Whipping The Assembly And Senate On The Budget Vote

Called Bill Monning (0.00 / 0)

I called the Santa Cruz office.  No stand yet from the aide, although she was quite helpful.

She asked if I knew the bill numbers for the vote on Thursday.  Does anyone have that information?

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by: mbayrob @ Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 23:13:12 PM UTC

Monning will be voting yes (0.00 / 0)

You can check out any time you like but you can never leave

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by: Robert Cruickshank @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 20:57:31 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Wasn't clear when I called (0.00 / 0)

Spoke to the Santa Cruz office, says there are 28 bills, caucus is still looking at the whole sorry package.

BTW:  this aide has only gotten 6 calls (all against the budget) so far today.  We have got to do better than that.

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by: mbayrob @ Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 22:04:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sen. Simitian sounds sympathetic (0.00 / 0)

The aide in the Senator's Santa Cruz office sounds pretty well informed.  No stand, but I like what I heard.

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by: mbayrob @ Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 23:26:40 PM UTC

Called Jared Huffman's office (4.00 / 1)

Was told by staffer that "he's still looking at it". Told her that if he voted for it he would be losing my vote. If I wanted to vote for a Republican budget I would have voted for a Republican assemblyman.

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by: seanp @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 20:24:51 PM UTC

Called Senator Pavley (0.00 / 0)

I called Senator Pavley's office.  They too said that since it hadn't been written up she couldn't say one way or another.  I STRONGLY urged a no vote, told her I was a democrat and saw no reason to support a republican budget.

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by: call me ishmael @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 20:57:08 PM UTC

Pavley & Mike Feuer (Feuer will vote for it) (0.00 / 0)

The guy answering at Senator Pavley's office told me he didn't know her vote yet, but when I said I'd be pissed if she votes for this, he said "I think she would be too" - huh?  She'd be pissed if she votes for it??  He chuckled, and said 'yeah'.  He then offered that "we're stuck because of the 2/3 rule", etc., so I pushed back regarding the PR appearance of the Dems owning it and poor leadership at the top . . . he got quiet there.

Assemblyman Mike Feuer - a real disappointment:  I called and the woman answering informed me that he is voting for it "because as bad as it is, it'd be worse not voting for it".   I raised issues like drilling without fees, corporate tax breaks, stealing from municipalities . . . she was quiet.  I said I'd supported Feuer since he was my councilman, and am really disappointed to hear that he would vote for this.   She said "ok . . . ."   That was that.

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by: SamSinister @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 22:07:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

My reps are undecided on the budget (0.00 / 0)

I called the offices of Senator Mark Leno and Assemblymember Tom Ammiano and was told they had not made up their minds on the budget.   I then said I wanted:
1) An oil extraction tax;
2) Repeal of the tax breaks big business got in 2/09 and 9/08; and,
3) No closures of state parks.
I said if those three things did not happen, Senator Leno and Assemblymember Ammiano would never again receive my support.  

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by: flyingwedge @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 21:02:29 PM UTC

Isn't this a bit irresponsible? (0.00 / 0)

I'm no fan of the current budget, but I don't see how you get anything better passed.  Avoiding these cuts that you love just means that we're going to have to cut elsewhere into things other people love.  There's simply no political will right now for new taxes.  The bond market is shit.  If this budget fails, the level of political dysfunction in the state is literally going to go through the roof.  

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by: patwater @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 21:48:02 PM UTC

see my post above this one (0.00 / 0)

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by: David Atkins (thereisnospoon) @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 22:42:42 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sorry but I think you give up too easy (5.00 / 1)

Steinberg and Bass were negotiating with people who want to destroy state government.  You don't negotiate with people like that; you fight them.  And part of fighting them is not accepting crap deals that include offshore oil drilling, closing parks, cutting off health care for poor children, etc., while not having a tax on oil that every other oil-producing state has, and while giving tax breaks to entities that need them least.  This budget is immoral and reprehensible and should not be passed.  Voting for this budget and its radical, long-term changes will bring far more pain than what will happen if the budget is voted down and refought.

As far as the parks are concerned, we're talking about an incredible amount of destruction -- closing 30-50 parks -- to save only $8 million.  California has precious natural resources and historic sites that need to be protected for future generations, just like past generations in their foresight set aside parklands for us.  One of Arnold's first acts was to decree the state parks would not expand further, even if the land was donated to the state.  So despite an expanding population, he not only wants no more parks, he wants to close what we have.  Closing 50 parks is like going into a museum with a hammer and smashing 50 exhibits.

There was a proposal to add $10 (then $15) to the Vehicle License Fee, dedicate that $ to the state parks, and give each registered vehicle free state park day use.  Everyone pays a little, and everyone benefits a lot.  Don Perata negotiated it away last year, and Steinberg and Bass gave up on it this year.  There is no indication where the state parks' $ will come from this year (it used to come from the General Fund), and there is no commitment to any funding the next year, when Arnold will no doubt try to close the rest of the parks.  He needs to be stopped NOW.

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by: flyingwedge @ Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 03:21:47 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Whipping Steinberg (0.00 / 0)

As my assemblyman is Niello, a repub, I declined to call him.

My State Senator, unfortunately, is the Senate President Pro Tem.

Yep, Steinberg.

