Archive for June, 2010

From Post-Bulletin.com:

State Republican candidates will tour southeastern Minnesota today as part of the GOP’s statewide Freedom and Prosperity Bus Tour.

The three-day tour kicks off at 9 a.m. in Red Wing at the Central Park Band Shell. The bus will arrive in Winona at 11:15 a.m. at Jaycee’s Pavilion at Lake Park and in Rochester at 1 p.m. at the back patio at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center.

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From SouthTownStar.com:

Illinoisans are tired of the partisan blame game and they deserve better. In his recent column, Speaker Michael Madigan calls for an end to “partisan games,” all the while attempting to shift blame for Illinois’ fiscal crisis to Republicans at the state and federal level. Engaging in partisan finger-pointing serves no purpose, I will simply explain factually why Speaker Madigan’s arguments are not valid.

What we can all agree upon is that our state’s fiscal crisis is one of the most severe in the nation. Speaker Madigan tries to make the case that Illinois’ fiscal difficulties are due to a poor national economy, and are no different from those faced by other states. The problem is that a number of independent rating agencies that review finances for all 50 states to determine their stability and credit-worthiness don’t share this view. In fact, Illinois is tied with California as the worst-rated state in the nation by Moody’s Investor Service and is the second-lowest-rated state in the U.S. by the influential Fitch Ratings.

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From The Business Review:

New York Gov. David Paterson, as promised, has started vetoing 6,900 spending items included in a budget plan approved Monday by the Senate and Assembly.

In all, Paterson will ax more than $600 million in spending approved by legislators in votes on Monday. Paterson called the spending a “gimmick” and said legislators were “self-serving” and “fantasizing” that certain revenue would materialize.

The largest items to go: $419 million of extra money for K-12 education, plus close to $200 million in grants, mostly for nonprofits. The budget votes, though, avoid a government shutdown.

Paterson’s vetoes mean legislators will have to hold another vote on the spending to override it. An override in the Senate is improbable: At least 10 Republicans would have to support the override, assuming all 32 Democrats voted in favor of it, to reach the required two-thirds majority.

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From Fox&Hounds:

Sam Blakeslee’s strong showing in the June 22nd special election for California’s 15th Senate District has led to some of the least credible spin seen by political observers in many years – and that’s saying a great deal.

Republican Blakeslee received 49.5% of the vote in a four candidate field, narrowly missing an outright victory by only a few hundred votes. Former Assemblyman John Laird trailed by almost 8 percentage points – a profoundly disappointing showing for the Santa Cruz liberal.

Pundits were surprised by both the strength of Blakeslee’s support and the weakness of Laird’s. Yet Laird is ridiculously attempting to declare victory on a liberal blog with the justification that he barely avoided complete defeat. Laird’s claim to be the winner on June 22nd after losing by 8 points undermines both the Democrat’s credibility and grasp of basic math skills – but it might explain the fiscal chaos that resulted during his tenure as the longtime Chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee.

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From The Record:

Republican Sen. John DeFranciso, of Onondaga County, pressed Senate Finance Committee Chairman Carl Kruger, a Brooklyn Democrat, for any numbers about the size of the Democrats’ budget, even just the total. Kruger said he didn’t have a total yet, even as the bills were being voted upon.

Republican Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer, of Erie County, said it was “just astounding.”

“No one would buy a car without knowing how much it costs,” Ranzenhofer said.

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