You’re the Speaker of the California Assembly. The state faces a $24 billion deficit, and is broke. The state has had to issue registered warrants (IOUs). The political leadership—the governor, the majority and minority leaders of the state senate, the minority leader of the assembly and you—are supposed to meet. Do you:
(a) Attend the meeting, advance your positions, and be unwilling to compromise;
(b) Attend the meeting, advance your positions, and compromise so that a solution can be found;
(c) Boycott the meeting because you’re unhappy about where the discussions are going.
Welcome to California, where the tough run away from the problems. I know that Speaker Bass doesn’t like the Republican position (she’d prefer tax increases to spending cuts). Does she remember the election in May where voters said “Hell No” to the idea of tax increases and told the state to live within its means? Yes, the Speaker of the California Assembly actually on Monday boycotted the meetings aimed at ending the crisis.
I guess Ms. Bass doesn’t remember the May election.
It appears that Speaker Bass has absolutely no desire to make the hard choices that are necessary to end this crisis. At the end of July I head on my annual vacation. I now expect that the budget fiasco will be lasting through the summer.