What do Orange County Republican legislators get when not a single Republican works constructively towards a responsible budget solution?
Well they don't get pension reform, a budget cap, or any help in their plan to gut the state's clean air laws.
And, in a nice little piece of political payback, in a trailer bill, the State took away 48 million a year that had been going to the county as part of a package to pay back loans issued after the 1994 bankruptcy.
There is much hand-wringing, with threats of lawsuits from blowhards like Assembly member "Spanky" Don Wagner (R,Newport Beach) and State Senator Lou Correa (D?, Santa Ana), who used a previous budget crisis to extort money for Orange County.
So the County will have to find 48 million in cuts, which will hit the Sheriff and the district attorney's office hard.
In other news, Governor Brown evoked chuckles, smiles, and outright guffaws by appointing OCEA Executive Director Nick Berardino to the Orange County Fair Board. Berardino and OCEA are locked in manichean legal and political battles with Costa Mesa Uber Alles Council Members Mensinger and Righeimer who issued lay-off notices to half of Costa Mesa's workers (mostly OCEA members). The Orange County Fair, located in Costa Mesa, is directly across the street from Costa Mesa City Hall.
Even in the worst budget, there's a little Schadenfreude.
The local overnight sensation was the quick news hit from Sacramento that the jerry-rigged conglomeration of initiatives, gimmicks, and bills to prevent California driving off a fiscal cliff included a special bill that would send more property tax to Orange County.
Lou Correa responded by noting that this was something that he had worked on for years.
True, and this has been supported by the BOS, OCTAX, and every local Republican under the cause of Tax Equity.
It's clear that he doesn't. He probably thinks it will cost him his re-election in 2010. That may or may not be, but certainly it's his point of view. There is no other reason why the vote was rescheduled. And it's certainly why Dem leaders are offering him incentives (someone less charitable might call it a bribe):
In what some might call an amazing coincidence, a measure to give Orange County an extra slice of the state budget pie was included in Saturday's deficit-closing proposals, the fate of which rested heavily on the vote of an Orange County state senator.
The senator, Lou Correa of La Habra, was the only Democratic member of the upper house reported to be "noncommittal" on whether to support a $40 billion package of tax hikes, spending cuts and loans designed to close the gap in California's budget.
Correa's vote is vital because Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto said that for any Republicans to cast votes for the package - and three are needed to give it the 27-vote two-thirds majority it needs - all Democrats will have to vote aye. "I just don't think it gets out if he (Correa) doesn't go up on it," Cogdill said earlier this week.
Capitol sources, who asked not to be named while commenting on private negotiations, said language had been inserted in the massive 33-bill package that would give Orange County $35 million in additional property tax revenues in the coming fiscal year; $35 million in the 2010-11 fiscal year, and up to $50 million annually after that.
Further delays mean he's further away from saying yes to the whole thing. And of course, this is another perverse outcome of the Yacht Party's stranglehold on the budget process - Correa's marginal seat shouldn't really hold the key to whether or not this passes.
The Sacramento Bee is reporting a special Correa Carve-out in the budget that would bring badly needed revenue to Orange County.
Anybody want to bet against his support of the budget now?
Capitol sources, who asked not to be named while commenting on private negotiations, said language had been inserted in the massive 33-bill package that would give Orange County $35 million in additional property tax revenues in the coming fiscal year; $35 million in the 2010-11 fiscal year, and up to $50 million annually after that.
Correa was elected by a razor-thin margin in 2006 after a campaign in which he repeatedly pledged not to vote for tax increases. In an editorial Friday, the largest newspaper in Correa's district, the Orange County Register, urged him to vote against the tax-hike portion of the budget package.
So the State Senate pushed through the creative, $18 billion-dollar lawsuit bait of a budget moments ago by a vote of 23-15. Republican Sen. Mark Wyland abstained and there are only 39 Senators in the chamber, with Mark Ridley-Thomas' seat currently vacant. That means there was one Democratic "No" vote.
Thanks, Lou Correa.
A vote is expected in the Assembly later today, and I don't think anybody knows whether or not the Governor will sign it. He asked for a bunch of "economic stimulus" reforms and only a few of them made their way into the final bill.
Democratic legislators today sent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a complex and controversial package of tax increases and program cuts, an $18 billion effort designed to avoid the need for Republican votes that GOP leaders called illegal.
