Among other places, I write at Calitics, the progressive site covering California politics. This is often a punishing experience. Since 1978, Proposition 13 has tilted the very structure of government in an unassailably conservative direction - 2/3 votes are needed to raise taxes, but only a simple majority to cut. As a result, politicians invariably take the path of least resistance, and as the Norquistian right rose to prominence in the state GOP, they learned that they could simply hijack the budget process for their own ends. State leaders compensated with borrowing and various gimmicks to put off the costs until after they left office. Servicing the debt became a bigger and bigger slice of the budget pie. Stakeholders who couldn't rely on the state used the ridiculously easy initiative process to pass unfunded spending mandates for themselves and all sorts of ballot-box budgeting. In good times, this uneasy balance worked... sort of. In even the most mild recessions, it would collapse.
That sets the stage for yesterday's horrendous budget deal, which closes a $26 billion dollar deficit with almost no new revenue, making steep cuts that amount to a reinvention of government's promises to its people, along with the usual gimmickry and a harsh, counter-productive set of raids on local government resources.
A local government official made a comment Monday afternoon, a few hours before the $25 billion deficit deal was reached, that seems to encapsulate everyone's feelings.
"As this budget hits the street today and people look at it," said San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon, "I think Californians are going to say, 'How did we get in this mess?'"
It relies on about $15.5 billion in cuts and $11 billion in, well, other stuff (more on that in a moment).
Almost two-thirds of the cuts are in K-12 education, colleges, and universities (though it also includes a one-time supplemental payment to K-12 and community colleges of $11.2 billion). Other sizeable cuts are in corrections ($1.2 billion), state worker salaries ($1.3 billion in the current furloughs) and Medi-Cal services ($1.3 billion). Welfare assistance, health care for low-income kids, and in-home support services (IHSS) would also see cuts.
Also cut: funding for state parks, though nowhere near the level Governor Schwarzenegger proposed in May. Legislative staffers say a few parks would close, and the ones in question will be picked by the
administration.
(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)
The California Supreme Court announced today its deeply disappointing decision to uphold Proposition 8.
It's wonderful that the court recognized the legal marriages of the 18,000 same-sex couples married in 2008, but this is a very sad day for California.
But we don't have time to mourn the failure of the state court to restore marriage equality to California.
In response to the court's decision, the Courage Campaign will hit the California airwaves in the next 72 hours with a 60-second TV ad version of "Fidelity"—the heartbreaking online video viewed by more than 1.2 million people, making it the most-watched video ever in the history of California politics.
We are launching this provocative new TV ad in the spirit of Harvey Milk's call to "come out, come out wherever you are" and proudly tell the stories of the people most affected by the passage of Prop 8—in moving images set to the beat of Regina Spektor's beautiful song.
More than 700,000 Courage Campaign members are ready to restore marriage equality to California. Will you help us get to "1 Million for Marriage Equality"? Watch our powerful new 60-second "Fidelity" TV ad and sign the pledge.
SAN FRANCISCO -- California voters legally outlawed same-sex marriage when they approved Proposition 8 in November, but the constitutional amendment did not dissolve the unions of 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who wed before the measure took effect, the state Supreme Court ruled today.
The 6-1 decision was issued by the same court that declared a year ago that a state law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman violated the right to choose one's spouse and discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation.
Prop. 8 undid that ruling. The author of last year's 4-3 decision, Chief Justice Ronald George, said today that the voters were within their rights to approve a constitutional amendment redefining marriage to include only male-female couples.
Justice Carlos Moreno, in a lone dissent, said a majority should not be allowed to deprive a minority of fundamental rights by passing an initiative.
The justices ruled unanimously that Prop. 8 was not retroactive and that gay and lesbian couples who relied on the court's May 2008 ruling to get married before the Nov. 4 election will remain legally wed.
Prop. 8, which declared that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California, passed with a 52 percent majority after an intense and expensive campaign. Sponsors, mainly affiliated with Christian conservative groups, raised nearly $40 million for the measure and opponents more than $45 million - combined, a record for a ballot measure on a social issue anywhere in the nation.
And here's the important part:
The ruling, the court's third major decision on same-sex marriage in five years, may be the last word from the state's legal system on the issue. But the matter is far from settled in the political arena. Gay-rights advocates, anticipating the decision, have discussed putting another constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2010 or 2012 to try to repeal Prop. 8.
