By Tim Redmond
I talked to Assemblymember Tom Ammiano today, and he’s upbeat about the role his house may play in the budget process. He thinks the governor’s threat to shut down the state is just “scare tactics to make the Legislature look bad” and that the Assembly isn’t prepared to accept a “cuts only” budget. “We’re not going to roll over,” he said.
Among other things, he said, the $2.5 billion in tax giveaways to big corporations cpuld be repealed with a simply majority. So the Democratic leadership ought to be making that a priority, and talking it up in the media — would people rather see their state parks close and teachers be fired — or see a tiny number of giant businesses get more tax breaks?
Calitics points out that the CalTaxReform folks have identified $10 billion in new revenue measure that all appear to have majority support in the polls.
So let’s hope the top Democrats call Arnold’s bluff, and offer some real alterntives.