Archive for February, 2009
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New California State Senate Leader Dennis Hollingsworth has called for re-opening Big 5 California State Budget negotiations while taking taxes off of the table.
In a news conference with Senator Barbara Boxer, Senate Democrat Leader Darrell Steinberg rejects this approach and vows to continue to pursue one or two GOP Senators to vote for the current Big 5 proposal.
State Senator Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, gets a hug from Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, after he was ousted as Senate Minority Leader at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009. In a late night move, Cogdill was voted out of his leadership position and replaced by Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Temecula
California State Senate Democrat Leader Darrell Steinberg continues to hold the Senate hostage and in “LOCK DOWN” (Senators cannot leave the Capitol) in an attempt to pass a California State Budget which includes tax increases.
The state Senate reconvened Wednesday morning and lifted the call on the tax-hike part of the legislative puzzle.
The roll was called and the votes remained unchanged around 8:30 a.m. 23 ayes. 12 noes.
Senate Democrats immediately called for a private caucus off the floor.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, in a brief interview, reiterated that the Democrats’ strategy remains the same, despite the ousting of GOP leader Dave Cogdill late last night.
“The question is does this mean we go back to square one and start over? Absolutely not,” the bleary-eyed Sacramento Democrat said.
He is “focused on gaining the one additional vote” needed to pass the budget, he said.
Negotiations continue with GOP Senator Abel Maldonado on his “WISH LIST” who voted NO on the budget late last night.
It seems to Flap that a TIME OUT should be called and a continuing resolution ala Steve Poizner should be considered along with a special election in May.
Stay tuned….
Technorati Tags: Abel Maldonado, Steve Poizner, Darrell Steinberg
Tags: Abel Maldonado, Darrell Steinberg, Steve Poizner
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Posted by Flap in Democrats, GOP
Since the November 2008 elections the GOP has certainly been polling better.
After an intense partisan debate over the newly passed $787 billion economic stimulus bill, Republicans and Democrats remain almost even in this week’s edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot.
Rasmussen Reports national telephone surveys found that 41% of voters said they would vote for their district’s Democratic candidate while 39% said they would choose the Republican.
The principled stand by the Congressional Republicans over the Obama/Democrat Economic Stimulus Bill may be bearing some electoral fruit.
Stay tuned…..
Tags: Democrats, GOP
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State Senator Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, second from right, talks to members of the Senate Democratic caucus, after he was removed as Senate Minority leader at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009. In a late night move, Cogdill was voted out his leadership position and replaced by Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Temecula,. Seen are from left, Senators Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, left, Pat Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, second from left, Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach second from right with back to camera, and Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, background right
Republican Senator Dave Cogdill who helped craft the Big 5 California State Budget compromise (with $14 Billion in tax increases) was replaced overnight as GOP State Senate leader.
Senate Republicans ousted Sen. Dave Cogdill as their leader and replaced him with Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, who has repeatedly criticized the current budget deal for its $14 billion in new taxes.
Hollingsworth said he did not know immediately what it meant for budget negotiations. Four members of the 15-member Senate GOP caucus did not participate in the caucus coup, and all four have been targeted by Democratic leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as potential votes for the tentative deal reached last week.
The California State Senate is due to reconvene at 6 AM this morning (the Senate is on LOCK DOWN) and Flap will be covering up to the minute events on Twitter in the right sidebar ————>
Or Follow Flap on Twitter
Technorati Tags: Dave Cogdill, Dennis Hollingsworth
Tags: Dave Cogdill, Dennis Hollingsworth
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
Chris, it is funny that you mention President Obama’s former illegal drug use. Early on in the campaign Mrs. Flap related to me that some of her company workers were from Hawaii and grew up with “Barry.” They said they would never would have imagined him running for political office since he was since a “STONER” while he was in school there.
Flap doubts Obama read the entire Democrat-crafted Economic Stimulus Bill which is now law. But, then again, how many in the Congress ACTUALLY read it before voting on it?
Few, if any.
Plus Ca Change
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The Day By Day Archive
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Day By Day
Tags: Barack Obama, Day By Day
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Nationalisation, long regarded in Washington as a folly of Europeans, is gaining rapid ground among US opinion-formers. Stranger still, many of those talking about federal ownership of banks are Republicans.
Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator for South Carolina, said that many of his colleagues, including John McCain, the defeated presidential candidate, agreed with his view that nationalisation of some banks should be “on the tableâ€.
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no way
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When Mr. McCain accepted the Republican nomination for president, he noted that while he and his opponent both spoke about moving beyond partisan divisions, only one of them had a history of working with members of both parties to get things done. "I have that record and the scars to prove it," he said. "Senator Obama does not."
