Public Employees Union Local 1 business agent Rollie Katz offered to drive Contra Costa County supervisors Federal Glover and Mary Nejedly Piepho and Sheriff Warren Rupf on a lobbying excursion to the office of Assemblyman Guy Houston, R-San Ramon.

“Local 1 will pay for the gas but we’ll probably go to one of his district offices (Walnut Creek, Livermore or Brentwood) and given the price of gas,” Katz says.

Katz says the county officials need to push Houston to vote for a state budget with both new revenues and cuts as the best means to protect the county’s flagging financial picture. Republicans have vowed to block any efforts to raise taxes.

So far, Katz doesn’t have any takers. (He’s the top union executive for the labor group that represents many county workers.)

To start, Katz drives a Chevy Malibu. Not exactly what you’d call a sweet ride.

Besides, Piepho and Rupf are unlikely to get in the same car with each other. Rupf has been actively supporting Houston to replace her in today’s election.

But maybe if Katz hired one of those big, stretch limos with lots and lots and lots of room?

Photo of Rollie Katz speaking at the Board of Supervisors uploaded from Public Employee Union Local One website. Photo of stretch limo uploaded from Main Events Limousine web page.

The California Republican Party wants the state to investigate the finances of political comedian Al Franken and Minnesota senate candidate, who owes back taxes in a bunch of states including California.

“Given the present challenges facing our state budget and the struggle to ensure funding for the critical services provided to the people of California, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that every individual and corporation lives up to its legal obligations to report its income, and pay its fair share of taxes,” GOP Chairman Ron Nehring wrote in a letter to state Controller John Chiang.

Wow! We might not have to lay off teachers or close the yacht tax loophole after all!

Read more for the party’s press release:

Read the rest of this entry »

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office has issued its analysis of Gov. Arnold Schwarzeengger’s proposed 2008-2009 budget. Click here to read the report or click here to watch a Webcast of Director Liz Hill’s presentation.

If Democrats and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can go around the state holding press conferences about taxes, then by golly, the taxpayers groups can do it, too.

On Thursday morning at 10, a collection of local fiscal conservatives will gather in Civic Park in Walnut Creek in front of a 12-foot, inflated ATM to make the point that they are tired of being taxed.

It’s one of the many moving pieces in the state’s contentious debate about whether California has a spending problem or a revenue problem. State lawmakers are struggling to cope with a nearly $16 billion estimated deficit next fiscal year.

The over-sized ATM, meanwhile, is part of statewide tour and wwwDontTaxCa.com, a dedicated page at the web site of nationwide anti-tax group Americans For Prosperity. whose board of directors includes former GOP congressman Art Pope of North Carolina and one-time Federal Trade Commission Chairman James C. Miller. (Don’t you just love the names of these groups? This one is, of course, the ideological counterpart to “Americans Adamantly Opposed To Any Form of Prosperity.”)

On the local invite list are San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson, Contra Costa Tax Collector Bill Pollacek, Antioch Councilman Arne Simonsen, Contra Costa Taxpayers Association Director Kris Hunt and Assembly District 15 GOP candidate Robert Rao. (Wilson and Rao are both AD15 candidates. No word on whether the other two candidates, Judy Lloyd and Scott Kamena were invited.)

Whaddya bet this air-filled ATM has a PIN and it’s “G I M M I C K?”

Read more for the press release. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve just watched the second political ad slamming the California Republican Party as the “Yacht Party. ”

I need a cigarette. Or a cold shower. Oh my.

Very sexy people on board a yacht are pouring champagne on each others’ near naked, swimsuit-clad, lip-locked, tanned bodies before they thank the GOP for keeping intact earlier this year a tax loophole that allows yacht and aircraft buyers to avoid paying sales taxes.

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

It will air tonight in Sacramento on the eve of the release of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s revised budget for the next fiscal year, a document expected to produce more bad news for lawmakers beset with only unpopular choices: Cut programs, raises taxes or both.

Republicans rightfully call it a symbolic attack. Closing the so-called “sloophole” would bring in just a fraction of what the state needs to maintain services to schools, prisons and the myriad programs it supports.

But the issue is resonating with voters frustrated over potentially deep cuts to schools and services for the elderly, poor and children while someone with enough cash to buy yacht or airplane can store their new purchases out of the country for 90 days and avert a sales tax bill.

State Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, has introduced legislation that would allow lawmakers to pass a budget and raise taxes with a majority rather than two-thirds vote.

Senate Constitutional Amendment 22 will let the Legislature pass a budget by a majority vote and send the spending plan to the Governor. It will bring California in line with 47 other states that pass budgets by a majority vote, Torlakson said.

The two-thirds protection is revered by conservatives and Republicans, whose only true power in the Legislature rests with their ability to block a budgets and new tax measures and thereby force Democrats to meet at least some of their demands in return for a deal.

