Both houses are still in, the Assembly locked on the Floor, in the lounge, etc., the Senators locked in the building proper, limited to their floor or their office. It sounds like they’regetting pretty cranky too…at least they have TV in the lounge so they can watch the Daytona 500 today!

(Note that Nascar’s #99 – Carl Edwards – is doing a backflip out of a car to celebrate the fact that it’s a new morning and there aren’t new taxes!)… Read More

It’s only a matter of time before Senator Abel Maldonado breaks caucus ranks and goes up on the budget, providing the third needed GOP vote. In his words, there are "no sweeteners," as of yet, but that is presently being worked out. Ain’t politics grand?

My prediction: It will be over tonight.

Once the respective party leaders realized there was no longer any hope for an aye vote out of Senator Dave Cox, the focus turned to Maldonado. Sometime after the Senate recessed late this morning, emissaries went to his office to grab him for discussions. Unlike the Assembly in lockdown on the Floor, the Senate was in an honor system situation, but Maldonado couldn’t be located and his office was locked with the lights out. The knocking on the office door went to no avail.

**There is more – click the link**

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This just in from Republican Senator Jeff Denham:

“As I looked around the Senate Chamber a little before dawn this morning I couldn't help reflecting back to the lock-in that then-President Pro-Tem Don Perata tried on us a few years back as well as remembering the famous Speaker Jesse 'Big Daddy' Unruh lock-in in the Assembly back in 1960's.”Historically, these lock-ins are not successful, at least from the majority party's perspective. If anything, they seem to harden the will and resolve of the minority party. Indeed the longer it goes on the more strength the minority seems to gain.

It appears the assembly has the votes to pass this budget proposal andthe senate hasall but one vote necessary for the two thirds vote needed in the senate. We have been in this situation before and I believe we willsee the same resultagain, IMPASSE.The will of the minority is once again hardening.

It's just before 11:00 am now and Senate President Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg announces that we are recessing until 1:00 pm and I and others plan to make a break for our in-session residences to sleep (really nap),… Read More

I understand that Dave Cogdill thinks he has gotten "the best budget deal" he could. Since I have recently be criticized by Debra Saunders for "being against compromise," I thought I would recite what bad "compromise" has gotten us.

You see, I haven’t always been against compromise in the state budget. I even voted for Governor Schwarzenegger’s first budget because I thought it was a good one. On many occasions, I believed that Republicans actually got something in the budget, so while I may have voted against the budget, I didn’t criticize those who voted for the compromise. In other cases, we were told "this was the best budget we will get" and therefore Republicans had to vote for it. Whenever you hear those words, you know there is a lot left on the table, and that the Republican leader has capitulated, as happened here.

Let’s take a look at the past

1998-99 – Republicans get the car tax cut. I supported the compromise because the deal actually advanced a Republican cause, that is, the cause of tax cuts. The tax cut was not perfect, it was to be implemented through a… Read More

It’s only a matter of time before Senator Abel Maldonado breaks caucus ranks and goes up on the budget, providing the third needed GOP vote. In his words, there are "no sweeteners," as of yet, but that is presently being worked out. Ain’t politics grand?

My prediction: It will be over tonight.

Once the respective party leaders realized there was no longer any hope for an aye vote out of Senator Dave Cox, the focus turned to Maldonado. Sometime after the Senate recessed late this morning, emissaries went to his office to grab him for discussions. Unlike the Assembly in lockdown on the Floor, the Senate was in an honor system situation, but Maldonado couldn’t be located and his office was locked with the lights out. The knocking on the office door went to no avail.

What’s more, a search of the Capitol garage indicated his car was gone. The buzz quickly spread that the shrewd Maldo was hiding out, knowing the longer no one could find him, the more he could up the ante with "sweeteners."

Yet, sometimes all the conspiracy theories in the world amount to nothing. The Senator had not left the… Read More

In the so-far-unsuccessful quest to find enough Republican votes to pass the budget monstrosity, the focus has been on termed-out legislators. One would assume that the reasoning for this is that these members won’t be seeking re-election in two or four years and therefore voting to raise constituents’ taxes won’t come up in a campaign. But what about any future campaigns for higher office? Are these lawmakers the rare breed that has no ambition for higher offices?

Even if they’re satisfied with their “service” thus far, maybe these members should be worried about even finishing the current term. When word leaked that Senator Abel Maldonado might be caving on the budget vote, a web site was purchased with the address RecallMaldonado.com. Considering the success of past recalls for mismanaging the state government, Senator Maldonado might want to reconsider voting for this particular tax-increasing budget. As of this post, RecallAshburn.com was still available…

Registrant: MAPA Strategies

5235 Mission Oaks Blvd Suite 1000 Camarillo,… Read More

Word is Senator Maldonado has cut a deal, and the Senate Republicans are being briefed on it momentarily… Read More

With the State Senate adjourning for the night, a $14.4-billion package of outrageous tax hikes remains precariously close to passage. This got me thinking about how good a thing it is that California doesn’t have certain tools the federal government has.

Things like simple-majority legislative approval for tax increases, or its own currency. With control of money supply, the feds are currently preparing to try to spend our way out of a recession with money they don’t have. Of course California has tried that, in a way, by borrowing just to get by. This has resulted in postponing structural reforms to the point that California’s tainted credit will limit further borrowing.

So what other options does California have? Well, there’s tax increases, which are only an option when approved by the voters or two-thirds of the Legislature. Yet even the federal government realizes that increasing taxes can have destructive effects on a weakened economy.

The other tool California government still has is budgetary and governance reform. If state leaders had the will – inspired by the threat of bankruptcy perhaps – they could fundamentally… Read More