Posted on 06/11/2012 9:44:40 AM PDT by SmithL
As the Capitol churns toward Friday's deadline for a new state budget, the macro-issues are well known, such as whether health, welfare and child care services should be slashed by billions of dollars to close the deficit.
There are, however, other aspects of the annual budget wrangle that go largely unnoticed, such as the march into secrecy – or, more accurately, sneakiness.
For decades, a few key legislators drafted the entire budget in secrecy with virtually no public exposure or input, but about 40 years ago, there was an internal revolt because one powerful senator had loaded up the budget with park projects in his district.
"Park barrel," as it was dubbed, led to reforms in how the budget was drafted, including public hearings and recorded committee votes on specific items.
In recent years, however, the process has been reverting to secrecy, with major policy decrees, including those totally unrelated to the budget, being drafted in the dead of night and enacted without any public exposure.
This year, the Legislature is taking even more steps down the path to secret government by abolishing the traditional "conference committee" that goes through the budget line by line in public, and by increasing the number of so-called "trailer bills," many of which contain token $1,000 appropriations, but have no real budget connection.
What's the real agenda? Giveaways of one kind or another to favored interest groups.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Mostly, however, the budget package contains benefits for public employee unions, the chief source of campaign money for Brown's tax increase and Democratic office seekers.Public Sector unions OWN the Governor and Legislature.
The Statehouse in Sacramento is a giant toilet bowl in serious need of a flush!
Fiddle, fiddle. Burn, burn.
Looks to me like Californians should be stocking up on tea party material ... tar, feathers, and rails included.
Don’t forget rope. A lot of it.
Never does the cost impact of having millions of illegals get factored into the equation. We school em, feed em, treat em, police em, try em, imprison em, parole em, counsel em, on and on..what do we get in return? More of them.
No wonder we have three times as many people on welfare rolls than the rest of the country. No wonder we are going broke.
Don't forget the power of our communists leaning Hollywood. The power these insane uneducated fools have is huge in California.
If they cut the budget, it cuts the Rats’ contributions.
We’ll never get a balanced budget with this obscene conflict-of-interest.
All we need to do is to raise taxes on the rich again, and to build a few more high speed choo-choos.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.