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State Insurance Commission and Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner called on lawmakers today to put the brakes on a contentious, 18-month budget deal and instead pass an emergency, six-month package to keep California from insolvency.
With lawmakers one vote shy of a deal to close a $40 billion hole in the state budget, Poizner said all sides should back away from the plan in order to avoid tax increases he charged would disproportionately affect middle- and low-income Californians.
Roughly $10 billion of the $14 billion in taxes would come from hiking taxes on gas, income and vehicles.
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Steve Poizner is positioning himself for his run for the Governorship in 2010
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California lawmakers failed to reach agreement on how to eliminate a $42 billion budget shortfall as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger prepares to shut down hundreds of public works projects and fire thousands of state workers.
Senate President Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat, plans to lock lawmakers in the capitol unless they pass a $40 billion package of tax increases, spending cuts and bond sales today. The bills, backed by the Republican governor and by Democrats, remain one Republican vote short.
“We are dealing with a catastrophe of unbelievable proportions,†said Senator Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat from Long Beach. “We cannot deny it any longer.â€
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It's 7 a.m. at Henry Ford Hospital, and surgeons are preparing to remove a cancerous tumor from a man's kidney.
It's potentially a risky surgery, but everything's ready: The doctors and nurses are in the operating room, the surgical instruments are sterilized and ready to go, and the chief resident is furiously Twittering on his laptop.
That's right — last week, for the second known time, surgeons Twittered a surgery by using social-networking site Twitter to give short real-time updates about the procedure
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n. Abel Maldonado has been in the Legislature for more than a decade, but he's always been an odd man out.
Maldonado, son of a farmworker who became a wealthy Central Coast farmer, is the Legislature's only Latino Republican. He's also one of the Legislature's few GOP moderates who has occasionally bucked conservatives, but who paid a price for his centrism when he lost a 2006 effort to become the Republican nominee for state controller.
Two years ago, Maldonado was the decisive vote for a budget deal that almost all his fellow Republicans opposed. When the most recent deal on closing a $40 billion budget deficit emerged from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders, he was atop the list of Republicans most likely to vote for it.
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Here are key provisions of the proposal to close California's $42 billion budget deficit through June 2010:
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Anne Marie Boskovich (my favorite so far) from Nashville, Tennessee gets accepted into American Idol
Flap makes the request on behalf of Flap’s son, Jr., who went to Oaks Christian High School with Ann Marie. Flap has heard her sing many times and yeah she is pretty damn good.
So, vote her up – you will be glad you did.
Technorati Tags: Ann Marie Boskovich, American Idol
Tags: American Idol, Ann Marie Boskovich
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Steve Poizner, Republican California Insurance Commissioner and candidate for California Governor has come out against the Big 5 California Budget deal.
State Insurance Commission and Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner called on lawmakers today to put the brakes on a contentious, 18-month budget deal and instead pass an emergency, six-month package to keep California from insolvency.
With lawmakers one vote shy of a deal to close a $40 billion hole in the state budget, Poizner said all sides should back away from the plan in order to avoid tax increases he charged would disproportionately affect middle- and low-income Californians.
Roughly $10 billion of the $14 billion in taxes would come from hiking taxes on gas, income and vehicles.
“They don’t have the guts to raise taxes on rich people because rich people have lobbyists and rich people are mobile and rich people will leave,” Poizner said in a meeting today with The Bee Capitol Bureau. “And yet they’re raising taxes on people who aren’t mobile, who don’t have lobbyists. This is really the most disgusting, terrible thing I’ve heard in a long time – the idea of raising $14 billion of taxes on working class people who are about to lose their homes.”
Poizner said lawmakers should cut a six-month budget deal that would include $15.8 billion in state spending cuts and $10.9 billion in borrowing – figures already negotiated by lawmakers – and up to $10 billion in state aid from the federal economic stimulus package approved by Congress.
Afterward, Poizner said lawmakers should develop a budget for the following 12 months that would streamline state government and balance the books without raising taxes.
Steve Poizner is moving to the RIGHT on fiscal policy and is positioning himself well in the race for the GOP nomination for Governor against former e-Bay CEO Meg Whitman. Poizner has garned most of the endorsements of the GOP members of the California Legislature.
Now, will Poizner be able to persuade anti-tax crusaders and Los Angeles radio (KFI 640) shock jocks John and Ken to support him?
Stay tuned as the California State Budget Stalemate continues.
Technorati Tags: Steve Poizner
Tags: Steve Poizner
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