Today marks the official return of the State Legislators to Sacramento, as they prepare to start a new session, and prepare for the inauguration. This seems like a good opportunity for us to encourage unity of purpose within the Republican Caucuses in the Senate and in the Assembly, and our Republican Governor. You are literally all that stands between California taxpayers and massive growth in the size and scope of state government. We urge you to focus on the freedom and liberty of Californians — not on ways to use the government to take from some to give to others. The main stream media, the lobbyists, and Democrat leaders will all be trying hard to convince you to vote for more spending, more regulations, more rules, more mandates and more fees. Be strong, be resolute — and tell them all that enough is enough. California’s annual budget has reached staggering proportions — well over $100 billion annually. And this doesn’t count all of the bond spending on top of it. Enough is enough. We wish you all well in this challenge.
**Don’t miss the columns today from Dan Schnur and Ray Haynes, our State Capitol Correspondents, on the main page. Also, if you missed Jon Coupal’s column from yesterday, you can see it here.**
ACKERMAN’S LEADERSHIP FACES FIRST TEST
Tomorrow, State Senate President Don Perata has scheduled a confirmation vote for California Teachers Association honchu Joe Nunez for re-appointment to the State Board of Education. Nunez doesn’t just work for this large public employee union, Nunez is a major player in the political operations of the CTA, and a was the CHAIRMAN of the union-led coalition to trash the important public policy measures championed by the Governor in the 2005 special election.
Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Weintraub, in his Capitol Insider Blog, said of the Governor’s re-nomination of Nunez, "This is the equivalent of George Bush appointing Michael Moore as his ambassador to Iraq. Either Schwarzenegger has figured out a very creative way to shore up his relationship with the CTA or he has very strange judgment in appointments."
Weintraub’s blog post highlights that Nunez, who had already been re-nominated by the Governor to the State Education Board, was quoted in the paper slamming the Governor. Weintraub’s post ends, "And given the Nunez quote in today’s press release, it doesn’t look as if the governor’s guy is building many bridges. Bizarre."
The key here is that the vote to confirm Nunez to this important state position requires an affirmative vote of two-thirds of California Senators. This means that in order to get confirmed, Nunez will need the votes of at least two State Senate Republicans. Given Nunez political role on behalf of liberal campaigns and causes, this will be the first test-vote on whether Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman can unify his Caucus. We will all be watching closely to see if any GOPers "cross party lines" to vote for Nunez. We’ll have an especially close eye on the two Republicans who currently hold Committee Chairmanships in the Senate — Abel Maldonado and Mark Wyland. You can be sure that as GOPers hold a firm resolve, then Perata will start to threaten goodies — these Chairmanships being amongst them. Maldonado, though, is facing re-election next year and will want a unified GOP base on his right, and Wyland, a conservative from northern San Diego County, knows better than most the evils done to the state’s education system by the unions.
We’ll report on the outcome of this vote, and we’ll heap praise on the Republicans who think it is time to show Nunez the door.
We hear that the Governor is NOT using his political muscle on this one, so that leaves GOP Senators free of that political pressure as they consider what to do…
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