Sentate Leader Darrell Steinberg's Gauntlet to the Republicans

CA State Legislature Senate leader, Darrell Steinberg, threw a gauntlet down on the floor to the Republicans. A challenge that he wants them to take up.

Steingberg says he believes in bi-partisanship (which means working with the other party, not just trampling on them). However, he was in full support of the Democratic plan to fix some of the holes in the budget that made an end-run around having to get Republican support. They call it "the majority vote plan."

Steinberg says that "there is a greater responsibility than to practice bi-partisanship and that is to govern." He says that is what the specially crafted budget package is supposed to do.

The budget package deals in fees, swapping taxes, and loopholes in state tax law. None of those things need 2/3 vote to pass, they simply need a majority. The Democrats have a majority in both houses of the California State Legislature, and so can pass anything they want to on a majority vote (assuming everyone stays in line and votes down party lines).

However, how is this governing? By any definition, governing has to take place within legal parameters and is supposed to follow the spirit of those laws, not simply the letter. Otherwise you are left with a government that is governing without the consent of the governed - which is not in accord with Californian beliefs. Even the Californians with the most disparate beliefs wouldn't agree to having the Legislature work without the laws, instead of within them.

Maybe this package follows the letter of the law, but certainly not the spirit.

The guantlet has been thrown to the Republicans. The Democrats want them to move away from their stance on "no new taxes" and move towards where the Democrats stand.

The Republicans have told the Democrats what it will take for them to vote for new taxes, but the Democrats don't listen. Instead they insist that negotiating with the Republicans is like "banging your head against a wall." Rather than take the Republican needs/demands into account, the Democrats simply say "No" and think the Republicans are going to move.

Good luck.

Included in this plan is an "income surcharge." Now, to raise income tax you have to get a 2/3 vote. But this "income surcharge" is supposedly not a tax. However, all residents will have to pay an additional 2.5% on your income tax bills. Tell me how this isn't a tax?

I vote no on the income surcharge.

While Steinberg is busy throwing gauntlets around, maybe he should consider negotiations instead. Simply because you don't move to the position of the Democrats doesn't mean that you are not negotiating. Steinberg, and the Dems, seem to think that if you don't move to their position you are an obstructionist. But that's just not true. Negotiations involve both people moving, not simply one.

So I challenge the Republicans to hold firm. Get some reforms before you vote for tax increases. I certainly don't want more of my money going to an ineffective government.