Villines

Earlier this week, much of the verbal bomb throwing on the budget was taking place online. It has now progressed into the media. The sharp retorts are a sign of deteriorating talks. SacBee:

With state budget talks at a standstill, party leaders in the Assembly are upping the rhetoric, trading verbal jabs over who is to blame.

In separate interviews this week, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez accused Republicans of having a "lackadaisical attitude" about reaching a deal while Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines shot back that "Fabian is frustrated he can't get everything he wants."

Deals can come together relatively quickly in the Legislature, and both sides are still talking. But at this point -- nearly two weeks past the start of the fiscal year -- there are few signs of a breakthrough as the two parties fight over about $2 billion in spending that Republicans want cut.

Things took a turn for the worse Monday when, by most accounts, a meeting among legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger went very badly.

It is increasingly looking like the budget will not be done by the 20th, when legislators are scheduled to go on their monthlong summer recess. Legislators may just have to stick around.

The Republicans are still holding firm on their demands for more cuts, but refuse to lay out exactly what they want to ax out of the budget. Republicans simply say that they could trim social service broadly, aka death by a thousand paper cuts to the Democrats.

This thing is not going to be resolved any time soon.

Yesterday, Speaker Fabian Nunez but out a press release calling with an aggressive tone, calling on Arnold to meet with the legislative leaders on the budget.

ONE WOULD THINK THAT IT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE AT SOME POINT BETWEEN NOW AND THE FIRST OF DECEMBER THE GOVERNOR WOULD CALL A BIG FIVE MEETING SO THAT HIS LEADERSHIP COULD BEGIN TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE STALEMATE BETWEEN THE DEMOCRATIC AND THE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP ON THE BUDGET.

Arnold did meet with the leadership yesterday, but it appears that little was accomplished. Democrats often use the California Majority Report to push a message that may not be getting through in the press. Today there are two pieces up on the Republicans and the budget. They are clearly ramping up the pressure on them to agree to the Democrat's budget version.

Steve Maviglio, the Speaker's spokesman, kicks things off with a faux memo from the Republicans, claiming that the Republicans have already gotten most of what they wanted.

Well, we've done it. We managed to hold the budget up and put the squeeze on the Governor and Democrats. We're still pinching ourselves that we've been able to win so many concessions!

Matt Jones follows this up with a post making the case that the Republican leadership is being obstinate in an attempt to save their jobs.

In the Senate, Republican Leader Dick Ackerman has been hanging on to his post by a single vote or two for the past year. Senators George Runner, Dave Cogdill, and Jim Battin are among those who have been eyeing his post.

These hard-right Republican senators coveting his job have been laying in wait for Ackerman to fold early in the budget talks. So, as a result, Ackerman has to talk tough to hang onto his job, or else he'll be spending lots more time on his yacht.

Same deal on the Assembly Republican side, with new GOP leader Mike Villines. He was elected to his post, promising to stand up to the Democrats, instead of "coddling them" as his predecessor was accused of doing. Jones says that the GOP Assembly Caucus is "restless about Villines first-time performance in budget negotiations" and accuses him of hiding "behind Dick Ackerman's skirt".

This is aggressive language, designed to provoke a reaction from the Republican legislators and their staff. Doing so would encourage the press to cover the situation more in-depth than their pretty lightweight articles today (see Chron and SacBee) They are ratcheting up the rhetoric, in attempt to create movement on the budget. There is deliberate pressure being placed on the Republicans to lay out the programs they would be willing to cut. Right now they are just calling for cuts without giving any details, something the press is starting to call them on.

Negotiations will continue to go on behind the scenes as this bomb throwing occurs in public. Soon the legislative staff will start going without paychecks and other state employees will not be far behind. Such is the typical budget making season in California. Perhaps we can avoid shutting down the whole state government like Pennsylvania did earlier this week. That would be nice wouldn't it?