by Robert in Monterey [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

It's unusual when a government press office takes on the state's major newspaper. But that's just what happened last Friday.

The LA Times story noting that Gov. Schwarzenegger is exploring new taxes apparently struck a nerve, as the Governor's rapid response team went into full gear to try to prevent it spreading.

In a memo that was distributed to broadcast outlets only, the Schwarzenegger team called the story "inaccurate." "The Governor's staff HAS NOT been holding private meetings with stakeholders to prepare them for a tax increase -- that is 100 percent inaccurate," the memo read. "The Governor's staff has met with a variety of groups to discuss the budget deficit. The staff has said that all ideas are on the table, but this administration believes we cannout tax our way out of our systemic budget problem."

The memo also took aim at "another inaccurate story story that relied on unnamed sources." That one was about the Governor's position backing a story to run a transmission line through a state park. The memo didn't mention the Schwarzenegger version of that story.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert has an informative Q and A with the new Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill. In it, the Senate's new GOP chief makes it clear that schools are on the chopping block.
 
"What’s the biggest chunk you see out there -- something like here’s $800 million you can save, something large like that?

Cogdill: There are a number of those things. I don’t know that there’s anything that comes up to that large a single amount from any one area of the budget, but I do think that you definitely look at how we spend money on education in the state. Given the fact that, when you throw in higher education, it’s 50-60 percent of our spending.

So when you’ve got this type of budget problem, I don’t think you have any option but to look at the education sector of the budget. Given its size and the cumbersome nature of it, as it relates to categorical and other ways that we spend money, there’s got to be some opportunities there to find some savings."

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

In today’s Democratic weekly radio address Assemblymember John Laird talks about the difficult financial decisions that need to be made by the Legislature and the Governor in light of the state’s growing deficit. Assemblymember Laird, the Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, says, there is a better, fairer and smarter way to balance the state budget than the Governor’s “cuts only, across the board” approach. In the radio address, Assemblymember Laird says, “Rather than papering over the budget problem for one more year on the backs of school kids, the elderly and the poor, we need a mix of responsible, ongoing budget cuts and practical, ongoing new revenues.”

You may listen in English or Spanish or read the transcript below:

The California state budget is a blueprint for investment in our state and in our future. In the era of Governor Pat Brown in the 1960's, our state invested in roads, water, and higher education - and this investment helped make California the eighth largest economy in the world.