Posted on 08/18/2008 3:31:52 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
What happens when you cross Karen Bass, the L.A. Democrat who leads the Assembly? Nicole Parra, the lone Assembly Democrat to refuse to vote for her party's spending plan, on Sunday shared the answer as her staff packed for a sudden banishment move to a small office across the street from the state Capitol, Nancy Vogel reports. (That's Parra in the photo at right.)
Bass ordered Assemblywoman Nicole Parra of Hanford out of her fifth-floor Capitol office and into an office building across the street where legislative staffers work.
“They wanted us to have everything packed up by 4 p.m.,” said Parra’s chief of staff, Derek Chernow, as he ripped packing tape to seal a box of office supplies. “We’re just doing what we’re asked by the powers that be.”
Parra, who is in her last few months in the Assembly, said she didn’t vote for the budget because it was not paired with a water bond to pay for additional dams to ease water supply troubles in her agricultural district. She said she had warned Assembly leaders weeks ago that she wouldn’t vote for a budget unless it also improved state water supplies.
“I knew I would be punished,” she said defiantly in the hallway outside the Assembly chamber. “I don’t regret it. I would do it again.”
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
slash and burn politics... she should do more to tick people off... like becoming a conservative... would be nice to see the left’s blood pressure boil.
Definitely Not Guilty!
IMHO it sounds more like she was holding out for pork in her district, not taking a principled stand on taxes.
The bigger story. imho, is that the LA Times didn’t bury this story since it casts aspersions on Dems. Before they swirl down the toilet into extinction, could they be trying something unique, like reporting the news, no matter who looks the bum?
Wonder what would have happened if she had just said No.
Nitpick with the copy writer: Parra didn’t “cross” Bass, at least so far as is revealed in the news story. I understand “cross” to mean a failure to act **as promised** or otherwise to betray someone.
Quite the contrary, Parra at least SAYS that she long ago stated her “price” for her vote.
I don’t particularly like her stated REASONS for her stance — sounds like she wanted a little local pork (or pork water?) related to water usage?, as opposed her thinking, “Gosh, taxes are high enough, so let’s cut some spending — but at least the result is good, for now.
Nicole has had a couple of tough elections in a district that’s rural, and fairly conservative. Her survival was primarily due to some support she got from the local agricultural community. So, she owes them.
A few years ago, I watched her chair a hearing, which was a bit like watching the moot court competition at your local high school. It was during the period when our then-Secretary of State was being investigated for using federal money to help Democrats get elected. She marched the party line, though, left left left.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
It’s not “pork”...
You must not like eating produce, beef or chicken from California. We are out of water to irrigate our current crops let alone sustain any population growth. The water we have stored in dams above the Valley goes to southern California not to our crops.
So next time you eat produce from South America of dubious cleanliness think about the dams we need in California to grow our own food.
Sounds a lot like the current “drill here drill now” now that we are dependent upon foreign sources for our energy—next our food.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.