Free Republic

California State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, a Democrat, did an interview with the LA Times. Thought you may enjoy her response to the following question: How do you think conservative talk radio has affected the Legislature's work? Bass' response: The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: "You vote for revenue and your career is over." I don't know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist. I guess it's about free speech, but it's extremely unfair. Now that's a first. I know that politicians...

A California assemblyman has split from the Democratic Party as both houses of the Legislature head toward a contentious vote this week on a plan to bridge the state's $24 billion budget gap. Juan Arambula confirmed today that he has re-registered as an independent. Formerly a moderate within the Democratic caucus, Arambula is scheduled to be termed out next year from his Central Valley district, which encompasses portions of Fresno and Tulare counties. It is not immediately clear how Arambula's decision will affect the coming budget vote, which includes more than a dozen bills that will require a two-thirds majority...

Do Californians suffer because they themselves have too much political power, and their representatives too little? Politicians tend to say “yes.” So do their hangers-on. George Mitrovich’s fiery indictment of California voters and policymakers for the San Diego Transcript, in a column entitled “The Failed State of California,” is an unsurprising example. According to Mitrovich, a self-avowed liberal Democrat, California’s humongous deficits and other troubles are the combined fault of Governor Schwarzenegger, voters, lawmakers, and special interests — an indictment so generalized that its sheer vacuity might pass for a selling point. But then you notice something. If voters, unions,...

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 Lawmakers Reject State Worker Pay Cut By Jim Sanders A new across-the-board pay cut for state workers was rejected Tuesday by the Legislature's joint budget conference committee. The 5 percent salary reduction had been proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to save $470 million and preserve cash in the coming fiscal year's general fund budget. The legislative committee rejected the pay cut by a party-line vote, 6-4, with no Republican support. The measure was one of dozens under consideration to bridge a projected $24 billion budget shortfall. Even with the committee's action, the pay cut and other...

Legislators' cars cost taxpayers $3.2 million in three years The cost includes gasoline and insurance coverage. Spouses and offspring are covered too. The benefits, rare outside California, may be curtailed. By Patrick McGreevy June 15, 2009 Reporting from Sacramento -- When not in a capital gripped by budget crises, state Sen. Ron Calderon can be found touring his San Gabriel Valley district in a Cadillac STS V8 Luxury Sports Sedan that the state bought for $54,830. The Democrat from Montebello spent an average $83 per week on gasoline last year, charged to California taxpayers on a state-issued card. When legislators'...

Californians can brace for a new war over raising revenue to close the state's multibillion-dollar budget shortfall – the first shots are on their way. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said Wednesday that her caucus is deciding among numerous revenue-raising options because the $24.3 billion shortfall is too large to bridge without an infusion. Bass and other Democratic lawmakers fear that mending the hole without new revenue would devastate the state's safety net. "You can't solve a deficit this big through cuts alone, considering all the cuts that have been made over the last few years," Bass said. The Los Angeles...

Democrats have remained coy on the idea of new taxes, but Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel last week that it is "not reasonable" for any legislator to rule out taxes . . .

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked lawmakers to blow up the boxes of government, and on Wednesday they obliged -- though not exactly as he envisioned. A legislative budget committee delayed action on many of Schwarzenegger's proposals for cutting waste, and instead took an ax to operations managed by the governor. They voted to get rid of entire departments and agencies under his authority. The committee voted to eliminate the Secretary of Education office, an appointed position that exists to help the governor on school issues. Lawmakers declared that the governor does not need such an office, as it overlaps with the...

Assemblyman Roger Niello, who cast a key vote to pass a state budget that raised taxes this year, has been replaced as the GOP's point man on the Assembly Budget Committee. The Fair Oaks Republican will hand his committee post to Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, who is a freshman in the lower house but served a dozen years in the Senate, leaving in 1990. The switch was made by the Assembly's new Republican leader, Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo, who has stressed that taxes cannot be raised again in tackling a $24.3 billion shortfall.

SACRAMENTO -- Former state Senate leader Don Perata, who has been the target of a five year-long FBI corruption investigation, will not be charged with any crimes, sources told The Chronicle today. In declining to indict the 64-year-old Oakland Democrat, federal prosecutors in Sacramento put an end to a wide-ranging FBI probe into whether Perata had taken hundreds of thousands of dollars of kickbacks in return for actions he took as a legislator and as president pro tem of the Senate. Perata announced in March that he would run for mayor of Oakland in 2010. The government's decision not to...

