An interesting dynamic going on in California. Gov. Schwarzenegger just picked Republican State Senator Abel Maldonado to replace recently elected Rep. Garamendi as Lieutenant Governor. Initially this was great news because Dems could win Maldonado's seat and be just one seat away from winning the 2/3 majority needed to essentially govern the state and prevent deeper budget cuts. I'm familiar with Maldonado because when I was out in CA on book tour, he was all over the press as the Olympia Snowe of the state, demanding deal after deal to be the last vote needed to pass the budget- even winning a concession to place two propositions on the ballot. The second- Top Two Primary- has a lot of implications for state elections.
Now, Democratic Senate leaders are balking (the nomination needs to be approved by the Senate) because they think it may give him a leg up on the LG spot- something that Robert Cruickshank at Calitics, and a constituent of Maldonado's, disputes. So many are actually calling for his confirmation to sail through as quickly as possible because getting a 2/3 Dem majority is absolutely critical. On the other hand, I have some friends who sneered at it as the same "as soon as we have 60 Senate Dems all will be well" argument that never comes true.
On Thursday, September 24th, an estimated five thousand people attended a rally on Sproul Plaza at the University of California, Berkeley. The rally and subsequent march through campus and downtown Berkeley-scheduled to coincide with and planned in support of the University of California (UC) Faculty Walkout that took place on all ten UC campuses-brought together undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, university workers and alumni to protest the budget cuts at Berkeley and stand up for public education across California.
Last Friday at 5:00 p.m. (which he's apt to do when releasing bad news), San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom vetoed three pro-tenant ordinances designed to help renters facing hard times. He even nixed a relatively mild proposal to limit "banked" rent increases to 8% - despite this being consistent with existing policies at the Mayor's Office of Housing. Newsom's record on tenant issues in San Francisco has always been bad, and his latest act does not bode well for next year's statewide elections. California's 14 million renters need a champion in the Governor's Mansion after six years of a hostile Republican Administration, but Newsom currently only has one opponent for the Democratic primary - California Attorney General Jerry Brown. Based on his record as Mayor of Oakland, Brown can be counted on to be just as anti-tenant - if not worse - than Newsom. There is no excuse why a deep blue state like California can't have a pro-tenant Governor, and the current field of Democratic candidates creates an opening for a new person to jump into the fray.
Yesterday's front-page story in the SF Chronicle on the California budget crisis was shocking, dishonest and disgraceful. The piece described Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as a "steely-eyed, sword-wielding strongman" - who will "hold his ground" against Democrats in the state legislature. Never mind the Terminator has driven the state to bankruptcy - after six years of tax cuts for the rich, fiscal gymnastics and borrowing schemes. Never mind that Schwarzenegger lied about a voter mandate in the May 19th election - and says he won't support a "single tax increase whatsoever." Never mind that by vetoing last week's budget stop-gap measure, Arnold forfeited $2 billion that the state can no longer use - and our government now has to pay with I.O.U.'s. Never mind the Governor told the New York Times that despite the state's disastrous plight, he will sit down in his Jacuzzi and "lay back with a stogie." The Bay Area's paper of record would rather portray him as a "tough guy."
On Tuesday, President Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor as his pick to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Sotomayor could be the first Latina appointed to the Supreme Court. Predictably, attacks and slurs from the Right are already flying. Regardless, Sotomayor would be an excellent choice for the Supreme Court, signaling to Latino/as that the White House is aware of our need for more representation in government.
I've been on record supporting a special election to get the budget reform California desperately needs - such as scrapping the "two-thirds rule" in the legislature, or helping local governments raise revenue. But now that a statewide election is set for May 19th, no such measures will be on the ballot. Instead, the six propositions we will get to vote on are Schwarzenegger gimmicks that would cripple the state's ability to function, throw us further into debt, and roll back a small handful of fiscal victories. A campaign must start now to urge a "no on everything" vote, repeating the success that progressives had in 2005 by defeating Arnold's special election. The Governor, however, is a lot savvier this time. Prop 1B (which deals with school funding) is a naked ploy to keep teachers from opposing Prop 1A (an awful spending cap), and there's a dangerous possibility that organized labor will sit out this whole election. Democrats are not unified in their opposition, as State Senate President Darrell Steinberg even gave Schwarzenegger cover last week at a press conference when he promoted the "budget reform" package. Only by exposing this election as another Arnold scam can the state come out winning, helping to map a sane fiscal future for California.
With the state bankrupt and giving I.O.U.'s instead of tax refunds, the California legislature is expected to vote on a mid-year budget later this week. It's bound to have horrific cuts, but no one has details because it's being crafted in secret negotiations with the "Big Five" (Governor + party leaders in each chamber.) Democrats control 63% of the legislature, but the "two-thirds rule" lets Republicans run the show. And the minority refuses to vote for a single tax increase - unless Democrats agree to kill the eight-hour workday (and other similar extortions.) Everyone thinks a statewide special election is inevitable, which could help us get meaningful budget reform. But June 2nd would be a terrible time to do it, because none of the needed fiscal reforms would be on the ballot. Instead, we'd have the Governor's awful proposal to borrow money off future lottery revenue - and a deeply insidious proposal to cap state spending. While San Francisco has no choice but to call a June special election (or else cut half of its General Fund), the state musn't go full speed ahead.
