In case you missed it, on Sunday the state of California stopped making payments on a number of things, including money owed to state contractors, Cal Grant recipients, and taxpayers awaiting refunds.
Also, California will begin mandatory two-day per month furloughs of 238,000 state employees to conserve cash. Even with these measures, the state will be out of cash by the end of this month, and then the trouble will really begin.
These emergency measures, enacted by Governor Schwarzenegger and State Controller John Chiang, are happening because the State Legislature and the governor's office have not been able to come up with a budget compromise to close the $42 billion chasm the state currently faces.
In the latest developments, state Republicans are threatening to censure any of their members who vote for tax increases. The state's super-majority rule on budgets means the Republicans can hold up any budget compromise, provided they keep their legislators from crossing the aisle to vote with the Democratic majorities in the State Assembly and State Senate.
Anthony Adams, the Republican Assemblyman for the 59th Assembly District, which includes Claremont, has indicated a willingness to vote for some tax increases. Adams, whose district had trended ever more center-left in recent years, by necessity has to be more moderate than some of his Republican colleagues in districts with safe seats. Thus, Adams has signaled an openness to tax increases even though it could mean the end of his political career since it would give anti-tax opponents in a Republican primary election ammunition to attack his record.
On Sunday, a Daily Bulletin editorial defended Adams' stance, saying:
Adams is a Republican, and it's GOP heresy to admit that any tax might ever have to be raised. Never mind that no Republican legislator can or will tell you how to cut $42 billion in spending from state government spending over the next 18 months. Shall we close all the University of California and Cal State University campuses and shut down the state's prisons, releasing all the inmates? Sorry, that's not enough.
So Adams, whose district includes Claremont, La Verne and San Dimas, said a very reasonable thing: that it would be worth raising some taxes in this fiscal emergency if the return were some guaranteed restraint in the future on the kind of past overspending that put California in this mess.
We find that a sensible position, exactly what Republican legislators should be seeking instead of just repeating their simplistic "no new taxes" pledge. They have leverage, and they should use it to protect the fiscal future; but there's no getting
around the emergency faced right now without more revenue from some sources.
Adams took considerable heat from KFI AM-640 talk show hosts John and Ken last week, as Rebecca Kimitch reported in Bulletin on January 28th:Adams' statements, and similar comments made by several other Republican legislators, flies in the face of a "no new taxes" pledge most Republicans signed last year.
The change of heart has inspired the John and Ken Show radio program on KFI AM-640 to castigate Adams - and three other Republican lawmakers - on the air.
Hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou have started a "heads on a stick" campaign calling on listeners to tell Republicans to "stand firm on taxes or else."
"Listeners think (the campaign) is right on, they are ready to run out with sticks themselves. There is going to be a tax revolt if (lawmakers) do this... there is going to be a big backlash," Kobylt said. "We'll see propositions to reverse the taxes, and efforts to throw these guys out."
Sacramento's budget impasse prompted 11 of Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group-owned California newspapers to run a front-page editorial excoriating our political leaders this past Sunday. Here's part of the San Jose Mercury News' version:
Today, the state will stop paying some of its bills and start issuing IOUs. It will stiff taxpayers due refunds, students depending on Cal Grants to stay in school and contractors who have performed work. If the days without a budget lengthen, economic havoc will spread like a virus, and the state's bad faith and credit will infect cities, counties and schools.
The governor and all 120 legislators share responsibility for this. But most of the blame for the immediate crisis falls on Republicans in the Legislature, who this past summer — to a person — signed a pledge to not raise taxes. That was before an already large deficit mushroomed, making the need for more revenue imperative. Since then, Democrats and the Republican governor have offered significant compromise, but GOP lawmakers cling to ideological purity — schools, health care and other essential responsibilities be damned.
These lawmakers constitute barely over one-third of the Legislature. But because the California Constitution requires a two-thirds vote on the budget, it enables the tyranny of a minority to trump majority rule.
This day didn't sneak up on anyone. It's the result of too much borrowing and too little political courage over too many years — lavish spending in good times and insufficient restraint in bad. For this, Democrats, who've controlled the Legislature, and the governor share responsibility. Compounding the problem are spending initiatives that bind the Legislature's hands. Voters have themselves to blame for these.
The governor and legislative leaders were scheduled to meet again yesterday to try to figure a way out of this mess. There was no word of any resolution, however. Oh, the games people play.
Posts
