The California budget is just an utter mess at this point- a deficit of $21 billion. If all of the measures pass next week in the special election, then we'll be down to a mere $15 billion. The Governor is completely helpless at this point. The energy and enthusiasm that he brought in to office have been slowly fading away. He's basically evolved in to Gray Davis with better pectoral muscles.
One of the biggest obstacles to fixing the deficit is that California requires a 2/3 vote of the Legislature in order to pass a budget. That means that the minority party can hold the process hostage. Furthermore, because of how incumbents have protected themselves in the redistricting process, we have almost no competitive seats in California. Therefore, the Republicans have reached a point where they are much more worried about the primary than they are about a general election. Republican candidates are terrified about voting for a budget that has any hint of a tax increase because it leaves them vulnerable to a primary challenge.
Until we fix the 2/3 rule, we are going to have budget disasters on a yearly basis in California.
That's an insult to Gray Davis, who at least knew what party he belonged to and had some inkling of what a governor was supposed to do.
ReplyDeleteI imagine Gray hanging out somewhere, watching this debacle, yelling "I told you so"
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