By a nearly two to one margin, California voters rejected the “compromise” tax hike propositions put on the ballot by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and the Democratic majority of the state assembly. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) called voters’ rejection of the measures “a tragic error.” “It’s a demonstration of lack of trust in those of us charged with governing this state,” Bass said. “We tried to minimize the pain. Now, it will be severe.” “Now we will get to see how voters like having their kids home early from school, paying for their own medicine, dodging the thousands...

Boy oh boy, did California voters show bickering state officials a thing or two with their slam-dunk downing of five out of six financial propositions in Tuesday's voting. As The Ticket reported then, they didn't just say No; they said No way! In rapid response, first thing Wednesday something called the California Citizens Compensation Commission announced on a 5-1 vote that it had slashed the salaries of the governor, attorney general, controller, all legislators and other top elected state officials by 18%. That's nearly 20%! Whacked. Because in a democracy top elected officials should share the hard times and pay...

Here are some partial quotes: "Voters were very confused on what we were asking them to do" "Voters were saying: "It was quite complex" "This is too complicated" "We don't want to vote on it" "We are fatigued with the number of elections we have had, especially Special Elections" "We realize that there are going to be cuts but whatever needs to be done, you do it, and we don not want to participate in it." What an arrogant condescending twit. And she still doesn't get it. I sent her a "nice" message. http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Speaker/

BURBANK, Calif. — A commission has voted to cut future salaries of California lawmakers and other state elected officials by 18 percent, a day after voters offered their own rebuke. The action by the California Citizens Compensation Commission will have no immediate effect. It comes three weeks after the panel deadlocked over whether to cut salaries by 10 percent, in part because several positions were unfilled. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger filled those vacancies immediately afterward, setting the stage for Wednesday's 5-1 vote. The commission is prohibited from cutting officials' pay in midterm, meaning current lawmakers and elected officials will maintain their...

Citing pay decreases and layoffs being imposed on rank-and-file state workers, the California Citizens Compensation Commission approved the reduction, which also applies to the state attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, controller, insurance commissioner, treasurer, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and members of the Board of Equalization. "I think they should share in the sacrifices that everyone else has had to encounter," Commissioner Kathy Sands, a former Auburn mayor, said after the panel's 5-1 vote at a meeting in Burbank. The commission had wanted to decrease current officials' pay, but the panel's attorney said California law does not allow that....

BURBANK - Declaring that elected officials must share the pain of California's fiscal crisis, an independent commission voted today to impose an 18 percent pay cut for statewide elected officials and all members of the Legislature. The California Citizens Compensation Committee, which sets salaries for state officers, earlier voted in favor of a more modest 10 percent pay cuts in an April 29 meeting in Sacramento. But the action couldn't stand because the seven-member board lacked the required four votes. But today the commission voted 5-1 to make a deeper reduction in elected officials' salaries because of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's...

A state panel this morning slashed the salaries of elected state officials by 18% -- a day after voters rejected a plan by the governor and Legislature to address the budget crisis. Citing pay cuts and layoffs being imposed on rank-and-file state workers, the California Citizens Compensation Commission approved the reduction for the governor, legislators and other state officials elected next year. "I think they should share in the sacrifices that everyone else has had to encounter," said Commissioner Kathy Sands, a former Auburn mayor, after the panel's 5-1 vote at a meeting in Burbank. The commission had wanted to...

He promised to make it work by cutting 'waste, fraud and abuse.' It was never that easy. The real solutions are obvious, though. One: Eliminate, or at least loosen substantially, the two-thirds legislative requirement to pass a budget or raise taxes. This rule has allowed a tiny Republican minority to hold up all budget progress. Two: Remove legislative term limits. Three is the Big One: Revise Proposition 13. Prop. 13 is often described as a tax-cutting measure, but that scarcely does justice to the damage it has caused.

The end of Washington’s spending spree may soon come thanks to incautious California. The day care center known as the California Legislature has led the State of Disaster to fiscal ruin. So bad is the situation here in the Shaky State that politicians - unable to balance the budget without bankrupting the taxpayers - rigged a series of ballot propositions to do jigger the books. ... Odds of these ballot measures passing is slightly below Hell’s sixth ring. If they fail, California’s $42 billion shortage combined with its junk bond rating would likely push the Land of Fruits and Nuts...

A bill declaring a Harvey Milk Day in California - to honor the slain gay rights figure - passed the state Senate today 24-14 and now goes to the Assembly. No surprise that all 23 Democrats present voted yes. But Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, changed his vote from a "no" on the same bill last year to the sole GOP "yes" on the floor Thursday.

Saying it is time for new leadership, Assemblyman Mike Villines announced his resignation Thursday as head of the house's GOP caucus, effective June 1. Villines' replacement, expected to be Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo Asked about Blakeslee, Villines called him "one of my best friends" and described him as "thoughtful, pragmatic but also very focused on conservative economic issues."

When Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg launched an effort this year to root out waste in state spending, he tapped a Sacramento attorney who is one of his best friends to lead it. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass turned to a termed-out assemblywoman and a politically connected former utility company executive, among others, to supplement her staff with outside expertise. The Legislature's nine personal service contracts – touted as a way to cuts costs in tough times – went largely to those with personal relationships or political ties to lawmakers. None of the nine contracts was competitively bid, so anyone...

Sacramento -- California voters, frustrated by the recession and the state's fiscal crisis, gave Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature their lowest-ever approval ratings, according to the Field Poll released today. Only 33 percent of registered voters surveyed April 16-26 said they approved of Schwarzenegger's job performance, while 55 percent said they disapproved and 12 percent were undecided. Schwarzenegger's rating is his lowest since becoming governor in 2003. But the governor's numbers are better than the Legislature's approval rating, which sank to 14 percent, with 74 percent disapproving. It was lawmakers' worst rating since the Field Poll began tracking such...

If voters reject proposals May 19 to fix the state budget, GOP Senate leader Dennis Hollingsworth predicted Wednesday that "by default" his party's ideas for cutting public spending and easing business regulations will catch fire. "Eventually they're going to have to start listening," Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, said of the Democratic majority in the state Legislature. "There won't be revenues available to do what they want to do. They're killing the Golden Goose." Speaking with reporters in his minority leader office, Hollingsworth said that if the set of six propositions on the ballot fail, the following day "it gets uglier." The GOP...

California politicians seeking and occupying seats in the Legislature and statewide office have raised more than $1 billion since 2000, despite a voter-imposed cap on campaign contributions, according to a critical new report by the state's campaign watchdog agency. "The $1,006,638,463 directly raised by officeholders and candidates works out to $344,503 per day or $14,354 per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year," said Ross Johnson, chairman of the Fair Political Practices Commission, .. The FPPC's new report, entitled "The Billion Dollar Money Train," criticizes the vast sums of special interest money that has...

As state budgeters look toward another multi-billion dollar budget deficit this summer, attorneys for the Legislature and Gov. Schwarzenegger have issued a new opinion reaffirming the legality of a plan passed by Democrats last December that raised revenues without requiring a two-thirds vote. The March 9 opinion from Legislative Counsel Diane Boyer-Vine, addressed to Gov. Schwarzenegger, reaffirms a 2003 opinion by her office that finds a bill that raises one tax and lowers another by an equal or greater amount only needs simple majority votes in each legislative house. “We think that a tax bill is not subject to the...

Unemployment in California may be at its highest since 1983, but there are jobs with the state Legislature for the well-connected. Yolie Flores Aguilar, a longtime friend and political ally of some powerful California Democrats, last year supplemented her income as vice president of the Los Angeles school board with more than $32,000 as a consultant assigned to a state Senate committee that, during her tenure, did not meet or release any reports. State Sen. Rod Wright (D-Inglewood) was paid at least $27,900 by the state Senate last year for miscellaneous tasks as he was campaigning for his current job....

The fallout from the state budget mess continues for Republican lawmakers. Two more GOP legislators are being targeted for a recall by fellow Republicans, not because the lawmakers voted for the budget that included tax increases (they didn't), but because they didn't support the attempted ouster of the Republican Assembly leader who helped broker the deal. The Republicans are mad at Assemblymen Jeff Miller of Corona (Riverside County) and Jim Silva of Huntington Beach (Orange County) because they wouldn't go along with the bouncing of Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines of Clovis (Fresno County). Villines survived the coup attempt. Over...

California Assemblywoman Diane Harkey accepted $16,600 in political contributions from real estate developers who had received loans from her husband's business, now under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The borrowers later failed to repay loans brokered by her husband's lending company, Point Center Financial Inc. of Aliso Viejo. The firm was accused of fraud last month in an investor lawsuit, and the company's owner has confirmed that Point Center is under investigation by the SEC. Harkey (R-Dana Point) said Monday that there was nothing improper with the developers' contributions and that she had no idea they had loans...

Republican Assemblyman Anthony Adams cast his "aye" budget vote at dawn today with full knowledge that, as he has said, "this will probably be the end of a political career for me." But that doesn't mean the Hesperia Republican plans to go down without a fight. The second-term assemblyman spent much of Wednesday trolling the Capitol corridors, folder in hand, gathering endorsements from his caucus for his 2010 reelection. "I think it's important that people know that my caucus is supportive -- that I'm not making any decision lightly," Adams said on his way into a GOP member's office Wednesday....

