I have not been to Sen. Jim Battin's campaign website for a while, but he had a couple great statements about the Governor's State of the State address and the Governor's budget proposal.   Their are a few real gems like, "this approach was needed several years ago when spending programs were put on autopilot" and "Republicans will never agree to Democrat efforts to punish taxpayers by raising taxes to solve this deficit." 
 
He goes on to point out one of the remaining gimmicks in Arnold's current budget proposal, "...because he has included the 2007 Tribal compact revenues, it is critical that these compacts go into effect this year." 
 
Battin also calls Arnold out on the tax he is hitting local government with.  I love that even though most of our legislators come from local government, every time Sacramento overspends, they never fail to raid local government.  

"...I am also, frankly, stunned that the Governor would fail to include any funding for local gaming mitigation grants from the Special Distribution Fund.  This is a breach of the agreements reached between California and the Indian Nations that signed the 1999 compacts..."  

"The Governor is also wrong to include public safety within his budget axe.  Releasing 22,000 felons early will not save money, but will jeopardize the safety of our communities. "

So Battin is hitting Arnold for proposing a dishonest budget, not keeping his promise about taxes, not keeping his promise to local government and not keeping our state safe from convicted criminals. Ouch.  You could add not keeping his promise on Prop 93 and not keeping his promise to make California more business friendly, but who am I to pile on.

1/8/2008
Senator Battin's statement on the Governor's State of the State address:

"I welcome the Governor's call tonight to cut spending and reform how government operates.  This is the right approach to our budget dilemma.  However, California's budget problems are not new, and this approach was needed several years ago when spending programs were put on autopilot.  Modest budget discipline then would have saved billions of tax dollars now.  Republicans will never agree to Democrat efforts to punish taxpayers by raising taxes to solve this deficit.  We will also encourage the Governor to stick to his state of the state principles of spending cuts and reform.  I stand ready to get to work on this challenging year."

 

1/11/08
Senator Battin's response to the Governor's budget proposal:

"In general, I think the Governor has made a respectable effort to implement a 10% cut to state agencies - a level of cut that should have been taken years ago to eliminate the structural deficit.  There are fewer gimmicks, although because he has included the 2007 Tribal compact revenues, it is critical that these compacts go into effect this year.  I am also, frankly, stunned that the Governor would fail to include any funding for local gaming mitigation grants from the Special Distribution Fund.  This is a breach of the agreements reached between California and the Indian Nations that signed the 1999 compacts.
  
The Governor is also wrong to include public safety within his budget axe.  Releasing 22,000 felons early will not save money, but will jeopardize the safety of our communities.  Crime costs far more in physical damage to lives, property damage, lost economic opportunities, and general community deterioration then does incarceration.  This policy proposal is a dangerous mistake and one that the legislature should flatly oppose.  While I strongly disagree with this new prison proposal, I am pleased the Governor continued funding for the Internet Crimes Against Children program which I championed last year.  The additional million dollars in funding will allow this cutting-edge program to continue to target the spread of child pornography over the internet.
   
Unfortunately, the Governor's proposal is also wrong to embrace a tax increase as a means of funding our state's firefighting activities.  It is wrong to punish taxpayers, many of whom have been directly impacted by fires this year, with higher insurance premiums.  The Governor's budget also continues the fiction that public works projects are healthy for our state's economy with another $40 billion in bonds proposed for 2008.  Our state simply cannot afford billions of dollars in extra debt payment right now.  We should be reducing debt, not expanding it.  We need to go back to the bold plans that the Governor came into office promoting.  We need to relentlessly ferret out waste, and make a commitment to selling surplus property."