Dems now have a supermajority in both the Assembly & Senate. Goodbye gridlock!
California, in other words, is deeply blue, and our Legislature ought to reflect that fact.
And it's good for policy too. Democrats have always had a majority, but they weren't able to do much with it because a determined minority was able to block meaningful legislation.
As a result, we lurched from one budgetary crisis to another, year after year after year. And that same determined GOP minority would run -year after year- on a platform that Government just doesn't work. They'd run on that message, get elected, then fulfill their own prophecy by making sure government doesn't work. The public then became cynical and distrustful of their government, blaming both sides for the faults of one.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Well, the voters have had enough and have rewarded the GOP with the political equivalent of Catholic purgatory. They have very little power now, certainly not enough to block the sensible majority. Our shiny new state Assemblyman, Scott Wilk, will have to make inroads to the Dems if he wants any influence on the agenda at all.
Last night was good for a lot of reasons. The new supermajorities in the Assembly & Senate are chief among them.
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The GOP is walking dead in California
For starters, they are poised to gain a two-thirds majority in both houses of the California Legislature. While such a supermajority was always within reach in the Senate, it was a much longer shot in the Assembly.A lot of my Republican friends are deeply troubled by this, but I feel the redistricting that took place in 2011 reflects the state better than what we had before.
“It’s a mandate to govern in the interest of the people of the state,” Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D–Los Angeles) said. “It means we’ve got to be very serious about focusing on the crucial issues of the state like job creation.”
If the preliminary results hold, it would be the first time since 1933 that one party has had a supermajority in both houses of the Legislature. It would also rob Republicans of their one trump card in Sacramento, their ability to block tax increases, which require a two-thirds vote.
California, in other words, is deeply blue, and our Legislature ought to reflect that fact.
And it's good for policy too. Democrats have always had a majority, but they weren't able to do much with it because a determined minority was able to block meaningful legislation.
As a result, we lurched from one budgetary crisis to another, year after year after year. And that same determined GOP minority would run -year after year- on a platform that Government just doesn't work. They'd run on that message, get elected, then fulfill their own prophecy by making sure government doesn't work. The public then became cynical and distrustful of their government, blaming both sides for the faults of one.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Well, the voters have had enough and have rewarded the GOP with the political equivalent of Catholic purgatory. They have very little power now, certainly not enough to block the sensible majority. Our shiny new state Assemblyman, Scott Wilk, will have to make inroads to the Dems if he wants any influence on the agenda at all.
Last night was good for a lot of reasons. The new supermajorities in the Assembly & Senate are chief among them.
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