Angry Poodle
Thursday, February 19, 2009
PAYBACK’S A BITCH: Coming to terms with the budgetary mega meltdown now consuming the California State Legislature is akin to figuring out which train to root for in a train crash. Whatever the outcome, one thing is certain: We have bit the apple, we have drunk the Kool-Aid, and Elvis has left the building, and he’s running as fast as he can. What’s happening now is a pitched battle pitting bad against worst, dumb against dumber. And for the time being, just one man stands at the tipping point of our collective destinies, a pie-faced politician armed with a prematurely sweet smile hailing from the strawberry fields of Santa Maria named Abel Maldonado.
Angry Poodle
A Republican senator whose district runs from Santa Maria to Silicon Valley, Maldonado qualifies as a rare and endangered species: a genuine moderate in Sacramento. His lone vote is all that stands between 37 million Californians and an approved state budget that purports to fix a $42 billion shortfall. If Maldonado leans one way, he gives the governor and the Democrats now controlling the Senate and the Assembly the nearly unattainable two-thirds supermajority that Californians — in their infinite perversity — have chosen to require for taxation and spending measures. Should Maldonado choose that route, he will earn pious accolades from pundits, patronizing praise from the Democrats, and the undying enmity of fellow Republicans who regard any tax increase as unforgivable betrayal. Should Maldonado play it safe, however, and hang tight with the “No! Nothing!” wing of the state Republican Party, then California’s legislature will find itself still without a budget nine months after one legally was due. At that point, the wheels will fly off the car, the train will jump the tracks, and the billions of dollars the state government routinely injects into the sixth largest economy of the world will dry up and wither away. As it is, California already is tied for last among states by the world finance market when assessing risky investment propositions. Do we really want to be the undisputed worst?
As of this writing, Maldonado is being way too coy. At first he was no, then he was maybe, then no again, and now maybe. Unlike some of his colleagues who bartered their votes for millions of dollars’ worth of raw, naked pork, Maldonado’s aims are seemingly higher-minded. He wants, for example, open primary elections in California, which would enable registered voters to cross party lines when casting their ballots in primary elections. This, he contends, will ensure that more moderates and fewer ideological wing-nuts get elected, thus making California more governable. He also wants to delete from the budget the million dollars earmarked for Controller John Chiang’s office remodel. Chiang has impugned Abel’s motives, suggesting that Maldonado’s real interest is in creating a campaign issue for when he runs for controller again.
Maldonado has played the key swing vote before with mixed results. In January 2006, the Gubernator asked Abel to carry a measure to increase the minimum wage — much hated by fellow Republicans — and he did so. Later that year, when Maldonado ran for controller, he asked for Schwarzenegger’s endorsement in a tight primary contest against Tony Strickland, the just-say-no zealot who — since being elected to represent southern Santa Barbara County — has likened the proposed budget to the “Valentine’s Day Massacre.” When the governor declined to take sides — for fear of further alienating conservative Republicans who’d long since broken off diplomatic relations — Maldonado pulled a public pout-out, verbally bashing the governor for being all take and no give. Although Strickland squeaked by Maldonado in the primary, he ultimately lost to Democrat Chiang.
Maldonado fared better in 2007, however, when he made a deal with democrats to vote for a Democratic-approved budget despite late-night phone calls from Republicans reminding Abel they knew where he parked his car and where his kids went to school. In exchange, the Democrats agreed not to run anyone against Maldonado in 2007, not even a sacrificial stooge. Abel toyed briefly with registering as both a Democrat and a Republican before coasting to an easy victory.
Certainly, there is much for everyone to despise in the proposed budget. The Republicans hate it because it proposes $14 billion in various tax increases, many of which will inflict real pain in the pocketbook. But even if you shut down the state prisons, the state universities, and all the public works projects combined, there simply isn’t enough money to be cut to balance the budget. Even with smoke and mirrors, new taxes are required. Although Democrats outnumber Republicans almost 2-1 in the Legislature, that’s still not enough to meet the state’s suicidal two-thirds requirement. In this instance, three Republicans from each house are needed. In the Senate, there are only two declared. Maldonado would be the third. Deploying the two-thirds requirement for all it’s worth, the Republicans have the Democrats firmly by the shorthairs. And the Democratic leadership — allegedly dominated by left-wing radicals — has rolled over. Desperately seeking Republican defectors, the Dems approved a billion-dollar tax break for businesses long sought by Republican lawmakers. They’ve surrendered on overtime pay requirements — long cherished by the unions — and environmental review for hundreds of mammoth public works projects. In addition, the budget contains $16 billion worth of cuts. Widows and orphans won’t wait to be heaved overboard; they’ll jump instead.
To get real parochial about the impending hits, public schools in Santa Barbara County will lose $42 million. That’s real money and real pain. The Santa Barbara High School district will lose $8.6 million, which translates to $892 less per student. In-home support workers in Santa Barbara — who tend to the frail, elderly, and infirm — will see their pay shrink from $11.10 an hour to $8.60. More than 10,000 county residents now receiving some form of Supplemental Security Income payments will be forced to make do with nearly $10 million less. And the 1,700 county kids who are part of the CalWORKs program will have their stipends reduced or eliminated outright.
As harsh as this is, Senate Republicans still want more. The budget impasse could continue indefinitely. Californians are facing a choice between pain and chaos. Call me old-fashioned, but I still yearn for a credible illusion that some semblance of order exists. I’d rather not find out what happens if we wait until the end of 2009 to pass the 2008 budget. I’m hoping Maldonado can figure out what he really wants and cast the necessary third ballot. In the meantime, let the train wreck begin.