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(Jerry Brown: Post-Reagan - Pre-Jarvis - hair and optimism in abundance)
Since today is an election day in California, and since California is teetering on an abyss yet again, I ran across an old Meet The Press from October 15, 1975 featuring an interview with Governor Jerry Brown.
In 1975 California had a $300 million surplus. But then, the average household income was $13K a year (hard to imagine . . .not really). New York City was the problem child at the time, plunging hip-deep in bankruptcy and asking for bailout money from the government. To a lot of people it seemed an abstract concept, the U.S. Government actually bailing a city out, and the Ford Administration were loath to offer any help at first. But that was New York City - it could never happen in California.
Famous last words.
So here is Jerry Brown in his first year as Governor in 1975. Loaded with optimism and new ideas and all was sailing along before that little thing called Prop 13 and the Howard Jarvis Tax initiative blew into Sacramento in 1978. And 34 years later we're casting our eyes to Washington with hopes of a bailout.
I've included commercials for one of the sponsors of Meet The Press - Exxon. Seems the issue of clean coal just can't get off the ground.
In the past year, 300,000 new citizens in California were sworn in - double the number of the previous year. The L.A. Times takes a look at how the new citizens are changing the face of California politics:
Mexicans, who have traditionally registered low rates of naturalization, represented the largest group, with nearly one-fourth of the total. They were followed by Indians, Filipinos, Chinese, Cubans and Vietnamese.
The new citizens are reshaping California's electorate and are likely to reorder the state's policy priorities, some political analysts predict. Several polls show that Latinos and Asians are more supportive than whites of public investments and broad services, even if they require higher taxes.
Most Latinos, for instance, support all five budget propositions on the May ballot while most whites oppose them, according to recent polls by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. Although viewed as largely conservative, most Asian Americans supported a 2004 measure requiring large businesses to provide health insurance to employees, even as it failed at the ballot box, according to an analysis by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles.
Nationally, nonwhite voters overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, while most whites voted for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a recent study by the Pew Research Center showed. And there were more nonwhite voters last year -- Latino registered voters increased by 3 million compared with 2004, said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Southwest Voting Registration Education Project in Los Angeles.
[...] "As we have more Asian American and Latino voters, our electorate will begin to look more like the face of the public at large," said Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute. "From the standpoint of representative democracy, few things could be more important than this."
Once the Republicans stopped obstructing the confirmation of southern California Congresswoman Hilda Solis to the Secretary of Labor post Obama had nominated her, the special election for her overwhelmingly Hispanic and overwhelmingly Democratic (PVI is D+15 and McCain received less than a third of the votes) got under way. CA-32 includes parts of East L.A., Monterey Park, Rosemeade, El Monte, Baldwin Park, Azusa, Covina and West Covina; it's 62% Hispanic and 18% Asian. The Republicans haven't bothered to run a candidate there since 2002. The multiparty primary is scheduled for May 19 and the general election will follow on Bastille Day (July 14). There are an even dozen candidates but political handicappers say it all comes down to 4 progressive front-runners: state Senator Gil Cedillo, state Board of Equalization member Judy Chu, former Solis deputy district director Benita Duran, and ex-Obama transition team member Emanuel Pleitez.
Blue America hasn't taken a stand on the race because all four front-runners seem like good choices. We had Emanuel Pleitez over for a live blog session at FDL in early March and today we'll be meeting Judy Chu at Crooks and Liars at 11 am (PT).
People who wrote off Judy Chu's chances in such an overwhelmingly Hispanic district missed the fact that Judy has represented the district in various elected capacities for two decades and that many of the Hispanic elected officials in the district have endorsed her (as has Hilda Solis' family and both the SEIU and the L.A. County Labor Federation). You can check out her stands on the important issues facing the district at her website, where you can also donate to her campaign. But first, please join us below, in the comments section for Dr. Chu's first official visit to Crooks and Liars.
California is about to go out of business quite literally and still these idiot tax cutting freaky Republicans like Sen. Dave Cox are doing their best to do just that. A lot of Americans don't know that California has a weird super majority vote needed whenever raising taxes is involved at any level. And Republicans refuse to raise a single thing even when we're on the brink. Read what this moron, Cox said about his no vote:
The hang-up came in trying to reach the required two-thirds majority in each house, where three Republican votes are needed. The Assembly appeared to have sufficient votes lined up, but the Senate was falling one short.
