[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's chickens are coming home to roost on Wednesday, when he'll announce a budget deficit somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 billion caused by his tax-cutting actions of the last few years. Rumors are swirling in the Capitol about what action he'll take. But the bottom line will be whether he chooses to lead or wimp out.

Here are some of his options:

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The Capitol's ever-dwindling press corps is losing its top investigative reporter. Kimberly Kindy of the San Jose Mercury News/News Media Group, is taking a job at the national political desk of the Washington Post.

That's a dream job for any journalist. It will suit Kindy well.

Kindy, who moved to the Mercury News after the Orange County Register downsized its Sacramento bureau, has penned stories that have shut down a state agency, changed policies and led to new laws. Her most recent series of the Schwarzenegger Administration's fumbling of the state's vehicle fleet's attempt to improve fuel efficiency tied the administration in knots. When I was working for Governor Davis, Kindy also had us tearing our hair out with a series of stories on day care providers.

Always tough, always fair, Kindy should have a field day at the Washington Post, with its resources and its prestige. But the Sacramento press corps will lose one of the only reporters it has that has the leeway to go beyond the daily press conferences and day-to-day goings on in the Capitol.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dave Johnson
Speak Out California

At Speak Out California, we have been writing quite a bit about democracy and about the meaning of the words "We, the People."

Decades of conservative/corporate marketing has convinced too many of us to think of ourselves as passive consumers rather than participatory citizens. This thinking has brought with it numerous negative consequences. But if we work to restore our understanding that WE are "the government" we can start to see our state and country the way the founders intended. We can see that we are in control and can make decisions that increase the benefits we receive as citizens.

In a recent post, The Power of the Words "We, the People" , I wrote: “As an experiment, try substituting the words, "We, the People" every time you read or use the word "government." Or use the word "our" instead of "the" when you say "the government." Our government, us, we, the people.”

Later in that post I wrote: “Conservatives have worked hard to make "government" a bad word. They complain about "big government." They complain about "government schools." But what happens when we substitute a form of "We, the People" into their slogans? The whole meaning seems to change.”

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

As California newspapers go, the Bakersfield Californian is firmly in the conservative column. I'm not talking the nonsense editorials that appear in the Orange County Register or the ones penned by uber-right editorial writer Chris Reed in the San Diego Union-Tribune. But the Bakersfield Californian generally reflects the political views of the Central Valley. In other words, pragmatic conservativism.
 
That's why it's fascinating to see the newspaper juxtaposing the positions of two conservative members of its legislative delegation and their votes on closing the yacht tax loophole. 
 
The paper notes: "When closing the yacht loophole came before a committee earlier this year, Fuller voted to end it. However, she abstained when it came to a full Assembly vote. She told The Californian she saw the issue as another case of taxing businesses and the rich, when state spending should be cut instead.

There's more...

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Robert Cruickshank

The best way to sum up the conservative Republican reaction to both the state's budget deficit and our economic crisis is "avoiding reality." From elected Republicans to their media outlets to their fanatic base, California's right-wing is finding itself having to become more and more extreme and divisive in avoiding the inevitable - higher taxes and more government spending as a solution to both our structural revenue shortfall and our worsening economic crisis.

And in the process, they're also having to rewrite history to avoid blame for those problems. Faced with widespread public outrage over the 10,000 layoff notices sent to teachers this week, among other concerns, Republicans have now decided to accuse Democrats of causing the crisis - even though it was Republican policies that created both the budget deficit AND the economic downturn.

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

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Robert Cruickshank

If every Californian paid an extra $150 a year in vehicle license fees, $6.1 billion would be raised eliminating the proposed budget cuts to health care, parks, and education. If we closed the tax loopholes that LAO Elizabeth Hill identified - as Arnold kinda sorta agreed we should - we would raise $2.5 billion, over half of the $4.4 billion cuts proposed in Arnold's budget.

Or we could fire thousands of teachers. From today's Orange County Register:

“More than 1,590 teachers could lose their jobs.

“Class sizes in hundreds of classrooms might increase from 20 to 30 students.

“And one district may shutter a campus altogether.

“The county's 28 school districts are deep in efforts to develop plans to cut about $204 million, or 5 percent, from their operating budgets in the face of a mounting state budget crisis.