California legislature in super-secret strategy session
Well, that’s what the California legislature has promised at least. To meet today at 10am to pass the budget. But then, they’ve been whining, delaying, and squabbling about the budget for months now. The state is broke. Gov. Lunkhead plans to layoff 20,000 workers today.
None of this seems to dent the skulls of the legislature or of the Lunkhead who, as you might recall, swept into power promising to balance the budget. The NY Times just said Schwarzenegger is “apparently bereft of allies or influence,” which is a quite startling example of almost complete incompetence. That’s why I call him Lunkhead.
But the real firestorm is yet to come.
Regardless of whatever kind of train wreck the California legislature presumably manages to pass today, much of it will need to be approved by voters. This is because the legislature wants to change the terms of already-passed ballot initiatives.
A special election vote will be anything but a slam dunk.
The biggest item on the ballot will be a plan that allows the state to borrow $5 billion and repay it with future revenues from the state lottery. When California voters authorized the lottery in 1984, its sole purpose was to bring in extra money for state schools.
So, they plan to steal current revenues for schools giving a vague promise to pay it back sometime? I see peasants with pitchforks and torches…