And then there were two. Radlovic, Escobar and now Stan Carroll have abandoned thier bids for the 60th AD race to replace Bob Huff. That leaves Larry Dick and Curt Hagman to slug it out. See here. See previous post on Carroll here.… Read More

Well the lockdown is over – we’re FREE!

After a fruitless effort of trying to break us into passing the irresponsible Assembly budget, the seige is over.

Finally, calmer heads have prevailed and instead of the "we’ll break ’em" tactics, Senator Perata has decided that we should negotiate like adults.

We are working toward a budget without a deficit – that’s our goal. Our budget team will be working over the weekend with the Democrats. Hopefully we will get there.

Senator Perata is a bit testy, but at least we’re free.… Read More

Former Democratic Assemblyman Ed Chavez has filed to run for the Mount San Antonio Community College District. Ed was term limited last year and his wife lost the Democratic Primary for the 57th Assembly District to Ed Hernandez.

Los Angeles Countyhas many off year elections. You can get info here.

There are three seats up. Two are held by Republicans, long time GOP volunteer Fred Chyr and Roseanne Bader, former Assemblyman’s Chuck Bader’s wife.

Does that mean he is ruling out a race for Gloria Romero’s seat?… Read More

OK, everyone ready for day two of "As State Government Grows"?

The big fat state budget (ok, it is a little less big and fat due to some negotiations) has been passed in the Assembly and transmitted over to the Senate, where it awaits action.

The big question is what will happen to it there. There has been some coverage of Senate President Don Perata grousing about provisions in the package that he doesn’t like. I don’t buy that for a minute. Can you say "posturing" — I can! Perata is an old hand at this game. He knows that passing out the existing Democrat-driven (GOP tinkered with) budget is a great deal for all of California’s special interests as it by and large maintains the status quo on how our state operates.

That said, as a shrewd negotiator will do, he HAS to be vocally critical of the plan from the left, in order to "do the dance" with Senate Republicans who have been saying the plan does not go far enough in terms of being fiscally prudent. Perata would like to choreograph this dance so that waiting at the center of the dance floor is the Assembly-passed bill.

Senate… Read More

I have been in meetings most of the day, and returned to a plethora of emails asking for updates on the budget kabuki dance.

The Senate took up the budget as passed over in the Assembly, which failed on a 25-14 vote with all of the GOP Senators voting no except Abel Maldonado who courageously…abstained? Of course, this bloated and fat budget needs 27 votes to pass.

Senate President Don Perata has now in Soviet style “locked down” the Senate, keeping the members there to “force” some sort of bill through.

In hearing the concerns of Senate Republicans, it is clear that they should be commended, as they are insisting on a better budget for Californians.

It will be interesting to see what happens. Assembly GOP Leader did a deal, figuring it was as good as it was going to get. This is not good enough for Dick Ackerman and his GOP Senators.

Perhaps when Don Perata eventually grows up and “frees” the Senators, the Senate and Assembly GOPers can go somewhere and come to an agreement. That said, I am in favor of whomever wants to hold out for the best deal for taxpayers.

It is… Read More

Senator George Runner’s office just sent this over:

When it comes to crafting a balanced budget, teamwork counts By Sen. George Runner While I appreciate the strong efforts by Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines and his leadership team to make this budget “as good as it could get,” I believe more experience would have helped negotiate a better deal. Assembly Republicans showed political muscle by striving to become more… Read More

Both Brandon Powers and George Runner below make reference to this issue…. Here is a memo on it from the Prince of Darkness, co-signed by Mike Villines…

FROM: Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines

DATE: July 20, 2007

RE:Drafting Error in Senate Bill 98 Related to Research and Development Credit

We write both to bring to your attention an inadvertent drafting error by Legislative Counsel in Senate Bill 98, which passed off the Assembly Floor last night with strong bipartisan support, and to express our mutual understanding to address this drafting error in August.

As you know, SB 98 contains numerous provisions, all of which provide enhanced taxpayer incentives to bring new jobs and capital investment to California. One particular area of emphasis in Senate Bill 98 is the area of research and development tax credits, and in particular conforming California’s tax law to the federal Alternative Incremental Credit (AIC). SB 98 provides a full five-year conformity to this enhanced federal credit.

However, in the final draft of… Read More

BUDGET UPDATE Friday, 5:00 pm So far, ALL SENATE REPUBLICANS ARE HOLDING FIRM. The budget bill (SB 77) is two votes short of passage. The Democrats are holding the roll open indefinitely in hopes of pressuring passage and have “locked down” the Senate, meaning that it may be in session all night – Democrats seem to have a penchant for that. PLEASE KEEP THE PHONE CALLS AND E-MAILS COMING TO SENATE REPUBLICANS THEIR OFFICES SHOULD BE OPEN AS LONG AS THE BUDGET BILL IS PENDING. YOU’RE MAKING A DIFFERENCE AND NOW IS THE TIME TO POUR IT ON. Below is the speech I just gave on the Senate Floor Mr. President: A year ago, this legislature adopted a budget that ran up the biggest general fund deficit in California’s history. The architects of this budget admit to adding another half billion dollars to the cumulative shortfall, and expect that this looks good in comparison. There are two problems. First, by their own numbers, this budget sets in motion a deficit next year of between $5 ½ billion to $7 billion (depending on how you account for reserves). That means the five-year… Read More