The governor does not mention, however, that closing the parks was his idea in the first place. As I recall, he said we all had to share in the budget cut pain.
But I am grateful nonetheless. I like parks. And I confess, I was dubious about the success of the idea that we can close of a whole mountain like Mt. Diablo or an entire island, like Angel Island.
The California Republican Party entered the TV ad wars over the state budget today with buys in the Los Angeles, Fresno and Sacramento markets.
The party either didn’t have the cash or chose not to bother with educating television viewers in the Bay Area. But I wouldn’t want you to feel left out.
Political gurus Phil Trounstine and Jerry Roberts answer that question today in an op-ed piece they wrote for their website, CalBuzz, and the Los Angeles Times.
It’s an excellent roadmap of the various factors that led California to the brink of the fiscal precipice it finds itself today.
A lot of Contra Costa leaders have already posted their messages — like Orinda Mayor Sue Severson, Orinda Councilman Tom McCormick, Pittsburg Councilwoman Nancy Parent and Walnut Creek Councilwoman Cinda Silva.
If you’re mad as hell and won’t stand for it any longer, tell ‘em!
The Green Party, which said it polled its members and county councils before coming to a decision, y today urged state voters to vote against on all propositions on the May 19 special ballot.
“We oppose the cuts in transportation, education, social services and other humane services, and we oppose this deal even though we were told that great hardship would result if (this) rotten deal failed to pass,” said Michael Rubin, who analyzed the measures for the Green Party of Alameda County. “Even more we oppose the process which offers us a ‘choice’ of being shot in the leg or shot in the arm, but did not offer us the choice of using our collective wealth to meet human needs.”
Proposition 1A, the spending cap/rainy-day fund measure, would create more problems and require billions more in cuts to needed social services, the Greens say; Proposition 1B, providing money previously promised to school districts, and Proposition 1C, to borrow money against future lottery revenue, are merely there to sweeten the bitter pill of 1A, they say. The Greens rejected 1D and 1E because they say the measures steal money from taxes created to benefit children and the mentally ill, and they said 1F — preventing pay raises for state elected officials when the budget is in deficit — is ineffectual.
State GOP leaders last month voted to oppose all the measures too — but they’re doing it because they oppose any and all tax increases, and believe the state budget should be slashed far beyond the cuts already made.
Just yesterday, I saw San Francisco State University Assistant Professor Ramon Castellblanch angrily denouncing Proposition 1A, the spending-cap/rainy-day-fund measure on the May 19 special-election ballot, claiming it would be “devastating” to the future of public higher education in California.
Apparently state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who helped broker the budget deal that put Proposition 1A before voters, doesn’t hold a grudge. Steinberg’s office today announced Castellblanch, a Democrat from Benicia, has been appointed to the California Board of Pharmacy.
The board adopts rules and regulation for the proper and effective enforcement and administration of the pharmacy profession including licensing and enforcement of state and federal laws. Castellblanch’s term will expire June 1, 2012.
The nonpartisan Next 10 has launched its 2009 online write-your-own California budget web site: www.next10.org/challenge/
Some of you may recall that this group started the budget challenge a few yeas ago in an effort to help Californians understand the trade-offs required to balance a state budget. Next10 even has a roadshow version complete with instant vote results.
Try it out. You will find it very interesting.
Here are more details from Next 10:
Sacramento, CA – It took California’s legislature three long months of intense negotiations to resolve this year’s budget standoff. Now Californians can try their hand at solving the Golden State’s budget woes in just 15 minutes. The nonpartisan “California Budget Challenge” (next10.org/challenge) is a free online educational tool from Next 10 that lets users try to balance California’s books and see how their choices will affect the state five years into the future.
“The California Budget Challenge allows Californians to set their own priorities and make tough decisions about what is best for the people of the state,” said F. Noel Perry, founder of Next 10. “This nonpartisan tool allows everyday Californians to consider the ongoing effects of important policy choices.”Read the rest of this entry »
Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo, is voluntarily cutting her pay 10 percent or nearly $12,000 a year.
A press release from her office says the newly elected lawmaker sent a letter to Controller John Chiang requesting the salary adjustment. State legislators earn $116,098 a year plus $170 in per diem for each day they are in session.
“Recognizing that we must lead by example, the Assembly has reduced its budget 10 percent and has directed the savings to the Employment Development Department (EDD) to support California’s families,” Buchanan said in a press release. “Further, I will direct the State Controller to reduce my salary 10 percent. I cannot, in good conscience, ask others to sacrifice if I am not willing to do the same.”
With the California Senate still deadlocked over a budget, the Tri-Valley Democratic Club passed a resolution this week to support a petition campaign that would end the state’s requirement for two-thirds vote of the Legislature to pass a budget.
Democrats in the Senate need only one more Republican vote to pass a budget deal that calls for a mix of $42 billion in new taxes and spending cuts. Eliminate the two-thirds requirement and Democrats have plenty of votes in both the Senate and the Assembly to pass a budget without a single Republican vote.
Republicans, of course, oppose it. But many Democrats believe the answer to the annual budget stalemate — which has been exacerbated by the recession — is to ask voters to strip that threshhold from the law. There is ample talk that Democrats and their allies in the labor community will seek to put such a ballot measure before voters in the November 2009 election.
As state senators prepare to go into a budget session this afternoon — one that that will turn into a slumber party unless at least one Republican votes for the budget — Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, sent out a gloomy e-mail alert.
From the sounds of it, he will need a sleeping bag, a toothbrush and, dare we suggest, earplugs.
Here is DeSaulnier’s alert:
Dear Friends and Neighbors:
Since the afternoon of Valentine’s Day and through the President’s Weekend holiday, my Senate colleagues and I have been on the Senate floor debating the best way to move our state forward. Over the last 5 months we have seen what can, without dramatics, be called the implosion of our national financial markets, the collapse of the American Dream of homeownership and the strife of precipitous middle and working-class job losses.
As the leading state in the nation, California must turn itself around and begin to work toward financial solvency. The road to economic recovery begins TODAY with this budget vote. As we speak, 276 more crucial infrastructure investments are being shut down. TODAY, The Governor has called for layoffs of 10,000 Californians.Read the rest of this entry »
With the California Senate still deadlocked over a budget, the Tri-Valley Democratic Club passed a resolution this week to support a petition campaign that would end the state’s requirement for two-thirds vote of the Legislature to pass a budget.
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