Will the last Republican senator voting for the budget be a hero or a zero? The strategy sent one senator into the spotlight. "Yeah, my party's not going to be happy with me," said State Senator Abel Maldonado. Maldonado alienated his own party by casting his yes vote. And he's not making friends across the aisle either after working in last-minute reforms like an open primary system in the state. I don't like it, and it's an unpleasant part of the process," said Darrell Steinberg. And listen to fiery words from one assemblyman calling Maldonado a political extortionist. "There's no...

First and foremost, it's obvious on the face of it to be able to say that the six Republican legislators (Senators Ashburn, Cogdill and Maldonado and Assemblymen Adams, Niello and Villines) who actually voted for the bill that imposed over $14 billion in new taxes were critical to its passage. Shame on them. But in taking some time to contemplate the politics of the final hours of this Big 5/Big Taxes deal passing out of the legislature, you have to say, how did it happen? You needed three Republicans to support the actual tax increase legislation, and they were one...

1:58 AM PST Reporting from Sacramento -- Aiming to end a three-month impassse, the California Senate prepared to vote early this morning on a deal Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reached with a GOP holdout to resolve the state's fiscal emergency. Under the deal, Sen. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria agreed to provide the final Republican vote needed to pass a spending plan with billions of dollars in tax hikes. In exchange, Democrats would rewrite election rules that Maldonado says are stacked against moderates like himself. (snip) Throughout the day, negotiators stayed focused on Maldonado and GOP Sen. Dave Cox...

The game of chicken in Sacramento just claimed its first victim, one that has to send a chill down Democratic spines.  Republicans in the state Senate ousted their leader, the man who crafted a deal with Democrats to resolve the budget standoff with massive tax increases as part of the package.  The GOP has apparently accelerated their car, and the Democrats will have to decide whether to swerve or crash: A state budget deal to close a $41 billion shortfall has been put further into question early this morning after Senate Republicans ousted their leader who had helped negotiate the...

Republican state senators upset with tax increases in the budget proposal agreed to by Republican Sen. Dave Cogdill have voted to remove him as minority leader, Cogdill said early Wednesday. The Senate's 15 Republican members voted to replace Cogdill with Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murietta. The late-night coup could derail already strained budget talks by requiring Democrats and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to renegotiate with a new Republican leader. Majority Leader Darrell Steinberg directed lawmakers to begin taking up the budget vote just before 1 a.m.

California senators began an around-the-clock lockdown Tuesday as a plan for easing massive money woes of the nation's most populous state remained stalled by a single vote. Senators spent more than two hours debating a plan to close the state's $40 billion shortfall, then they temporarily postponed a vote to buy time for continued negotiations. Stakes rose as the state began sending layoff notices to 20,000 state workers and braced for a shutdown of 374 construction projects valued at $5.58 billion if no budget is passed by today. [snip] Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg...

Reporting from Sacramento -- As California's government continued its grinding downshift toward insolvency, efforts to close the state's nearly $42-billion budget gap hit a new snag late Tuesday as Republicans in the state Senate ousted their leader. Around 11 p.m., a group of GOP senators, unhappy with the higher taxes that Senate leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto agreed to as part of a deal with the governor and Democrats, voted to replace him in a private caucus meeting in Cogdill's office. Shortly before midnight, it was still unclear who would replace him. Cogdill's ouster could be a major setback to...

California senators began an around-the-clock lockdown Tuesday as a plan for easing massive money woes of the nation's most populous state remained stalled by a single vote.Senators spent more than two hours debating a plan to close the state's $40 billion shortfall, then the house postponed a vote until late Tuesday night to buy time for continued negotiations.Passage of the plan requires a two-thirds majority in each house, meaning at least three GOP votes are required. Sen. Abel Maldonado, a key prospect to put up the third GOP vote, said he is "still working with Darrell" Steinberg, the Democratic leader...

The first GOP leadership challenge resulting from the budget negotiations came and went Saturday night as Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, moved unsuccessfully to unseat Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines. In a closed-door Republican caucus before the marathon floor session, DeVore made a motion to remove Villines as GOP leader (known as "vacating the chair" in Capitol-speak). None of the other 28 Republican Assembly members seconded the motion. "The discussion was a credit to the caucus. Nobody raised their voice, everything was logical, people made their case and I lost," said DeVore, who is plotting a 2010 run for U.S. Senate....

California legislators trudged through a second day of trying to close a $40-billion hole in the state's budget this afternoon, still one vote Republican vote short of approving a package that contains $14.3 billion in tax increases. State Sen. Abel Maldonado, a moderate Republican from Santa Maria, indicated in an interview with The Bee that he was willing to consider casting the decisive vote if he was satisfied with the final version of the tax proposal. "I'm very concerned with the tax package, said Maldonado, who in the early morning hours had been quoted as saying he was adamantly opposed...

