Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria)
"Oh Abel, Where is thy brother Cain?"
Well the Democrats got their last needed vote to pass the tax hike budget bill. Republican Abel Maldonado caved in, got his 30 pieces of silver and the bill is passed. Now the California taxpayer-already paying the highest state taxes in the nation have been stuck with the largest state tax increase in US history.
Maldonado, who is looking for higher posts in California state government, had denounced tax increases at the Republican National Convention last summer. Now, just like former tax-denouncer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maldonado has gone over to the other side passing the decisive vote.
In return, Maldonadpo did get a couple of Democratic concessions, like dropping a 12 cent-per-gallon gas tax increase and authorization of a ballot measure that would force lawmaker salaries to be frozen when the state is running a deficit.
Most importantly to Maldonado, part of his deal was a measure for the 2010 ballot that would create fully open primary elections, which would figure to help "middle of the road" candidates like Maldonado (I'll say) who have trouble in primaries which are dominated by more hard-core liberals and conservatives. (Maldonado will be termed-out in 2012.)
So now, it is we suckers who will now pay even more in taxes to this overstuffed beast called government in Sacramento so they can take care of the unions and illegal aliens. Now they can close the 42 billion dollar deficit they have created and will create again within a few years, at which time, they will be back raising our taxes yet again.
Oh, did I tell you our car taxes will now be doubled? Something else that Schwarzenegger ran on as a candidate. (He said he "despised" the idea of raising car taxes.)
And this doesn't even take into consideration what is coming at us from Washington with all these bailout bills and massive spending programs.
Who is to blame? It is we. We are the ones who have voted for these clowns and put them in office.
Don't forget that we're now last in the Union on per-pupil spending. Fantastic.
ReplyDeleteAt least they're not going to mess with class size reductions. I wouldn't want to teach freshmen if there were more than twenty! (Which would be a shame, because I like teaching them and do a pretty good job, if I'm allowed to toot my own horn here a little.)