ANALYSIS: Insiders say 14 balky senators accomplished little and hurt GOP {CA Budget Battle}

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 8/22/7 | Carla Marinucci

[SmithL]

California might be run by an action-hero-turned-governor, but there were few action heroes in Sacramento on Tuesday by the time the 52-day state budget impasse ended with agreement for a $145 billion spending plan.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, despite his Superman-like persona in the national media lately on issues like global warming and "reach across the aisle" style politics, got mixed reviews after he was publicly criticized by a handful of GOP senators who held up the budget for weeks.

Some called him the big loser.

"He didn't drive the process; it drove him," said Hoover Institution research fellow Bill Whalen. "The tail wagged the dog."

Not so, says Barbara O'Connor, professor of political communication at Sacramento State University. "The governor is a winner. He can now move on to other legacy items he cares about: health care, a water deal, reapportionment of state legislative districts as a quid pro quo for term limits," she said. "If things had dragged on, that wouldn't have happened."

Definite losers, O'Connor says: 14 stubborn conservative GOP senators, lead by Republican Senate leader Dick Ackerman of Irvine, who headed a caucus in a blustery show of defiance that held up the required two-thirds legislative approval for nearly two months. "The budget deal they struck is pretty much what they had a month ago - and everybody knows it," O'Connor said. "The Republican Party, as a whole, doesn't come out looking very good."

... And what of the impact on Democrats, ... Only time will tell whether their base will approve of their moves, which included a willingness to accept some GOP demands - agreeing to $700 million in budget cuts and Senate GOP demands for legislation for legal protections for local governments from lawsuits over global warming.

[ElkGroveDan]

Carla is a partisan liberal hack. Move along.

[SmithL]

You have your favorite keywords, and I have mine.
; )

[goldstategop]

The CAGOP didn't get much. The budget settled nothing and the state's structural deficit remains unaddressed. The state could run of money before the end of the year if the economy goes south or more likely, finds itself having to meet additional financial obligations. Most Republicans voted AGAINST this phony make believe budget. The biggest loser again is California.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[SmithL]

Agreed that the CAGOP didn't get much, but this is very significant:

Senate GOP demands for legislation for legal protections for local governments from lawsuits over global warming.

[Publius6961]

ANALYSIS: Insiders say 14 balky senators accomplished little and hurt GOP {CA Budget Battle}

Right.
As if the fool-controlled idiot legislature has ever delivered a budget on time. Not in my memory and I'm lots older than most people realize.

Just saying.

[newzjunkey]

Hard to believe there’s much harm left to be done to the GOP in CA but what did they really gain?

[calcowgirl]

What a spin! And the headline is hysterical!

I see the Hoover Institution is already shilling for the electoral vote proposal.

[calcowgirl]

They got one HUGE gain.

From the article:

One item added to the budget package was a bill that has to do with new transportation and levee projects that will be funded by a pair of bond measures approved last November.

The bill would exempt such projects from any lawsuits for inadequate analysis of greenhouse gas emissions as part of the state’s requirement to meet the goals of AB32, a landmark legislation approved last year to fight global warming.

Senate Republicans argued it would be unfair to allow such lawsuits when regulations to implement AB32 are yet to be written.

[Amerigomag]

The more things change, the more they remain the same. The Austrian is still a liberal and both Republican Caucus leaders are still his Judas goats.

Last time around it was McCarthy and Ackerman. This time, Villines and Ackerman. You'd think that the voters in Ackerman's safe district would get the message and toss him out on his keaster.

[NormsRevenge]

So , if ya don’t spend like drunken sailors at budget time, you’re evil, huh?

IN a tv interview last night on soem news station, Perata blamed the ‘right wing’ senators for inflicting harm on the poor and innocent or something to that effect, which just reinforces that there is a concerted effort by the left and media mouths, as always, to impugn the motives of those who have a clue and hold high office and vote for taking the conservative path.