Governor tells voters Democrats have to go ,,, Budget fight turns into broad clash over state government
The governor exhorts a crowd at a mall in Stockton to become "terminators" and run Democrats out of office. Chronicle photo by Penni Gladstone
Posted on 07/19/2004 8:33:01 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
The state budget impasse has taken a toll on support for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $103 billion spending plan, with Democrats and Republicans rethinking their approval of his strategy for erasing a $15 billion deficit without raising taxes.
After struggling to reach agreements with Democrats, who hold overwhelming majorities in both the Senate and Assembly, the rookie governor now faces a full-blown mutiny from within the ranks of his fellow Republicans as well as opposition among Democrats.
"I was prepared to vote for the governor's budget as modified by his May revision," said Sen. Ross Johnson, R-Irvine, vice chairman of the Senate budget committee. "It seems to me that in the intervening six or seven weeks that all the movement has been in the direction ... of making it a worse budget."
Passage of the 2004-05 budget -- due July 1 -- stalled because Democratic leaders rejected a funding deal Schwarzenegger reached in mid-May with cities and counties.
Since then, Democrats have reversed many of the cuts in Schwarzenegger's $102.8 billion proposal by using their 4-2 majority on the Assembly-Senate Budget Conference Committee to vote them down.
Republicans worry the governor will accept those changes and support a budget that actually increases spending over last year, say GOP sources.
Upset because the budget reduces education spending without raising taxes on the so-called wealthy, Democrats are now being aggravated by Republican demands that two laws Democrats favor be repealed -- one affecting labor unions, the other trial lawyers.
And Democrats are using the time afforded by the impasse to rethink their support for a budget they never liked to begin with.
"This is not going to be a pretty budget, whichever way you slice it," Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said.
Fueling lawmakers' typical discontent over the budget are hurt feelings that stem from some uncharacteristic mistakes the administration made in recent weeks in its personal dealings with legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle, as it lobbied them to ratify the pre-emptory budget deals Schwarzenegger made with various interest groups.
Front and center is the brouhaha over local government funding.
When Democrats balked at Schwarzenegger's plan for cities and counties to cough up $2.6 billion in sales and property-tax funds in exchange for constitutional protection from future state raids on local money, the governor indicated his willingness to accept an alternative favored by Democratic leaders.
"There was a deal that the governor made that we believe he should stick to," Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer, D-Glendale, said July 2, after negotiations between Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders broke down.
"I'm not saying that he's reneged, I'm just saying there may be some confusion down there about what was committed to."
Schwarzenegger's chief negotiators tried to "sell" Republican Assembly members on the Democratic alternative at a July 1 caucus meeting, but were told no GOP votes existed for the compromise plan, which would allow the Legislature to borrow municipal funds in the event of a fiscal crisis.
By the time local officials finished examining the new plan early the next morning, they blanketed Republicans with phone calls telling them it was unacceptable, and by late that afternoon -- July 2 -- Schwarzenegger released a statement saying he was committed to seeing his original deal adopted.
But Schwarzenegger's tacit approval of the revised compromise the day before left Republicans feeling taken for granted -- as if the governor expected them to go along with whatever he wanted regardless of policy or political pressure from municipalities.
His ultimate decision to abandon it and stick with the original deal he had reached with cities, counties and special districts left Democrats feeling he had broken his word to them.
The administration stands by its claim that it only agreed to discuss the compromise with its local government partners, as opposed to agreeing to back the plan.
"The deal that was always on the table was the governor's agreement with his local partners," Press Secretary Margita Thompson said. "The Democrats made it quite clear that they were 180 degrees diametrically opposed to where the governor was. Certainly some discussions had to happen, but they were always working off of the governor's agreement with the local government partners."
Still, the blow-up offers a stark contrast to Schwarzenegger's smooth handling of negotiations over his $15 billion economic recovery plan and workers' compensation reform that characterized his first six months in office, political analysts and capitol insiders say.
Governor tells voters Democrats have to go ,,, Budget fight turns into broad clash over state government
The governor exhorts a crowd at a mall in Stockton to become "terminators" and run Democrats out of office. Chronicle photo by Penni Gladstone
Chaos theory being proven once again.
Where was this rino in 1998 when Republicans had a chance to do something about reapportionment? Oh, that's right, Lungren was a conservative. Never mind.
Rinos are traitors, first and always, the enemy within.
I think you are mis-reading the article. This doesn't say that the Pubbies are going to vote for the Dem budget - it says that they are not going to vote for the budget with the compromises that have been made since the May revision, which increase spending over last year's level.
Lets stand back and watch the show.
I bet that the DNC will force their local Girly Maggot legislativeits to sign this budget before the end of the month. (I hope that the Girly Maggots are arrogant enough to challenge Arnold!).
If not this will carry over to the election in November and could be an absolute disaster for al Queery and his pretty boy in California.
He's already made a fairly substantial number of bad compromises. In fact, I would say that so far he has accomplished next to nothing to rein in State spending or the cost of doing business in California. Further, his appointments indicate worse for the future. In terms of policy, I would put Arnold to the left of Gray Davis on a good many issues.
Lessee how hard the guv is willing to fight.
Chaos theory... the flapping of a butterfly's wings in Brazil triggers a major storm in California. Inconsequential choices can trigger unexpected developments elsewhere. Hence the name.
He led us down the rose garden path. We were informed AFTER the fact. It would have been nice if he had let us know beforehand what his long range picture was. I've been saying for awhile now this is another Gray Davis budget. Better no budget than a bad budget.
I hope you are speaking figuratively or collectively. I had him pegged as a manipulative liar back when he was a bodybuilder.
Last year, the budget was so late that there was talk about a lawsuit won by a taxpayers group that would require the state to pay state employees only the minimum wage as long as there was no budget (and therefore no money budgeted for the salaries). The Controller, Steve Westly, was opposed, and the change never happened. Do you think they will do it this year?
"...the flapping of a butterfly's wings in Brazil triggers a major storm in California. Inconsequential choices can trigger unexpected developments elsewhere."
Exactly, no action can be considered of no import. When AS(s) chose to call his dem legislators 'girly men' it seemed oh so cute. Let's see who ends up being the winner - even though right now it seems like grade school name calling with the gov. acting the part of the 'big kid on the block'. The end game hasn't even begun yet.
My money is on the legislature only because they've been around longer, no the rules a lot better, have the numbers (majority), and seemed more than a little p#ssed with AS for his childish sound bite tactics.
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