But both sides have dug in their heels on how to close next year’s remaining $8 billion budget gap and many expect to see a bitter, drawn out fight that may lead to competing ballot-box budgeting measures in November. Democrats want a combination of cuts and new taxes while Republicans oppose tax hikes. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed mostly cuts, including reductions in education.

Here’s what Torlakson’s press release said:

California is one of only three states that require a two-thirds vote to pass a budget. This “supermajority” requirement has repeatedly led to budget gridlock that delays funding to schools, colleges, health care for the elderly and disabled, and other vital services, said Torlakson, D-Antioch.

“When a budget plan is clearly crafted and approved by one party or the other, then that party can get the praise or the reprimand at the ballot box,” Torlakson said. “The current system leads to finger pointing and excuses for concessions made to one party or the other.”

SCA 22 also allows the Legislature to raise revenues with a majority vote.

California endured 52 days without a state budget in 2007, when Senate Republicans refused to provide enough votes to pass the spending plan. Only two other states - Arkansas and Rhode Island - require a two-thirds vote to pass state budgets. Congress and most cities and counties have a majority vote requirement.

Principal co-authors for SCA 22 are Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara and Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley; co-authors are Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica and Assemblyman Mark DeSaulnier, D-Martinez.

The two-thirds requirement in California started in 1933, when the vote threshold was tied to annual budget growth exceeding 5 percent. A 1962 Constitutional Amendment applied the two-thirds vote to all state budgets.

If you’re fed up with the partisan budget gridlock in Sacramento, here’s your chance to write a new state budget with your priorities and send it on to state lawmakers.

The California Legislature must close an $8 billion remaining budget gap before July 1 and the two major political parties are deeply divided over how to solve the state’s poor, long-term financial outlook.

Next 10, a nonpartisan Palo Alto-based group that “focuses on innovation and the intersection between the economy, the environment, and quality of life issues for all Californians” has unveiled its online 2008 California Budget Challenge.

The group calls its project an “online game that provides an annual examination of the state’s most pressing budget policy choices. Challenge users build their own state budget, selecting or rejecting many of the same policies that California’s state leaders are now considering. Since its launch in 2005, more than 50,000 Californians have taken the Challenge at www.Next10.org.

I haven’t had time to go through the exercise yet but if you do, let me know how you do and what you think of the end result.

Here’s what Next10 said in its press release:

This year with the deficits we are facing, the state of California will likely have to make some very tough decisions when it comes to the budget. Our goal with the Budget Challenge is to educate and engage the people of California. We all have a huge stake in the outcome of the budget, so it is important that we not only understand the process and the policies, but that we also affect the process and help shape the future of our state,” said F. Noel Perry, the founder of Next 10.

As a part of this year’s Budget Challenge launch, Next 10 is taking the Challenge on the road across the state to various organizations as well as government, economics, and general studies classrooms. Through this outreach effort, Californians are learning about the budget process as well as the current policy options being considered in Sacramento. To build their own budget, students are presented with policy options that they vote to accept or reject using instant-response clickers. Once all the policy options are considered, the votes are tallied and students are presented with a complete state budget based on their priorities.

“By working through the process and making some tough decisions about which programs to keep and which programs to cut, as well as deciding different ways to generate the necessary revenues to pay for these programs, students come to understand that the budget is not just a collection of numbers. The final product is a value statement by the students that reflects their priorities for the state’s future. They now know that budget decisions made in Sacramento impact their high school, their options for college, our taxes, the criminal justice system, and so much more,” said Dawna Linsdell, economics teacher at Gunn High School in Palo Alto.

The 2008 Budget Challenge contains 17 updated policy options, with 65 choices, many of which are new this year. The Challenge includes such topical choices as:

· The level of funding for K-12 schools and how quickly student fees should grow for students at state colleges and universities.

· Whether the state should reduce Medi-Cal provider payments by 10 percent as proposed by the Governor in this year’s budget.

· Whether cost-of-living adjustments for the aged and disabled who receive SSI/SSP benefits should be suspended in order to help close the budget gap.

· Whether California should establish a system of surcharges or rebates on new cars based on their greenhouse gas emissions.

· Whether the state should transfer responsibility for supervision of low-level parolees to county probation departments, as recommended by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst, as an alternative to the Governor’s proposal to reduce state prison spending by releasing non-violent, non-serious offenders from prison early.

· Whether the state should reduce certain tax credits, such as the dependent credit, or restructure other tax benefits, such as the mortgage interest deduction, to help close the budget deficit.

· Whether California should institute a carbon tax as part of the state’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“The California Budget Challenge confronts users with some of the same choices policymakers in Sacramento are faced with. It helps them to appreciate the tradeoffs involved in putting together the state’s budget,” said Tim Gage, the former Director of the California Department of Finance and consultant to Next 10. Challenge users not only educate themselves about the budget, they also give state leaders feedback about the policies Californians think are important to the state’s future. With the click of a button, Challenge users can take action and email policymakers about their budget priorities.