The state Senate and Assembly made their way through the package of bills required for the maneuver, voting along party lines on tax increases while jointly backing other proposals to hasten public works spending. Republicans opposed the tax proposals and accused majority Democrats of breaking the law.
There is some relaxation of environmental legislation in the package. Now we wait to see if the Governor signs it.
...within minutes, the Yacht Party caucus in the Assembly dashed off a letter to the Governor urging him to veto, calling it "the Democrat's illegal tax package." Every member signed it but one - Paul Cook. And contrary to my musings that he was in a tough election fight and might want some distance from the crazies, Shane Goldmacher sez he's out sick.
UPDATE by Robert: Sure enough Arnold says no to the deal. Arnold has the Republicans' back, never let there be doubt about it. He's perfectly willing to let the state collapse, even after he got his pound of worker and environmental flesh.
New desk for reception foyer of Supervisor John Moorlach's office: $8,990, New conference table for Supervisor Pat Bates' office: $3,375, Track lighting with dimmer switch for Supervisor Janet Nguyen's office: $1,300, 90 high-end, "high-concept" Herman Miller office chairs for Treasurer Chriss Street: almost $50,000, 52-inch wall-mounted flat-screen television for EACH NEW SUPERVISOR'S personal office: $4,000 (each) (Street's flat-screen TV cost $7,800). Seeing complete hypocrisy from all these supposed "fiscally conservative" Republicans featured in the Orange County edition of The Los Angeles Times yesterday: PRICELESS!
Follow me after the flip to see just how much taxpayer money our "fiscal conservatives" in Orange County are wasting on their "extreme makeover"...
After getting blocked by two Senators who think money from the California Hospital Association (CHA) is more important that basic human dignity, SB 275 has made it to the Senate Floor. (Btw, the two senators in question have lost their Appropriation Cmte. seats as a result).
Well, now that the ModSquad has faded to black (hopefully to stay permanently in the Seventies), the bill will likely pass the Senate shortly. Whether Correa and Calderon have decided whether human decency or corporate lobbying cash is more important is still an open question.
A long time ago I was told that in this business you are judged by your enemies. If your enemies are mostly democrats then you must be doing something right. They're willing to tear you down, especially people like Andrew Davey who posted on the Calitics page. He's just a punk with a computer.
(Btw, kudos to The Liberal OC for getting my attention on this matter yesterday. : ) - promoted by atdleft)
This just in from Brian Joseph of The OC Register, blogging at Total Buzz:
Orange County Sens. Lou Correa and Tom Harman ignited fireworks in Senate chambers this morning when they objected to the introduction of a delegation from the Vietnamese government.
The senators said it was inappropriate to welcome representatives of an oppressive regime that had caused so much pain for Vietnamese residents of Orange County. Ceremonial introductions like that are infrequently challenged.
"I don't believe this is necessary," Correa said.
So why were Vietnamese government officials allowed into our state capitol? Why would officals from an extremely oppressive regime be allowed into OUR HALLS of government? And why would anyone want to respect a regime that has absolutely no respect for its own people?
Follow me after the flip for more on what the heck happened at the Capitol yesterday...
OK, I know that there's an important election coming up. Pretty soon, California Young Democrats will be choosing their next President. But for me, there really isn't a choice. Tim Steed has what it takes to lead CYD, and to make it stronger than ever. He's always been a young progressive champion in Orange County, and I'm sure he'd do a great job as CYD President.
He started out working in Joe Dunn's office. That should be enough for us. But no, there's much, much more. He reinvigorated the Orange County Young Democrats as OCYD President. He put the pressure on Tom Umberg to support Leno's marriage equality bill. And in 2004, Tim coordinated the first Democratic precinct captain organization in Orange County in over 20 years with the Orange County Victory Fund. Tim and the other OCVF organizers raised $30,000 and organized hundreds of volunteers, which enabled them turn out countless new voters and impact local elections. Sergio Contreras won a seat on the Westminster School Board as a result of OCVF's precinct program, and the majority flipped from Republican to Democratic. That's the type of great results that came out of Tim's work with OCVF.
And oh yes, how could I ever forget the Peer to Peer program?! Last year, Tim ran the Peer to Peer operation for CYD in SD 34. I saw firsthand as he and other young activists in OC knocked on young SD 34 voters' doors, called their phones, and got over 1,100 of them to vote last November. Oh yeah, and let's not forget that Democrat Lou Correa won by 1,392 votes. Tim helped make the difference in keeping Central Orange County blue.