Because Governor Schwarzenegger is impotent at brokering a budget, the state will be out of money on February 1st - and will start issuing I.O.U.'s. That means no tax rebates, no financial aid and no other means of assistance. Now we are looking at a statewide special election to get out of this mess. If all we get is more Arnold gimmicks to delay the problem another year, it will be a tragically wasted opportunity. Because now, more than ever, the public is willing to consider tax reform to get us out of the right wing fiscal straitjacket. Beyond the Democrats' effort to scrap the archaic two-thirds budget rule, legislators must consider placing ballot measures to amend Prop 13 (by exempting commercial property) - and eliminate Prop 218's onerous requirement that local revenue measures get a two-thirds vote by the electorate. With the recession wreaking havoc on our fiscal health, the public has finally woken up to the horror of right-wing tax policy. For the first - and possibly only - time, voters might approve progressive ways to raise revenue.
Arnold's executive order laying off 10,000 state employees - and slashing another 200,000 paychecks to the federal minimum wage - is not just insulting because he's punishing people for the actions of others. It's that the budget crisis we're in is largely his fault, and the Governor refuses to take responsibility. Starting with Schwarzenegger's first day in office when he repealed the Vehicle License Fee, Arnold has played one game of fiscal gymnastics after another - leaving us with today's budget deficit of $17 billion. With right-wing Republicans in the state legislature still playing their usual game of obstructionism, Arnold has shown no leadership of reining them in - and now says that state workers have to suffer. When Newt Gingrich did this to federal employees in 1995, he paid a heavy political price for it. Will the press let Arnold off the hook again?
During the 2003 recall campaign, Arnold Schwarzenegger promised he would "fix" the budget. He fixed it, all right, his first day in office he repealed the vehicle license fee (VLF), leaving the state liable for an addition $6 billion of local spending annually. He then used all kinds of "creative financing" as it's known in Hollywood, to maintain the illusion that everything was just fine. This January, he dropped the act.
"For several years, we kept the budget wolf from the door, but the wolf is back," he said, as he announced an 18-month budget shortfall of $14.5 billion, a figure that the non-partisan Legislative Analyst soon upped to $16 billion. The Democratic legislative leadership managed to trim that by $9 billion with some creative financing of its own, before the Governor announced on April 24 that it was up to $10 billion, and still climbing as California's economy continued to worsen, along with the rest of America, and the world.
For some idea of what this means, in March, the California Budget Project reported that the Governors proposed budget would hit children, seniors, the poor and disabled especially hard. In Los Angeles County alone, this would include cuts of $670 per student for all 1,544,710 students served by the county's public schools. In the past, conservative Republican governors like Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson agreed to balancing budget cuts and tax increases to fill budget gaps, but so-called "moderate" Arnold Schwarzenegger is dead set against raising taxes-Republican legislators are even more adamant.
All of which means we need to "think outside the box."
Mandatory Blood Donations
Because education cuts account for such a large chunk of the budget gap, it seems only natural to think creatively about how these cuts in particular might be made up. Some have suggested instituting a system of mandatory blood donations for all students, and using the proceeds to help fill the budget gap. At first blush, it seems like a promising approach.
Demonstrating a profound preference for style over substance, sizzle over steak, Barack Obama has said that he would consider appointing Arnold Schwarzenegger to his cabinet--apparently in total ignorance of the vast gap between Schwarzenegger's posturing and his actual record. While two other Republicans Obama cited have substantial records, Schwarzenegger has repeatedly subverted the very policies he loves to take credit for.
A key California Democract caved yesterday, adopting most of the tenets of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care proposal--and subjecting patients to forced insurance, threats to seize wages to pay the premiums of the very for-profit insurance companies who are speedily wrecking our health care system, and no controls on the costs patients would be legally required to bear.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee said today that it will oppose the latest healthcare plan proposed by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.
"As more details continue to emerge, it is apparent that this proposal is riddled with flaws that could exacerbate the healthcare crisis for countless numbers of California families," said CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro.
More details below, or visit the online home of the Nationanl Nurses Organizing Committee and California Nurses Association, and join the fight for guaranteed healthcare on the single-payer model.
More than SCHIP, the important action in the movement for guaranteed healthcare is happening in California, where the insurance industry almost pulled off the big scam, getting Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Speaker Fabian Nunez to cooperate on a plan forcing the sale of more expensive, unworkable insurance products-and blocking the guaranteed, single-payer reform this country needs.
Good news! The Schwarzenegger-Nunez scam is dead! This is a major victory for progressives, patients, and nurses. The Dems have figured out how bad a deal Schwarzenegger is offering, and the plan's main cheerleader Nunez is near-dead politically by revelations that his wife is now on the hospital industry payroll to the tune of six figures, and that he is struggling with a nasty case of luxury shopaholism with donor money.
Like a slow-motion earthquake the healthcare mess continues to roil the Golden State. Just this week, California Governor pitches the lottery as his secret weapon for solving the healthcare crisis, Speaker Nunez makes clear why he has to keep taking so much money from health insurance corporations, and mega-chain Sutter Healthcare faces the largest nurses strike in a decade.
There's no doubt that Hillary Clinton unleashed her healthcare plan with a better pr campaign than any other candidate…just as there's no doubt that many of the plans being pushed by politicians look alike.
We'll take a look at where the healthcare debate has gone since Hillary turned the heat up……cross-posted at the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association's Breakroom Blog, as we organize to make 2007 the Year of GUARANTEED healthcare on the single-payer model.
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