Speaker Pérez and Senate President Steinberg sounded hopeful tones this week after their “Big 5” budget meetings with Governor Schwarzenegger and Republican legislative leaders. They spoke of progress and suggested that they were getting somewhere on a budget deal.
Forgive me for being skeptical, but I don’t trust Pérez any further than I can throw him. The word around Sacramento is that Pérez, a veteran of Democratic machine politics, doesn’t even want a budget to pass before November, since that would hurt the case for Proposition 25, which would change the vote requirement for passing a budget from two-thirds to a simple majority.
Rumor has it that the Speaker has been circulating a memo to his political allies outlining his strategy: speak of progress for the cameras during the month of September, then—in October—say that the budget can’t pass because of the two-thirds requirement. Pérez’s calculation is that the voters will then see Proposition 25 as the solution to the state’s broken system and sign off on tyranny by the majority.
This type of behavior is particularly low-brow, but it’s probably not a surprise coming from the man who back in June sent around a secret memo telling Democrats to not negotiate with Governor Schwarzenegger. With the state’s economy in shambles, it would be nice if Pérez would stop playing Rahm Emanuel-style gutter politics and actually get something done.
But I’m not holding my breath …