Posted on 05/01/2008 4:48:49 PM PDT by SmithL
State Senate leader Don Perata on Thursday said the recall drive he is backing against a Central Valley Republican will help Democrats pass a budget with tax increases if it succeeds.
If Sen. Jeff Denham of Merced is replaced by the lone Democrat on the recall ballot, it would leave Democrats just one vote short of the two-thirds majority they need to pass the budget in the Senate.
"If I have an opportunity of picking up a Democrat who would support a balanced approach to solving the budget problem, I'm going to do that," Perata, the Senate's president pro tem, told The Associated Press in his first extended interview on the recall drive.
The recall grew out of Democrats' frustration last summer with Denham, who has been viewed as a moderate but joined fiscal conservatives in blocking the budget. Denham refused to break with the Senate's Republican caucus and support the $145 billion spending plan for the current fiscal year.
It already had been passed by the state Assembly, with Republican support, and had the blessing of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Unseating Denham during the June 3 primary election would help avoid massive cuts in state programs and services, said Perata, a Democrat from Oakland. He said tax or fee increases are needed to offset a budget deficit that is projected to be anywhere from $15 billion to $20 billion in the fiscal year starting July 1.
Passing the budget requires a two-thirds vote, which means the support of two Republicans in the 40-member Senate and six in the 80-member Assembly.
"Don Perata just wants to install a puppet," Denham spokesman Kevin Spillane said in response to the Senate leader's comments to the AP. "Certainly that's their plan, is to massively raise taxes if they succeed in the recall."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
So much for “the intent of the voter”, if some hack Rat can force a recall just so he can “pack the court”, so to speak.
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