Posted on 09/20/2003 9:33:14 AM PDT by John Jorsett
SACRAMENTO -- A pair of San Joaquin-area Republicans who believe they were duped into voting for the state budget say Democrats will have a tough time getting their support again next year.
But an initiative headed to the March ballot would mean their votes aren't needed anyway.
Assembly members Greg Aghazarian and Guy Houston were among a handful of Republicans who voted for the budget bill, helping break weeks of partisan gridlock. But they did so only after extracting promises from majority Democrats that schools, farms and rural law enforcement would get more money. By the time the final gavel fell on this year's legislative session in the early hours last Saturday, the plums for which they voted had died in the Senate. In essence, they had voted for nothing.
Both men say it won't happen again.
"It will cause me pause next time, and I will always second-guess whether or not they are acting in good faith," said Aghazarian, of Stockton. "What's the saying? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
"You bet" it will be hard to get another vote, said Houston, of Livermore. "If there's no trust, if there's no willingness to live up to agreements or obligations, I don't know how a government can function."
Houston believed he was getting $50 million for education equalization, a way to help suburban schools. And Aghazarian thought he was getting, among other things, $34 million for rural law enforcement.
Republicans were criticized for their last-minute bargaining, because their caucus was demanding expensive add-ons after charging that Democrats hadn't cut spending enough. Houston said he and others offered Assembly Democrats "revenue neutral" ways to meet his demands, but that Democrats chose not to make additional cuts to pay for the GOP-proposed programs. In the end, Senate leader John Burton, D-San Francisco, let the revisions die rather than consider them in the upper house.
Although Democrats have a controlling majority in both houses, they still need Republican support to enact a budget or raise taxes because of the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds -- or 67 percent -- majority in both houses for either action.
But a ballot measure backed by union and employee groups would change all that, reducing the majority requirement to 55 percent -- low enough that not a single Republican vote would be needed.
Sponsors of the Budget Accountability Act have gathered more than 1 million signatures to place the measure on the March 2 ballot. If about 600,000 of those signatures are deemed valid, the measure will go before voters.
And if the measure passes, it will become law March 3, months before the Legislature is scheduled to adopt the next budget.
A statewide Field Poll this week showed that support for the measure depends largely on how it is explained to voters.
Houston said he doubts it will pass.
"I think the citizens of California are a lot smarter than that," Houston said. "And I think Californians would be very foolish to just give an open checkbook to those who would like it."
But Gale Kaufman, a spokeswoman for sponsors of the Budget Accountability Act, said voters will support those portions of the measure that promise to punish politicians who can't pass a budget.
"The Legislature has been unable to fix the state's chronic budget problems," Kaufman said. "That's why we were able to collect over a million signatures for the initiative in under 60 days."
Red
If it were up to me I would see these idiots never had the chance to vote on a budget again, ala no reelection. Typical RINO's or Wimps, one is just as bad as another.
Idiots! Even without the promises from the RATS, they are overspending by wasting it on failed schools and farm subsidies.
First rule of politics: NEVER trust a Democrat politician.
D@mn, but you are good.
Red
SACRAMENTO -- A pair of San Joaquin-area Republicans who believe they were duped into voting for the state budget say Democrats will have a tough time getting their support again next year. But an initiative headed to the March ballot would mean their votes aren't needed anyway. Assembly members Greg Aghazarian and Guy Houston were among a handful of Republicans who voted for the budget bill, helping break weeks of partisan gridlock. < -snip- > Houston believed he was getting $50 million for education equalization, a way to help suburban schools. And Aghazarian thought he was getting, among other things, $34 million for rural law enforcement.
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judas rino's discover their ill-gotten "silver"; has turned to "peso's"...
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