Debate halted after Republican Sen. Dave Cox told reporters he was against tax increases and would not support the two-year budget fix. Before the Legislature convened on Saturday, it was thought that Cox might have supported the plan.''You can't help the economy of the state of California by raising taxes. Yes, there's a big deficit. But in the final analysis, you're going to have to find another way to do it,'' Cox said. ''My answer is no, and I'm not looking for additional information. I've made my decision.''
What way might that be, Cox? It's time to go after these politicians that only block sh&t from getting done in California and offer no solutions.
Conservatism has been stripped of everything but its essence --- cheap thugishness. I honestly can't remember a time in the last 30 years when they weren't holding a gun to the states' head no matter what the economic climate. If times are good they have to cut taxes. If times are bad they have to cut taxes. It's no wonder that the regular folks decided they shouldn't have to pay taxes either.
I guess it puts the federal stimulus package in perspective. The reason the Republicans didn't vote for it was simply because it didn't include enough goodies for their corporate owners. In that sense, I guess it was a huge win for liberal principles.
Oh, and in a delicious bit of irony, I'm sure you recall that Schwarzenegger won office in a recall. And that recall was based upon a hissy fit engineered by the Republicans over Gray Davis' attempt to pay the states' bills by reinstating a modest car registration fee. Now, the same man who arrogantly strutted around calling Davis a girly man has presided over the worst economy in a generation, having done absolutely nothing while times were relatively good to set the states' finances right and is now raising taxes on everything in sight.
This is what happens when the entire process is co-opted by an anti-tax jihad that's been in place for 30 years, when the media just de-camps and a state of 38 million is governed under virtual secrecy, and Republicans are emboldened to ask for more and more and more with absolutely no political consequences. If you thought national sausage-making was abhorrent, welcome to California.
Reporting from Sacramento -- California's unemployment rate jumped to 9.3% in December -- the highest in 15 years -- and with more layoffs expected, economists predicted even higher numbers for the rest of the year.
The state Employment Development Department today reported that the December jobless rate was up almost a full percentage point from 8.4% in November. It stood at 5.9% a year earlier.
The rate for Los Angeles County, which like the state number is seasonally adjusted, was 9.9% for December, up from a revised 8.9% for November.
"It's an ugly report," said Howard Roth, chief economist for the state Department of Finance. "We're in the grips of a formidable recession," with the highest unemployment since January 1994.
The new data reflected lackluster holiday sales, continued home value declines and a heightened tempo of layoffs at companies across all sectors of the economy.
Arnold has thoroughly screwed this state up entirely. I propose he makes a couple of Terminator movies and donates all the proceeds to the State of California. That's the least he can do.
UPDATE: You want more of Arnuld's incompetence?
Let's start with Arnold, shall we? He's currently facing a $40 billion budget shortfall in California, the state he allegedly governs. The whole reason he's governor is because the Republicans had Gray Davis recalled over a $38 billion budget shortfall -- and guess what? As both Davis and Paul Krugman pointed out at the time (h/t to The Daily Howler), that budget shortfall had already been whittled down to $8 billion for the coming fiscal year, and would likely have been eliminated the year after that, had his policies been left untouched by Schwarzenegger.
But of course, the problem is that they weren't. Among the first things Arnold did was to repeal the state tax on cars. As Schwarzenegger himself stated earlier this year, that "gave $20 billion back" to Californians -- or rather, took away $20 billion in revenues over the years (at least $4 billion to start, plus another $4 billion for each year afterward), or half the amount of the current deficit, from the state. (He would later impose a regressive car tax, in the form of new drivers' fees, when it became apparent that the state couldn't be run on hot air and deficit spending.)
Los Angeles Unified school board members voted 4-2 Tuesday to authorize sending layoff notices to about 2,300 teachers, although the district superintendent said the notices might not necessarily be sent.
"It is strictly precautionary mainly, because I am trying to put pressure on Sacramento," Superintendent Ramon Cortines said.
He vowed not to send any notices before the board's next scheduled meeting in two weeks, adding the notices would be sent only if there were no other options to save the jobs.
The president of the teachers union condemned the vote, saying it was more than a bluff.
"It's more than pressure," said United Teachers Los Angeles President AJ Duffy. "No matter what Cortines said the reality is with Megan Reilly, the district chief financial officer, who has a budget based on laying off 2,200 teachers."
This country always screws teachers. Always...(h/t Brian)
