The elected Republicans continue to hold the state budget hostage as they drive California over a cliff with stalled budget negotiations. But now there’s a new driver at the wheel and he’s stepping on the gas.
The LA Times reported this morning that a group of Republican senators ousted Senate leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto and replaced him with rabid anti-tax Senator Dennis Hollingsworth from Murrieta. And, in true Mafia style, they did this in a meeting in Cogdill’s office. Leave the gun, bring the cannoli.
Hollingsworth will try to renegotiate the budget deal that the governor and legsilative leaders spent three months working on., which lawmakers spent three months forging.
“It’s a shame it ended this way,” Cogdill said to reporters. “This budget needs to get out, and we need to put people to work again in this state.”
The Times reports that Hollingsworth does not want to see a tax increase passed, but offered no plan for resolving the budget crisis.