CA: Next speaker's agenda is short but ambitious (Karen Bass)

LA Times ^ | 5/5/08 | George Skelton

[NormsRevenge]

SACRAMENTO — Karen Bass has drawn up a short agenda for her two-year reign as Assembly speaker that begins next week.

There are only three items:

* Balance a state budget that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared is "$20 billion out of whack."

* Create a ballot initiative that would produce $300 million to $500 million annually for foster care programs.

* Restructure California's tax system to make it conform to the modern world. Actually, she wants to create a blue-ribbon commission of "the best and the brightest" to tackle taxes.

That's all.

Rather ambitious for someone who has held elective office for less than 3 1/2 years. But why not? The fiscal stuff -- an honestly balanced budget and creation of a more stable tax system -- are absolute musts if Sacramento is to once again provide the leadership required by a perpetually growing state. And foster care is Bass' passion.

--snip--

A tenacious local activist, Bass founded the Community Coalition in 1990 to help South Los Angeles battle crime and addiction created by crack cocaine trafficking. After the 1992 riots, she fought to replace liquor stores with more wholesome enterprises.

In the Assembly, Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) selected Bass as majority floor leader and supported her candidacy for speaker. She'll be the nation's first African American woman to lead a legislative house.

"She'll be a very different speaker," predicts Raphael Sonenshein, a Cal State Fullerton political science professor who has followed her career. "She comes from a community organizing background. . . . She's a very pragmatic problem solver and doesn't look for ways to polarize issues. That bodes well for crossing party lines in Sacramento. Republicans will be pleasantly surprised. . . .

"She's calm, friendly, determined, humorous. People like to be around her."

[ken21]

john and ken were saying last week that our

austrian gov was saying that the deficit was $10 b,

now, after a speech in orange co, he’s saying $20 b.

somehow it doubled.

[lowbridge]

* Balance a state budget that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared is "$20 billion out of whack." * Create a ballot initiative that would produce $300 million to $500 million annually for foster care programs.

Ah, so thats how one "produces" money. With ballot initiatives!

She's gonna screw up California even more.

[C210N]

People like to be around her.

[NormsRevenge]

CA: Legislators have no fundraising limit for ballot measure accounts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011748/posts

[lookout88]

She looks like a good “tax whitey” legislator

[VeniVidiVici]

The puzzle, she says, is "how do we create an environment where we all get something we need. Economic stimulus for Republicans? An uptick in revenue for [Democrats]?"

This is why Democrats are such freaking Marxist losers.

Why does even the ECONOMY get looked at as a Republican/Democrat pie? For pete's sake. The Repubicans need "Economic stimulus" while the Democrats need "an uptick in revenue" (she can't even say tax hike).

How about just an economic stimulus that fosters economic expansion therefore creating jobs and raising incomes? Of course we can't have that. Some may earn larger incomes than others!