The labor and environmental groups that have asked Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate the Legislature for, well, legislating should be careful what they wish for. If they get their way, lawmaking in California might truly grind to a halt. That's a prospect many might welcome. But in the end, it probably would not be considered a victory by the people who have brought this complaint.
The Sierra Club, the California Labor Federation and others are ticked off that Republicans in the Legislature are trying to leverage what little power they have to win concessions easing environmental and labor rules that California has imposed on business. The Democrats need Republican votes to pass a budget because California re- quires a two-thirds majority to enact a spending plan. So Republicans are saying, in so many words, we won't vote for your budget unless you vote for our regulatory relief.
We agree with the Republicans on some of their issues and disagree on others. But we hardly think that what they are doing should be considered a crime. This kind of negotiating, even if some find it distasteful, is an essential and time-honored part of politics. It's what makes the place work, on those rare occasions when it does.
If political log-rolling were criminalized, it would be that much harder for lawmakers to get anything done. The next time Big Labor or the environmentalists wanted to pass a controversial bill, they would find it even more difficult to do so. Is that really what they want?
We think the prosecutors should stay out of the legislative process unless there is an accusation that someone is selling votes for money or something else of value. It ought to be up to each legislator to decide for himself or herself what would be an appropriate reason to vote for a bill. If legislators want to vote for a measure because doing so will help them achieve some other, long-term goal in the public interest, that's their business.
And it most certainly is not a crime.
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