As California goes . . .

by David Safier
Check out the parallels here — a Republican governor, a hard line, anti-tax Republican party, a few GOP legislators willing to cross over the crazy line and agree that raising taxes is a necessity to balance the budget without crippling the state. Look at what happened next.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In February, a half-dozen Republican state
legislators crossed party lines to approve a plan to close California's
$42 billion budget shortfall. Their "ayes" ended a 15-week impasse that
had delayed tax-refund checks and public-works projects.

Their votes also made some of them targets of recall elections.

Antitax advocates have launched bids to sack two of the so-called
Sacramento Six for supporting a budget that raises taxes. The efforts
help explain why the recent budget battle was so protracted, and why
future ones may be as well. They also highlight the fractiousness of a
Republican Party seeking to assert itself in a heavily Democratic state.

The state party has already punished all six — Anthony Adams, Roger
Niello and Mike Villines of the Assembly, and Roy Ashburn, Dave Cogdill
and Abel Maldonado of the Senate — by voting to cut off their campaign
funding. Only Messrs. Adams and Ashburn have been served with recall
papers.