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Gunner
 
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Default An apology

On 22 Jul 2003 10:14:14 -0700, jim rozen
wrote:


Voters don't care any about the fancy-pants stuff. Or about
hundred dollar tax rebates. If they're out of work, they're
gonna vote the man out of office. Bank on that, I would say.

Jim


Which reminds me. You may or may not have heard about this yet..but its
a clear cut case of the Dems trying to further their political ambitions
and using the pain of the people to do it. A transcript will be
forthcoming, but it was quite clear to several thousand people that the
Dems were quite happy about prolonging the crisis here in California, so
those same Dems could use it to further their own agendas. As I said in
an earlier post... to the Dems, the ends justifys the means, no matter
how many innocent people it hurts (including their own) and its even
better when they can feather their own nests while doing it..

The voters are indeed going to remember this come November.. this is one
that the California Dems are not going to be able to weasel out of...and
we are going to hold their feet to the fire....EG

Lawmakers' hush-hush talk broadcast live
By Alexa H. Bluth -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Tuesday, July 22, 2003

Unbeknown to them, a group of Assembly Democrats' private gab session
about the state budget impasse -- including the political implications
of accepting a Republican-driven spending plan without tax hikes -- was
broadcast across the Capitol on Monday.
Part of the more than hourlong conversation rang out on a broadcast
system available inside the Capitol and to subscribers outside the
building -- including media and lobbyists. Alerted to the mix-up,
Republican staffers recorded about 15 minutes of the conversation and
later supplied a partial transcript to reporters.



The Assembly members at the meeting tried to guess which Senate
Democrats would support a plan being crafted by Senate Republican leader
Jim Brulte and Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco.

Some also tried to gauge the political costs of going along with a
budget that contained heavy program cuts, suggesting that it might be
advantageous to swallow an additional $1.5 billion worth of cuts
included in the GOP plan this year, instead of next year when Assembly
members face re-election.

The lawmakers also discussed how the budget impasse would affect a
planned ballot initiative that some Democrats are pressing. The
initiative would ask voters to reduce the required threshold to approve
a budget to 55 percent of the Legislature instead of the current
two-thirds requirement. At least one legislator said that a longer delay
would help the case for lowering the threshold.

"Since this is going to be a crisis, the crisis could be this year. No
one's running, and maybe you end up better off than you would have, and
maybe you don't. But what you do is you show people that you can't get
to this without a 55 percent vote," said Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg,
D-Los Angeles, according to excerpts of the discussion provided by
Republican legislative staff.

Goldberg also said, according to the excerpts, that the budget crisis
would illustrate what she called damaging effects of Proposition 13,
which limited the growth of property taxes.

"Some of us are thinking that maybe people should see the pain up close
and personal, right now," said Goldberg, who could not be reached for
comment Monday night.

The lawmakers were meeting in one of the Capitol's many committee rooms,
which are equipped to broadcast public hearings. The audio equipment
typically is turned off for such private meetings.

"It's just one of those accidents, much ado about nothing," said
Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, D-Compton, who assembled the small group of
what he called "progressive Democrats" that has been meeting since
January to hash out budget issues.

The blunder came as the state has operated for 21 days without a budget,
and as Senate leaders are reportedly on the verge of striking a budget
deal that would not include new taxes.

Republicans -- the minority in both chambers -- have said they will not
supply the needed votes for a budget that includes tax increases to help
erase a $38.2 billion state budget hole. But Brulte and Burton have been
meeting to reach a compromise that could hit the Senate floor this week.

Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, who was at the
meeting, was unhappy that the discussion was broadcast, but also was
unapologetic.

"If the Republicans are gleeful that they caught us on tape, the
discussion was open and frank, and frankly one that we need to have,"
Jackson said. "It was really just sort of a brainstorming discussion."

Still, when someone finally informed the group that the conversation was
being broadcast, Goldberg uttered a profanity and declared, "How could
that happen?"


Liberals - Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends
of every country save their own. Benjamin Disraeli