As the "O" word in thetitle I used above becomes more and more prevalent in the media as the "BattleO’ The Cap’tol" drags thru the "Presidents Day" holidayfrom the Valentines Day one, the Republicans, laboring in the minority, getbranded once again with "stopping progress". I say they’re only being consistent in the belief system that they haveheld all aong.

Most Republicans have opposed very openly, oftenand in plain English, the expansion of government that has put us in the fiscal wreck we are in. It’s in our party plank, plain as day. More importantly it’s in the minds of Republicans that run for office.A frequentdifference found between the legislators of the respective parties is thatmost of the Republicans have been in business. They have actually lived in the world of those that are regulated to the brink by all the fine ideas that come from Sacramento and DC regulators via laws Democrat legislators pass, almost always with no, or a tiny handful of Republican votes.

Before a law like AB 32, Carbon Dioxide Greenhouse Gas regs pass, you heard from our… Read More

Associated Press reporter Steve Lawrence’s latest article on the budget mess is here.

In it is a quote from Senate President Darrell Steinberg, where he throws the proverbial gauntlet down against Republican legislators. "We’re going to come back at 11 o’clock tomorrow morning, and we’re going to stay and we’re going to work again and we are going to come back every day until we get this done," he said. "This will get done, and it will get done with the framework that has been presented to you as a result of 90 days of work by your elected leaders."

It’s time for our elected leaders, Senator Cogdill and Assemblyman Villines, to hold a press conference and say that because Republicans, as a team, are not supportive of this plan, it is time to end the "lock down" and return back to the… Read More

It’s one thing to see Senator Abel Maldonado’s name on an electronic list published by Americans for Tax Reform. It’s actually more "real" to see the actual form that the Senator signed, of his own free will, making a pledge to his future constituents that, if elected, he would oppose tax increases and oppose efforts to raise taxes.

Attached is a .pdf of Senator Maldonado’s pledge form, which I asked the folks at ATR to fax to me.… 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

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

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