Posted on 02/03/2009 10:50:13 AM PST by SmithL
The so-called "Big 5" process has often been used to forge a final state budget deal – the governor and four legislative leaders privately ironing out details that will secure enough votes in the Legislature.
The current crisis, a deficit estimated at $40 billion over the next 17 months – and growing – has spawned a unique expansion of those secret negotiations into an effort to deal with the whole enchilada, completely bypassing legislative hearings and other ordinary trappings of fiscal politics.
The quintet appears to have reached the climactic point, the one in which political positioning and face-saving overshadow dollars and cents, the one in which contending factions and their outside allies try to leverage side issues which have nothing directly to do with the budget.
If Republicans are willing to defy anti-tax forces and provide enough votes for raising billions of dollars in new revenues, they want political cover such as some business-friendly changes in labor and environmental rules and/or a ballot measure that would impose a cap on state spending growth.
If Democrats are going to accept big cuts in social welfare, health and education spending or defy unions, they need to point to Republican votes on taxes as an acceptable tradeoff.
Meanwhile, with the self-imposed Feb. 1 deadline passed and the state controller declaring that some bills won't be paid in February due to a cash shortage, media and public pressure to do a deal grows more intense.
One sign that talks are at the critical point is that outside groups are ramping up warnings to politicians if they cave in on this issue or that one, such as a Teamsters union threat to recall Democrats who vote against labor or a proposed party resolution to censure any Republican who supports taxes.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
I didn’t know it was even breathing hard.
The Hyenas are feeding on the CAcass...soon to be your state.
Hey Pubbies - no retreat - no surrender. The Democrats (with Arnie’s help) created this, let them cut and run.
It’s a taxgasm.
Nope! These budgets are proposed by the executive, not the legislture. The statement should read:
Arnie (with the Democrats help) created this, let them cut and run.
A cut of CA public spending goes straight to public unions, which goes to Dem campaign contributions.
Conflict of interest, aka corruption.
This state, CA has no free trade, no open markets (including outsourcing - of public services to the most able vendor, through competitive bidding/contracting), no respect for private property (the private sector) any more.
These greedy protected brown shirt Marxist unions are destroying the economy, competition, the voluntary civil society out here in CA.
Well, ok. :)
Never waste an opportunity to let a good deed go unpunished or assign responsibility where credit is due.
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