Deja Vu All Over Again

“The People of California want us to live within our means just as they do,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday as he introduced his revised spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2008 which holds the line on spending and does so, at least at the moment, with no tax increases.     Read more »

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The Only Thing New In The World Is The History You Don’t Know

A quarter century ago, another GOP governor, George Deukmejian, faced a fiscal crisis eerily similar to the one Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will attempt to solve when he issues his May Revision on Wednesday the 14th. 

Smart and respected folks have urged Schwarzenegger to take the kind of action Deukmejian’s successor Pete Wilson did and raise taxes.     Read more »

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The Plus Side of Term Limits

Karen Bass sworn in as California’s 67th Assembly Speaker    Read more »

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RESOLVE NOT TO REVISE

On Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will present his May REVISION. 

It is not a revise. 

Nor has it ever been.

Revise, according to the Free On-Line Dictionary – in complete harmony with Funk & Wagnall’s, Webster’s and the venerated OED – is defined as: 

1. To prepare a newly edited version of (a text).    Read more »

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There’s Still Time. Call Direct! Call Collect! But Call Today!

Speaker Bass VIP Reception Fundraiser    Read more »

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Bad Manners

Politics is a nasty, brutal contact sport played in nice threads, an observation I’ve made a number of times by me as both a newspaperman and a blogger. 

But it should always be conducted with good manners is the corollary to that maxim provided by my friend John Mockler. 

One of the people with the best manners and best reputation in the state Capitol and around Sacramento is Dennis Mangers who celebrated his retirement as president of the California Cable & Telecommunication Association Monday evening at the Sacramento Sheraton.     Read more »

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More Good Budget News

The Horseshoe, as insiders call the governor’s office, has to be happy.  So does the Legislature. 

With one more day to go, personal income tax collections for April stand at $12.6 billion — $500 million more than the Schwarzenegger administration predicted in the governor’s January budget plan. 

Although the better-than-anticipated receipts won’t erase the state budget’s $7.4 billion gap between revenue and spending commitments, the additional cash will cause that fiscal hole to not grow as much as budget analysts previously expected.     Read more »

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April Tax Collections Make Budget Woes Slightly Less Bad

The sigh of relief by the Schwarzenegger administration over the past weekend’s record $2.8 billion in April tax collections could easily have been heard upstairs in the Legislature. 

While the state’s deteriorating economy will likely drive the existing $7.4 billion budget shortfall to more than $10 billion when the GOP governor unveils his revised spending plan in May, less-than-predicted tax receipts in April – the state’s biggest revenue month – would have significantly worsened the problem.     Read more »

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Vote Early, Vote Often

A couple of good Capitol eggs want to be elected delegates to the Democratic National Convention from Sacramento Fifth Congressional District. 

Karen Skelton, a former Bill Clinton and Al Gore staffer now with Dewey Square and Steve Maviglio, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez’s communications director, are trolling for votes. 

The election is this Sunday at the Sacramento Public Library on 8th and I at 2 p.m.    Read more »

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The Latest Sub Prime Mortgage Victim — Student Loans

As a result of the sub prime mortgage crisis and skittish lenders, the federal government is expected to declare Thursday that California’s Student Aid Commission will become the state’s lender of last resort for federal student loans. 

The increasing reluctance of some private lenders to remain in the student loan market comes at the time applicants are receiving their letters of acceptance from colleges around the country.     Read more »

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