplace has rooted out a flaw in the plan. It… Read More

Is it just me, or is the California Teachers Association just a body of ignorant fools? They are running ads against the Governor for "cutting education spending". I guess the same people who fail to teach our kids to read shouldn’t be faulted for not reading themselves, so let me help. California is out of money. This has been in the news now for a couple of years now, in case they missed it.

The CTA demands to be "repaid" $12 billion that they are "owed" in Prop 98 money even though public school enrollment is plummeting and the increased spending on public education since Prop 98 passed has produced almost no improvement in public education. But hey, we’ve go the highest paid teachers in the nation now!

Republicans have nothing to lose by ridiculing this band of intellectually dishonest union leaders and exposing them for what they are – an interest group that is bleeding the State dry without getting the results we need for all the extra money we’ve already invested in the black hole of public education.… Read More

There apparently is a budget deal. Lots of cuts, lots of borrowing, lots of gimmicks. But from the briefings I have had so far, the cuts are substantial, with mega-billions that are permanent. I am told that the final deal will be in print and available for public perusal for at least 24 hours… Vote Thursday… Check out Capitol Weekly's website for more details.… Read More

This morning the “Big 5” will gather to put the finishing touches on a budget deal – so we’re told. Of course, from all accounts, the deal that has been put together is a mixed bag. First and foremost, the fact that there are no tax increases on the table demonstrates how budget negotiations can go differently when Governor Schwarzenegger stands tall for taxpayers, as he pledged to do in both of his elections – and it is also a significant feather in the cap of Republican Leaders Dennis Hollingsworth and Sam Blakeslee, both of whom took on the leadership of their respective legislative caucuses after their predecessors rather notoriously used their positions to become architects of over $16 billion in higher income, sales and car taxes – “in return” for faux reforms and selective tax breaks for major corporations.

So while the wallets of taxpayers appear to have been protected from direct assault by state government this go-around, there are some aspects of this budget deal that are extremely troubling – and frankly show that liberal Democrats Darrell Steinberg and Karen Bass worked very hard to maintain what we believe are unsustainable levels of… Read More

This morning the “Big 5” will gather to put the finishing touches on a budget deal – so we’re told. Of course, from all accounts, the deal that has been put together is a mixed bag. First and foremost, the fact that there are no tax increases on the table demonstrates how budget negotiations can go differently when Governor Schwarzenegger stands tall for taxpayers, as he pledged to do in both of his elections – and it is also a significant feather in the cap of Republican Leaders Dennis Hollingsworth and Sam Blakeslee, both of whom took on the leadership of their respective legislative caucuses after their predecessors rather notoriously used their positions to become architects of over $16 billion in higher income, sales and car taxes – “in return” for faux reforms and selective tax breaks for major corporations.

So while the wallets of taxpayers appear to have been protected from direct assault by state government this go-around, there are some aspects of this budget deal that are extremely troubling – and frankly show that liberal Democrats Darrell Steinberg and Karen Bass worked very hard to maintain what we believe are unsustainable levels of… Read More