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George SkeltonCapitol Journal |
Recent Columns:
The Legislature and the governor may have reached the point where the most responsible thing they can do is to be irresponsible.
Labor Day means picnics in parks. State budget deficits mean continued deterioration of state parks. And that's where Californians are this holiday.
For Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, nothing better illustrates the evils of legislative gerrymandering -- and the need for Proposition 11 on the November ballot -- than Sacramento's two-month budget stalemate.
It can't be done, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was insisting, staring at me over a table in his office. You can't have a responsible, honest state budget without a tax increase.
Shorter commutes. Less sprawl. Cleaner air.
Admittedly I'm biased on offshore drilling. I was born in Santa Barbara, grew up in Ojai and spent many a weekend on the beach.
It's not all about budget brawling. Beneath the haze of haggling over taxes and spending, several hundred bills are lined up awaiting their fates as legislators rush to leave town.
Whenever legislators become frozen in a budget bog, I remember the words of two historic leaders.
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein says: "The bottom line is the election is in 2010. And I'll make a decision at the beginning of the year."
Seven weeks past their constitutional deadline for passing a state budget, legislators still are stumbling around. Why? Because they haven't yet done the "Dance of Death."