OK, so Tim has done some great things in the past... What does he plan to do with CYD in the future? Well, let me tell you all about it after the flip...
So are you scratching your head over my State Senator, Lou Correa, being locked out of his own office? Well, there's plenty of outrage from left to right in Orange County on this episode. And since I don't want to say too much more about this, I'll let you read what everyone else here in OC has to say about this nasty incident after the flip...
"This morning, I kissed my children goodbye, dropped my daughter off at school, got on a plane, got here, found out I was locked out of my office," said [Senator Lou] Correa, D-Santa Ana.
This is what Lou told Brian Joseph at The OC Register when asked about the lockout. Yes, you heard me right- Lou Correa, along with Sens. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino) and Ron Calderon (D-Montebello), were locked out of their own offices. And why? Because Don Perata was being a brat.
Follow me after the flip for more on this nonsense...
Well, now he responded to my original letter by sending me a letter. Here it is:
Basically, he said that he appreciated hearing from me about this. Good. I always appreciate legislators who listen to the concerns of their constituents. While I still disagree with Lou's vote, I certainly appreciate his willingness to explain it to me. And yes, I hope that this is only the beginning of the good news that I will be hearing from the Senator's office from now on. : )
"It's very straightforward," the senator told me. "The Iraq resolution is a well intended one, but yet I personally believe that the real issue in Iraq is, first of all, as a country, as a people, the first question is: should we be in Iraq or not? Second question: if we decide we should be out, then the question is, what's our pullout policy? What's our withdrawal strategy? How do we get out of here? [...]
"In the meantime, we have to continue to support our troops. Should we send in more M1 Abram tanks? Should we send more Kevlar vests? Absolutely. We got to support our troops. We have to make sure that they're well protected. Those are central, core issues."
Thanks to The Liberal OC for keeping up on the latest developments here.
I got a telephone call from State Senator Lou Correa today. He asked me to keep the conversation between the two of us and to not post it on TheLiberalOC.com, but he agreed that I had every right to share his reasoning if I chose to do so.[...]
Correa said that his "no" vote was a straight-forward thing. "This resolution missed the mark," he said. "We can't send the wrong message to our soldiers over there."
Until Congress makes the decision to bring home our troops, Correa thinks that we should do all that we can to support them-and opposing Bush's troop surge, in Correa's eyes, is not supportive.
"Are you going to be calling 250,000 people to tell them what made you vote `no' on SJR1?" I asked, referring to the number of voters that are registered in the 34th State Senate District. "I actually represent more that 850,000 people, Mr. Lawson. Thanks for the call," he said before hanging up.
Well, I am certainly glad that Lou finally returned Mike's call. And yes, I certainly appreciate that Lou was willing to talk to Mike, and to me, about this. But still, I would feel much better about this if Lou's office were to just give a public statement about this.
If you happen to live in Central Orange County, and you would like to talk to your State Senator about his Iraq vote, go ahead and give his office a call at (916) 651-4034. Senator Correa seems quite willing now to sit down and discuss this with his constituents. : )
(OK, so Mike Lawson has finally received a response! However, don't expect a public statement for all of you to see. The Liberal OC is keeping up with this developing story. - promoted by atdleft)
(You too should call Senator Correa's office: (916) 651-4034 - promoted by blogswarm)
I'm really starting to get frustrated now, especially after reading this from Mike at The Liberal OC:
At first, I was just expecting Correa's office to release some cowardly explanation of why Correa was the only dissenting Democratic Senator. Last week when I called Correa's Sacramento office I was told that I was the first call regarding the vote, and that they'd work on getting the senator's explanation. No promises.
I was curious why more people against a troop surge hadn't called Correa to seek explanation, so I posted a little something here on TheLiberalOC.com. When I called back, a staffer told me that they were working on a response, and she promised its delivery on Friday of last week.Now it's been eight days since Correa made that lousy vote, and when I called his Sacramento office to see if they were any closer to releasing a press statement, I was given the cold shoulder.
"Are you any closer to releasing the statement?" I asked.
"I can take down your number." I was told.
Come on now, Lou! I know you're better than this. We elected you last year because we knew that whether or not you agreed with us 100% of the time, that you'd always be listening to our concerns. But now, you aren't even listening. Please, please start paying attention. This isn't the way to treat your constituents, supporters, and activists.
