Roger Niello has found a use for the special election - to deny the SEIU a contract they bargained in good faith with the Governor. Enough Yacht Party members joined him to delay the deal.
A local Republican on Monday helped defeat an Assembly bill that must be passed to enshrine the new contract the Schwarzenegger administration signed this year with its largest state workers' union.
Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, urged legislators to oppose or abstain from voting on AB 964, saying it was "awfully inappropriate" to vote right now on the agreement with the Service Employees International Union, Local 1000.
Niello said legislators should wait at least until May 19, when Californians vote in a special election on six propositions to shrink the budget gap.
"We should not pre-empt the voters by dealing with this issue today (Monday)," Niello told the Assembly. "It can wait until June or after."
Of course, voters have no say in government labor contracts; they appear nowhere on the May 19 ballot. But Andrew McIntosh explains what's really going on here, something the Sacramento Bee saw fit to put on their website but not in their print edition.
Niello appears to be using Republican clout to offer the governor some leverage - holding out on the contract approval as long as possible so that the SEIU doesn't mount a major attack-ad campaign on propositions he favors, such as 1A.
That proposition would give the governor new power to unilaterally make mid-year cuts in spending to some programs and extend certain tax increases by two years.
That's hardly speculative. Niello voted for the budget and supports the ballot measures that resulted from them. He knows that SEIU has already dropped $500,000 into defeating Prop. 1A, the long-sought spending cap, and has decided to use the leverage of the contract vote to blackmail SEIU into keeping quiet. Even Republicans who don't support the special election have no problem taking time out of their busy day to shit on workers, so they are happy do the Governor's bidding, hoping that, in the aftermath, they can knuckle the union down for more concessions should the measures fail. Which would be absurd - the Governor made a deal, which includes major concessions from the union, separate from the passage or failure of any ballot measure.
No surprise, by the way, that the Bee doesn't go into this level of detail in their print edition - the editorial board basically threatened SEIU in exactly the same way as Niello a week or so ago, arguing that the passage of their contract should be tied to Prop. 1A's passage. And they have the audacity to call out the SEIU for duplicity, while rooting on legislative blackmail because SEIU's parent organization disagrees with the editorial opinion of the Bee on how to best serve the long-term interests of the state. And this shows in them leaving the underlying reasons for legislative deals out of their news articles.
Perhaps I was a bit esoteric there, but the Republicans have literally got Controller John Chiang in a box, with the money flow turning off. He cannot possibly pay tax refunds (which aren't legally due until May 30) unless he has money to do so. Yet the Yacht Party and the corpse of Howard Jarvis still scream.
A taxpayer group blasted state Controller John Chiang's decision to hold up income tax refunds this month, saying Monday that putting refunds into taxpayers' hands would help stimulate the economy.
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Added Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks (Sacramento County): "This is the ultimate injustice. ... This is taxpayers' money." (SF Chron 2/3/09)
Yes, wouldn't it be great if the state had the money to pay its bills. Wouldn't it be nice if we hadn't spent it all on the stupid axeing of the "car tax" so that Arnold has his (then) band of followers in the GOP could crow of a victory over common sense. Well, folks, the vehicle license fee chicken has come home to roost. If you want to pay out the tax refunds so promptly, perhaps you could get back to the terrain where 60%+ of the state currently resides. You know, the land of sanity where people want decent K12 education and are willing to pay for it.
Niello, you may get your chicks for free, but the money's got to come from somewhere.
Asm. Roger Niello (R-Sacramento) issued a press release this morning. Nothing new here, really:
"It must also be pointed out that while Democrats say they are against 'borrowing' they seem to have no problem simply 'taking' money from California's hardworking families in the form of $9 billion in tax increases."
Yet the Republicans are perfectly willing to tax our future generations with both borrowing, leasing the lottery (dumb idea) and slashing services which build a better future. Oh, and they have no problem locking up an entire generation of our "underclass" in order to look ToughOnCrimeTM.
It doesn't take a talk with Prof. Lakoff to see that the Republicans are framing taxes as merely extortion rather than the payment for a civilized and livable state. But no amount of framing will change the fact that we have real expenses, expenses of their own creation. If they want to take Incarcerex, they have to be willing to pay for it. But they are not.
And the wages of this continual cycle of prison and recidivism have come home to our general fund. This is a big deal. Well, at least big enough to get on A3 of the Wall Street Journal (Reg req'd).
A federally appointed receiver assigned to fix the prison health-care system in California says he will force the state to come up with $2.5 billion to begin improvements -- just as legislators are confronting a budget shortfall of over $15 billion this fiscal year.
State legislators have failed to approve funds to comply with a federal-court order that California fix its prison hospitals. The federal receiver, J. Clark Kelso, said in an interview that he expects to file a motion in federal court as soon as the first week of August for an order to receive the funds. "Fiscally, the state is near bankrupt. So do I want to take this money and cause chaos and pandemonium? No," says Mr. Kelso. "But I have a court order here, and I must move forward."
The Republicans are making up lots of excuses why they blocked the passage of a bill that would have provided resources for this new construction (mostly through bonds). It's too expensive, more than you'd pay for a new hospital in Fresno, the plans aren't just so, whatever. I'd point out that Fresno doesn't require maximum security on its hospitals and that we can't just keep pulling the sheets over our head. The bill is due, and the debt collector has a direct line to our bank account.
So, the GOP has no more time. Either get something done along the lines that the majority demands, or wait for the federal courts to do so on their own. Our budget in disarray. If Common Cause and their friends were truly concerned about building a working majority in order to govern, they would redirect their resources from pie-in-the-sky redistricting measures which would have little effect and get to work on the 2/3 rules.
So, Asm. Niello, how much longer must we wait until we begin to fight the fire?
(Well worth thinking about. The Republicans already are... P.S. Vote for Charlie! - promoted by juls)
(cross-posted from Daily Kos)
With the impending implosion of John Doolittle, it has occurred to me that it might be good to start paying attention to likely Doolittle replacements. At the very least, Doolittle will face a tough primary fight in 2008 (connections to the Placer County Republican Central Committee have confirmed that they are searching for another candidate). Of course, Doolittle may also be booted from office or forced to resign before then, in which case we will have a special election.
Below is a list of possible Republican candidates, with a quick paragraph for each one. We should be working to find out more about these people and also make sure we are aware of any other possible candidates not listed here. It is crucial that we make sure that Charlie Brown wins this seat in 2008 (or sooner).
Also, there are possible Democratic spoilers in the event of a special election. People to definitely keep an eye on.
If I left anyone out, please let me know. I am not as familiar with El Dorado County politics, so I am sure I am missing at least a couple of credible contenders. I'll update this as needed based on the comments.
