From Calitics.com

Hi Calitics Readers -

This week, the State of California has been dealt a devastating blow. Not only from the signing of one of the worst budget "compromises" ever seen in the state's history, but also in the Governor's line item vetoes.

He took $6 million from state parks, meaning 100 parks will likely be closed. Healthy Families, the insurance program for children, also lost millions of dollars, and HIV/AIDS funding was hit particularly hard, as the Governor took over $52 million from prevention and other associated services. These are short-sighted and disastrous policy decisions, but that has come to be what we expect from this Governor.

While there will be some wrangling yet to come, the fact is that we have lost control of the state. Despite the fact that California voters are generally progressive leaning, we are controlled by a small minority. Our system is not functional, and our leaders are not fully accountable as there is always the crutch of blaming the other guy. It is no way to run the 8th largest economy in the world.

We've been looking at how a constitutional convention would work, what the progressive goals for such a meeting would be, and what conservatives would want out of the deal. The fact is that this state needs big change that will allow fair and just governance.

On the other hand, what this state does not need is a shifting of taxes from the rich to the poor. The initial goal of the 21st Century Commission was to reduce volatility, but it seems Bush Ranger Gerald Parsky sees that as a good excuse to reduce taxes for those making over $200,000 at the expense of the middle class. If you have a moment, contact your legislator to let them know that we should not be shifiting taxes to the middle class.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

If you are a member of Facebook, support Calitics at facebook.com/calitics. You can also donate to the Calitics CaliPAC.

Thanks again for reading Calitics. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Do you have a story idea? Let me know! If you like these emails, please forward them on.