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Dan Walters: Capitol's conviviality just facade
Sacramento Bee ^ | 1/8/8 | Dan Walters

Posted on 01/08/2008 8:15:52 AM PST by SmithL

State legislators exchanged hugs, handshakes and kisses Monday as they returned to the Capitol for another year of doing whatever it is that they do – which usually isn't much and may be even less this year.

The outward conviviality was merely a facade because lawmakers know that the 2008 session could be one of the most contentious in years, given a wide ideological divide and a surfeit of critical, long-simmering issues, most notably and importantly a budget deficit of at least $14 billion over the next 18 months.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will quickly set the stage for confrontation when he delivers a State of the State speech and unveils a new budget that will take a hard line of slashing spending and avoiding new taxes that the Legislature's dominant Democrats have already rejected.

They'll clash, too, over Schwarzenegger's proposal to give him and future governors more authority to unilaterally reduce spending when deficits appear – a replay of what he proposed to voters in 2005, only to see it buried by a union-financed opposition campaign.

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger's much-ballyhooed health care plan is stalled, at least temporarily, in the Senate, and while the governor's fellow Republicans side with him on taxes and the budget, his likely proposal to free some inmates from the state's overcrowded prisons to save money is drawing GOP jeers.

The perennial water conflict was rejoined immediately as Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata pushed through the Senate a new version of a $611 million water project bill that Schwarzenegger has already vetoed because it doesn't contain authority for new reservoirs. A partisan and ideological schism over water storage has stalled action on the issue for decades, even as population and demand for water have continued to grow.

(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: showtime

1 posted on 01/08/2008 8:15:53 AM PST by SmithL
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To: SmithL

What time is Arnold state-of-the-state speech today when he tells us it’s our fault his government has failed after all these years.


2 posted on 01/08/2008 8:21:22 AM PST by edcoil (Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
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To: SmithL
most notably and importantly a budget deficit of at least $14 billion over the next 18 months.

Socialism/libralism FAILS every time its tried!!!

3 posted on 01/08/2008 8:26:09 AM PST by Don Corleone (Leave the gun..take the cannoli)
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To: edcoil; NormsRevenge; SierraWasp; Amerigomag; Carry_Okie; tubebender; SmithL

Governor Schwarzenegger’s State of the State Address
Tuesday, January 8 — 3:30PM

It looks like they will have a live webcast from his website:
http://gov.ca.gov/


4 posted on 01/08/2008 9:21:26 AM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: SmithL

Why it is OK to have a form of ‘political mafia’ allowed to run state gubamint is ludicrous.

He needs to support Prop 93 and getting peRata and Nunez out of the legislature.

but that wouldn’t be nice now, would it?


5 posted on 01/08/2008 9:31:05 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE’s toll-free tip hotline —1-866-DHS-2-ICE ... 9/11 .. Never FoRGeT)
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To: SmithL

Open up your golden gate...........$10 bill in services to illegals, $14 bill deficit.


6 posted on 01/08/2008 9:32:06 AM PST by purpleraine
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