A California Hostage Crisis, Not a Budget Negotiation

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Robert Cruickshank

That's what California Republicans are planning this summer, according the LA Times:

“GOP lawmakers hope to use their leverage over the state budget, which cannot pass without some of their votes, to roll back landmark policies implemented by Democrats and the governor. Among them are curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, regulations banning the dirtiest diesel engines and rules dictating when employers must provide lunch breaks for workers.”

They tried the same stuff last summer and it went nowhere. But with a larger deficit Republicans clearly believe now is the time to hold a gun to students' and patients' heads and demand right-wing policy implementation or else:

“"We think the budget is an appropriate place to talk about these issues," said Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster). "We are setting them on the table for discussion."

““Runner acknowledges that the proposals won't help balance the books in the coming fiscal year, but he argues that they would stimulate the economy and thus generate cash for the state over time.

“"They are reasonable issues to bring up" now, he said.”

Democrats and the Sierra Club denounced the hostage plans in the article, but it is going to take more than complaining to a newspaper reporter to overcome this. Democrats need to be more aggressively framing the Republicans as a party that wants to destroy schools, hospitals, and transportation systems while also gutting the global warming laws that Californians overwhelmingly endorse.

Framing the Republicans as a radical fringe that has to resort to hostage taking to get their way would do wonders for the Democratic position in these negotiations and would also set up Democrats very well for the November elections. Unfortunately we haven't seen much at all from Sacramento Democrats in the way of framing or other PR wars against the Republicans, even though they've given Democrats a priceless opportunity.

If Democrats think the budget is going to be resolved in the halls of the Capitol building, instead of on the airwaves, in print, and in daily conversation that follows from both, they're quite mistaken.

Robert Cruickshank is a historian, activist, and teacher living in Monterey. He is a contributing editor at Calitics.com and works for the Courage Campaign, in addition to teaching political science at Monterey Peninsula College. Currently he is completing his Ph.D. dissertation in US history, on progressive politics in San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s. A native Californian, he was raised in Orange County and educated at UC Berkeley.