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A bit of background for non-cali folks:
Right now we have a majority of dems in the house. Due to our constitution budget measures have to pass by a 75% vote. Up until now the dems have been proposing raising taxes through a variety of methods (one of the recent contentious one has been the vehicle license fees that were just reinstated--they were given as refunds during our boom years, but they've always been around so this isn't quite "raising" taxes).
The minority repubs have been axing every budget proposal to come their way because they don't want to raise taxes--no surprise they want to cut services (one of which is the UC system, arguably one of the best education systems in the world, installed by Reagan, BTW.) Regardless of the view you take on taxes the group holding the budget from passing has been the republicans, not the other way around. While this is going on, recall efforts were put in action and built momentum on the basis of a lack of a budget and clear plan from the dems during our crisis.
From these scant exerpts it is apparent to those living here that these members are discussing the feasability of leaving the budget in the lurch and letting the people feel the crunch so they'll approve a change of the budget passing rules to a 55% margin rather than a 75% one--odd that you would label that a political "gain" for the dems. A few months ago many of you same posters were decrying the "super-majority" it was taking to nomiate judges and calling for the Congress majority to change the fillibuster rules so that the votes wouldn't need a 66% margin--hmm.
The dems aren't "stalling" the budget. The minority has consistently refused to ratify the proposed budgets for the past month. The dems have to decide if they want to play hardball and let their majority proposal sit on the table (thereby opening themselves to the public disapproval of no budget being passed because the majority--despite the minority vetoe power--is viewed as the responsible party) and face a certain defeat of Davis
or
revamp the proposal to reflect the wishes of the minority in the house and patch up the problems for another year and have it all come crashing down next fiscal year anyway (but reducing public ire by actually having a plan--even if it will ultimately fail). Since they are already facing the recall this convo seems to be weighing the feasability of cutting one's losses (that being the fact that they already have to face a recall vote) and playing hardball to at least be able to push the 55% measure on the ballot.
Of course, you don't want the reduction of ballot measure margins to a more balanced level because, if you really do know cali politics, you would know that dems are dominating the state-wide elections. Now this doesn't square with what most of you post elsewhere but since that hasn't stopped you from being inconsisten before, I don't see why this would be any different.
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"The theory of a free press is that truth will emerge from free discussion, not that it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account." -- Walter Lippmann
"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists." -- Abbie Hoffman
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