SACRAMENTO — One vote shy of a budget deal, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday pressured reluctant Republicans in the Legislature to pass a complex plan to close the state's $42 billion deficit. The head of the Assembly locked down the chamber, forcing members to remain as the measure stalled in the Senate. Republicans are unwilling to raise taxes to deal with the state's historic deficit, but at least three GOP votes were needed in each house for the two-thirds majority required to pass the budget. Senate leaders thought they had enough votes lined up to ensure passage, which meant...

Reporting from Sacramento -- Some California lawmakers haven't let the state's financial calamity keep them from enjoying the good life; they've been using campaign cash for first-class travel abroad, expensive dinners, salon makeovers and visits to luxurious spas. Spending reports filed with the state covering the last three months show: * Several lawmakers checked into the Fairmont Hotel on Maui on donors' dimes two days after the start of an emergency session on the budget in November. * The lead state senator on budget issues joined colleagues who left the fiscal crisis behind to go to India, where they toured...

The California GOP's stimulus dodge Republicans in Sacramento have been trying to change overtime and meal-break regulations long before the current crisis. December 7, 2008 One of the keys to finally closing a state budget deal may be a controversial package of economic stimulus measures, either in the form recommended by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the unsuccessful special session of the Legislature that came to a close after Thanksgiving, or with some tweaks here and there to satisfy various constituencies. Democrats are expected to come back with the same budget proposals they put forward last month, a call for Republicans...

As the LegislatureÂ’s latest attempt to fix the stateÂ’s fiscal mess ended once again in a bout of partisan sniping and no visible progress, something surprising happened: Hints began to emerge of the possible contours of a compromise. All year, Republicans have refused to consider raising taxes, without which Democrats and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger insist the stateÂ’s massive deficit $28 billion through mid-2010 canÂ’t possibly be closed. At least a handful of GOP votes are needed because California law requires a two-thirds supermajority to raise taxes. That opposition continued when the governor called lawmakers back to Sacramento this month...

Sacramento - -- More than a dozen state lawmakers have missed much of the special legislative session called to tackle the state's fiscal mess, instead traveling to India, China and Hawaii to learn about education, high-speed rail and dams. The legislators include Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, and several Assembly Budget Committee members who missed a hearing on the crisis on Friday. At least two of the lawmakers are not expected to return by Sunday's planned floor sessions of the Senate and the Assembly, their staff members said. "Obviously, they're not taking the...

Republican Tony Strickland took an 840-vote lead over Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson in the oh-so-close balloting in the 19th Senate District on Thursday, the first day of what could be a month-long process to determine the winner of the most expensive political contest in Ventura County history. Strickland emerged with a lead after Ventura County election officials counted 11,294 mail-in-ballots that hadn’t been received in time to process before Election Day. His 948-vote net gain allowed him to leapfrog ahead of Jackson, who led by 108 votes after election night. The votes counted Thursday were exceptionally rich for Strickland. He was...

Los Angeles, CA, September 25, 2008 – Armineh Chelebian, a successful accountant with deep roots in San Fernando Valley's cultural and business communities, is the Republican nominee for California's 40th State Assembly District. She is seeking the seat currently occupied by Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D) who is being termed out in 2008. If successful, Armineh will become the first Iranian-Armenian-American to be elected to the California State Assembly. Born in Iran, Armineh immigrated to the United States with her family in 1978 at the age of sixteen. Soon after, she was accepted to California State University, Northridge where she majored...

SACRAMENTO – Anti-tax Republican legislators, blamed for what will soon be a record two-month state budget deadlock, answered their critics yesterday, proposing an alternative budget balanced without a general tax increase. The Republican plan replaces a one-cent sales tax increase backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senate Democrats with $2 billion in lottery-backed bonds, $1.5 billion in spending cuts, and $1.5 billion in new tax revenue. The Republican plan, unlikely to quickly end the deadlock, was criticized for making painful spending cuts and failing to end years of state deficit spending. “We believe our plan is the responsible way to...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken on an unlikely role as one of the Capitol's most steadfast champions of a tax hike, spurning his fellow Republicans' uncharacteristic effort to borrow their way out of budget trouble. In an interview with The Times on Tuesday afternoon -- 50 days into the new fiscal year -- Schwarzenegger said resistance to tax hikes had led GOP lawmakers down a reckless path. He said they wanted to balance the budget by raiding local governments and public transportation accounts for billions of dollars. That money, under state law, would have to be repaid with steep interest....