Posted on 03/13/2011 10:39:51 AM PDT by SmithL
From hosting lawmakers at his downtown loft to testifying in a packed committee room, Gov. Jerry Brown has taken a novel approach to the state budget.
Yet negotiations have returned to a familiar spot: trading additional revenue for long-term changes in state government. Brown is negotiating with a splinter group of five GOP lawmakers, whose wish list contains issues that have divided the Capitol for decades.
Anti-tax conservatives made their voices heard weeks ago. But now core Democratic groups – unions and environmentalists – are trying to ensure that legislators don't give too much in exchange for a June tax vote.
Democrats say they can only go so far before their coalition begins to fray. They say unions have already cooperated by agreeing to pension cuts last year and supporting Brown's budget despite its reductions to higher education, social services and health programs.
"Don't overplay it," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said to Republicans. "Step back several months. The people elected Jerry Brown, not Meg Whitman. The people returned strong Democratic majorities to the Legislature."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Fish gotta swim,and RATS gotta tax!
Not all of us were hoping for this. There are still sane people in California. It's just that very few of them are in the government.
Democrats walk the PLANK on budget.
There...fixed it!
Who is Cowpiegirl. Ed Shultz’s caterer?
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