The City Council of San Bernardino, California failed to pass budget cuts at their meeting Tuesday, despite the city already being in bankruptcy.
After a meeting that lasted more than nine hours and stretched past midnight, the San Bernardino City Council failed to pass a plan for drastic budget reductions, an initial step in the city’s bankruptcy proceedings.
The proposed “pre-pendency plan” included $22.4 million in cuts, achieved by measures including slashing more than 100 jobs and closing three of the four city libraries. It would not cover the entire $45.8-million budget shortfall, but city staff called the plan a necessary first step.
Proposed cuts to the Fire Department became an irreconcilable sticking point. Twenty positions in the department were slated to be eliminated without layoffs, and the plan included an option of rotating closures at fire stations.
Instead of voting on the budget plan as a whole, Councilman Chas Kelley made a proposal to vote on an alternate plan for the Fire Department that was backed by the firefighters union, and to direct staff to seek bids on a proposal to contract out some of the city’s trash services.
The vote, taken after midnight, passed 4 to 3 but was promptly vetoed by Mayor Pat Morris, who had called that plan “irresponsible” and an “almost slavish adoption of a union proposal without any analysis.”
Maybe they can delay things long enough that repo men are actually carting furniture out of the council chambers before they vote…
Can Patterson take Dewhurst? Hard to say. The Senate race defeat proved he’s vulnerable when faced with the right candidate, but Dewhurst will start off with a considerable fundraising advantage, and big donors may be more fearful of backing Patterson knowing that Dewhurst will control the state legislative agenda for the next two years. But if Dewhurst makes the same mistakes he did in the Senate race, and the Tea Party backs Patterson as strongly as they did Cruz, then yes, Dewhurst could lose. But neither of those is a given.
Two days ago: Die in a fire, you dress-wearing, anti-choice freak!
Yesterday: Oh, that Cardinal! We love that guy! Can’t enough of him! Yeah, he can offer the closing prayer.
So Democratic delegates will have to spend at least a few minutes that day pretending they don’t hate Catholics.
Which is to say, the Iowahawk way: “In our shared moment of grief, let us also celebrate his historic accomplishment in becoming the first astronaut eulogized by me, Barack Obama, our nation’s historic first African-American president.”
Given how heavily Catholics outnumber Muslims amidst the electorate, this is, at the very least, bad optics and worse politics. But it’s so ham-handed that it suggest Democrats are doing it out of conviction rather than political calculation.
Two thoughts:
If Obama wanted to quash those “secret Muslim” rumors, this wasn’t the way to do it.
The constant hostility Democrats have shown to Catholics during this Administration suggests yet again that forcing Catholics to fund abortion wasn’t a side issue for ObamaCare, but in fact the central issue. Every knee must bend.
I got my CHL in the mail today. (When I have time I’ll try to do a post on the process of getting one for those who haven’t.) I currently have a Kimber .45, which I think is a bit heavy to use as a carry gun.
My instructor was big on the Glock, which I know a lot of people use as a carry gun and has some improvements over the M1911. So I thought I would ask my CHL-holding rreaders: 1. What concealed carry gun do you favor, and why, and 2. What experience (if any) have you had using a Glock?
The most important Texas political race is obviously the Texas Senate race. Barring any unforeseen catastrophe, I fully expect Ted Cruz to soundly thump Paul Sadler in November.
The second most important Texas race is for the 23rd Congressional District, where Republican Francisco “Quico” Canseco eked out the second closest win over a Democratic congressional incumbent in 2010, beating Ciro Rodriguez by a little over 7,000 votes. Rep. Blake Farenthold’s win over Solomon Ortiz in the 27th congressional district was the closest Texas CD race that year, decided by a mere 799 votes, but the 27th was made considerably more Republican in redistricting, going from voting for Obama by 53% of the vote to a mere 40% of the vote under the new district lines.
The legislature was not able to reenforce Canseco’s sprawling district to nearly the same extent, and it was only made slightly more Republican, going from a 51% Obama district to a 50% Obama district. That, plus the power of incumbency and $1 million cash on hand (as of June 30) give Canseco a real fighting chance to hold the seat. His Democratic opponent, Pete Gallego, spent all his money to beat Rodriguez in the runoff, but this is still the only decent shot Texas Democrats have to defeat a incumbent Republican congressman this year, so expect the usual big Democratic donors (unions and trial lawyers) to come to his rescue.
Heritage ranks Canseco a solid (if not exceptional) conservative at 72%, higher than the (lamentably low) Republican House average of 65%, but 50 points better than even the best Texas Democratic representative (Henry Cuellar).
If you were looking for a Texas congressional race where your donations might help Republicans hold a tough seat, this is the one.
