"Raise taxes. That clear enough?"I guess there's something to be said for term limits. State Senate President Don Perata, who will be out of office next year, said loud and clear yesterday something that's needed to be said for a long time in this state: The governor's budget cuts are unacceptable. And the state needs to find some new revenue.
The L.A. Times reports on a Perata press conference:
Perata drew his line in the sand while standing with his successor as Senate chief, Democrat Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, and other Democratic senators and school leaders. Perata said the governor's proposal to cut school spending by 10% is unacceptable, and Democrats will reject any budget that includes less for education next year than this year.Asked how Democrats propose to make up the difference, Perata said: "Raise taxes. That clear enough? Raise taxes."
Given the state's dire finances, he said, "no one is going to tell me . . . the average Californian would not be willing to pay pennies on the dollar more for an education system . . . that is worth what we believe California is about."
David Dayen at Calitics has the right line on this:
The second statement is exactly the way to play this. California is worth paying for. This state deserves a better education system than it's getting, a better health care system than it's getting, better infrastructure than it's getting. Because of the broken revenue model, we can't even fund the landmark global warming law that got the Governor on the cover of all those magazines. Paying for this state to have the society everyone generally wants is a patriotic act. That's exactly the frame the Democrats are using.There's a hint of a "go-for-broke" strategy here, which I believe is sped up by the transition in the leadership. We've needed to have this fight for 20 years.
And so, the fight begins.
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Comments (3)
Perata is a chickshit coward and hypocrite. I would like to have heard him make such bold statements when he was campaigning for office (let alone as majority leader) as opposed to the point at which his career door is being slammed on his cowardly, sell-out ass and he is "safe".
By the way, he is full of shit and is a petty liar. He yanked Joe Simitian from the Environmental Committee just because Joe challenged the party line and vocally opposed any unnecessary cuts in education. I hope that Oaklanders aren't dumber than Perata is by electing him mayor in '10.
Posted by expatriate | March 4, 2008 05:36 PM
I'm not a fan of Perata at all, and I agree: It's easy to make a tough call when he doesn't have to face the voters again. But this time around, he is saying the right thing. I hope the other Democrats follow.
Posted by tim redmond | March 4, 2008 07:48 PM
I wasn't able to comment on your editorial on the SFBG website on Matt's decision to run with Nader so I'll comment on it here:
I'd give my left nut so that Obama could win and so I could see Steve and Tim and all you other Nader-Blamers eat your words during Obama's attempt to get himself re-elected in 2012.
Posted by expatriate | March 5, 2008 06:39 AM