Called the main office, he's voting yes.

Asked if he supported the oil extraction without a tax. Yes.
Asked if he supported reduced taxes on business as per previe bills. Yes.
Asked if he supported the budget based on the cuts to the middle class and lower class in terms of services and such. Yes.

Told the woman I was speaking with that he would no longer get my vote in the future due to his support of an obvious Republican Engineered Budget and that he and the dem's had caved in to the Pubs and sold out their constituency that got him and the other dem's elected.

She grew icy cold, noted my call. I had to ask if she wanted my zip code, gave it to her.

She was obviously UNACCUSTOMED to negative feedback.

More calls people, the stupid legislature has NO idea how the public feels.

THIS Senator and Prez Pro Tem thinks getting a budget done at all is progress .

WRONG!  

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by: Larue @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 21:49:52 PM UTC

Called Steinberg Too (5.00 / 1)

And let his office know that, in light of the fact that he'll be voting yes that he needs to whip his caucus so that no Dem votes for this POS budget until each and every Reep has been made to own this thing.  It's their budget.  They need to own it so the public understands this is not a Democratic budget but a Reep budget.

Also called Jones (D-Sacto) and while his aide couldn't yet say how he would vote, I voiced the same set of opinions.  His aide, for all the good it does, said she agreed with me.

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by: kimobrother @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 22:08:01 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I called Senator Oropeza and Assemblyman Ted Lieu (0.00 / 0)

Neither office knew how they were going to vote.  I told them that I would not be voting for them again if they vote for the budget unless there is some sort of tax on oil extraction.

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by: pereubu77 @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 22:18:54 PM UTC

Called both of mine: (0.00 / 0)

1.  Assemblymember Julia Brownley (D-41): 24 bills, hasn't seen all of them yet, will definitely vote NO on oil drilling, would vote yes for oil severance tax if she could (she has and knows it's futile).  I am first person to call today (at 3:30 pm) as far as that staffer knows, although that staffer isn't usually the fastest to get to the phones.  Overall, good news.

2.  State Senator Tony Strickland (R-19): will call back.

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by: RLMiller @ Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 22:34:20 PM UTC

Update: (0.00 / 0)

As of 6:15, no one from Strickland's office has bothered to call back.

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by: RLMiller @ Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 01:18:48 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Update 2: (0.00 / 0)

Strickland's office called back at 11 AM.  Bills are being printed, there's 28, he's still reading, so hasn't decided anything yet, yadda yadda.  I'm beginning to catch on to legiscritter-speak: "still reviewing" = "I'm not going to vote the way you want me to, but my staff isn't brave enough to say so to your face."  Anyway....

Vote for budget: probably no.
Vote for offshore oil drilling: in favor of the concept, as part of a renewable energy package, but may vote no on Tranquillon.  (At this point I nearly lost it -- oil drilling is NOT renewable!)
Generally does not favor oil extraction tax: higher taxes cause businesses to move out of state.  I pointed out that the beauty of an oil extraction tax is that you tax the oil, not the business, where it comes out of the ground, which can't relocate.  She started giving me the usual businesses can't afford to pay higher taxes BS, I argued a bit.

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by: RLMiller @ Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 18:48:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Called Ammiano and Leno (0.00 / 0)

Called both Ammiano and Leno this evening, but no one's home.  (Hmmm, I'm a state worker still at the office at 6 pm on Wednesday.  I need to get one of those legislative gigs.)  Left message, and sent and email to Ammiano, imploring them not to vote for this horrible budget, and that true Democrats would make Republicans own it.  In the email to Ammiano, I reminded him that voting to cut the CDCR budget by $1.2 billion without a discussion of the operational impact would be, to use a phrase, "kicking it down the road."

If I hear anything from anyone, I'll report back.

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by: SF Cato @ Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 00:53:30 AM UTC

I Have Learned You Can't Talk To Them (0.00 / 0)

I decided last evening to send an email to each Democratic Senator and Assembly Member urging a no vote on the budget bills.  I went to the list of members in each house and started clicking on each one's webpage, planning to email them.

Lo and behold, most of them have NO way to send an email to them if you are outside of their District.  Most have a statement that says because they get so much email, they can't handle contacts from outside of their District. I tried a couple any way, put in my address as requested, and the email would not go.  Wrong address.

WTF?

At least the Senate Democratic Caucus has a means of sending an email to the Caucus, as if the individual members read or count the emails there!  But the Assembly Democratic Caucus has no such facility.

Do any of these people recognize that they serve ALL of California, even if their focus is on their specific District?

I was amazed and disgusted.  

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by: RickZimmer @ Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 03:34:48 AM UTC

Yesterday I called Dave Jones and (0.00 / 0)

my co-worker called Alyson Huber.  In both cases they were cordial and just said they'd pass along the message.

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by: annie @ Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 18:57:07 PM UTC

New diary up on Daily Kos. Please rec it up. (0.00 / 0)

To help get the word out to more people, I've just put up a diary on Daily Kos, They're Voting Today To Kill California.  If you have an account on DKos, please go to this link immediately and select the Recommend button.  If we can get a rec-listed action diary, it will be seen by enough people to influence the number of calls folks in Sacramento are getting.

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by: mbayrob @ Thu Jul 23, 2009 at 22:51:49 PM UTC