The 2008 California Budget Challenge can be accessed through Next 10’s website at www.Next10.org.

About Next 10: Next 10 is an independent, nonpartisan organization that educates, engages, and empowers Californians to improve the state’s future. Recognizing the complexity of issues confronting California today, Next 10 is focused on improving the state over the next ten years, and the ten years after that. Next 10 was founded by F. Noel Perry, a venture capitalist and philanthropist concerned about California today and the California our children will inherit. www.Next10.org.

Liberal activists at the Courage Campaign have produced a YouTube video slap that features California Assembly Republicans who refused to close a tax loophole.

That would be the infamous “sloophole,” which allows boat, jet and RV buyers to take delivery of their new toys offshore or out of state and as long as they don’t bring them into California or 90 days, they don’t pay sales taxes.

Republicans called the vote a partisan political gimmick that would produce very little new tax revenue while hurting small businesses at marinas and RV sales lots.

The Courage Campaign sent out an email blast a few minutes ago asking for donations. They want to air the ad on CNN, MSNBC (not Fox News) and other places where voters get their political news, i.e., the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. (CORRECTION POSTED 3/21/08: ActBlue is processing the contributions but the Courage Campaign is putting out the ad.)

Here’s the video:

It’s shocking and unbelievable.

California is in crisis, facing a $16 billion budget deficit. Social services are being slashed to the bone. Teachers and education professionals are being laid off by the thousands (up to 20,000, according to California Department of Education). Tuition and fees at state universities and colleges are being raised through the roof.

And California Republican Assembly members are unanimously supporting an appalling loophole in our state’s tax code that allows the super-rich to avoid paying sales taxes on…

Yachts.

Still blinking in disbelief? You read that right: Tax loopholes for yacht owners.

While you are wondering if your child’s school is going to be shut down because of the brutal cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, his California Republican “Yacht Party” colleagues in the state legislature are protecting the lavish lifestyles of the super-wealthy.

Opponents of a proposal to shutter 48 state parks in order to help close an $8 billion budget deficit next year will hold a rally in Sacramento on April 7 on the steps of the Capitol from noon-1:30 p.m.

“You and hundreds of California state park advocates and supporters will have the opportunity to voice your concerns about the governor’s budget proposal that will dramatically affect our state parks and beaches,” says a flyer put out by the Save Our Parks Campaign.

This could be quite a sight.

The group wants protesters to bring their outdoor gear with them, i.e., surfboards, tents, kayaks, hiking sticks … anything that will remind legislators and the governor of the state’s outdoor pursuits.

Per the group, the Save Our State Parks Campaign is a statewide, grassroots campaign led by the California State Parks Foundation.

If the Democrats’ press conference at a Concord middle school this morning is a window into the future, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may want to add a few extra minutes onto his exercise regime: He’s gonna need the stamina.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata hammered the governor and Republican leaders once again over next year’s state budget, where Schwarzenegger has proposed 10 percent across-the-board cuts including a $4.4 billion slice out of schools.

Perata is livid over the proposed cuts and with the help of his Democratic colleagues and education interests, he is taking his case to the streets where he is stirring up a ruckus among teachers and parents.

Even an eighth grader got into the act on Monday, telling the audience that she is circulation an anti-cuts petition. (Remember Natalie Richardson’s name: She may be governor one day.)

If this strategy sounds like a familiar, you’re right. Schwarzenegger, Republicans and Democrats regularly use public pressure to leverage each other in tough negotiations.

The California Nurses Association beat the governor up side the head week after week when he tried to place budget and other reforms on the ballot in 2005. Voters rejected every one of his proposals and he delivered copious mea culpas the next year.

This year, Democrats have dug in their heels on education cuts and Republicans vow to block any new sources of revenue.

The governor says he’ll meet anytime and talk about any reforms — tax hikes included — but he wants to get started.

The Democrats don’t sound too interested in a powwow, particularly if Republican leaders stick to their “no new taxes” pledge.

With the help of the California Teachers Association, Perata and Democrats say they will go to the ballot and ask voters to protect education dollars if the governor and Republicans insist on reducing education funding to a level below the minimum required under the Proposition 98 funding formula. There’s also talk of trying to eliminate the two-thirds vote requirement for a budget in the Legislature.

The question is, will voters respond more favorably to Democrats than they did to Schwarzenegger?

On the one hand, voters say they elected lawmakers to pass the budget and they want them to get it done. But a growing number of people are worried about California’s schools.

There’s one thing for certain: This could be the worst budget fight in modern California history and there’s no guarantee that a fix for next year’s budget will solve the state’s ongoing structural fiscal problems. In other words, this year’s battle may be a rehearsal for an even stronger stalemate next year.