Sen. Joe Simitian is back as the chairman of a key environmental panel, after his sudden removal less than two weeks ago. But while he has regained that committee’s gavel, Senate leader Don Perata has stripped the Palo Alto Democrat of his seat on the Senate’s budget panel.
The changes all came following an intense budget hearing two weeks ago, when Simitian sparred with his fellow Democrats over how to cut the education budget.
“It was my choice to speak my mind,” said Simitian in an interview Monday. “Choices have consequences – I understand that."
Ultimately, losing his seat on the budget committee, even in a year where the budget is dominating the Capitol agenda, is a lesser punishment than losing a key chairmanship.
It all began during an evening Feb. 13 hearing on budget cuts, including a $400 million current-year reduction for education.
Sen. Denise Ducheny, chair of the budget panel, wanted the committee to cut the $400 million in a way that would not disturb next year's Proposition 98 funding guarantee for education.
But Simitian raised the possibility of recalculating that base to reflect the current-year cuts. He argued that he'd rather have a lower guarantee than set the threshold so high that lawmakers would be forced to suspend Proposition 98 next year.
“I said what I said because I was trying to avoid a Proposition 98 suspension,” Simitian said on Monday.
The two Democrats, along with other committee members, debated the issue for close to 30 minutes.
In the end, Simitian failed to convince the committee to delay action on the question and he voted – along with every other Democrat on the panel – in favor of Ducheny’s proposal.
The next morning, the Senate Daily File marked the chairmanship of what had been Simitian’s Environmental Quality Committee as a “vacancy.”
The latest committee changes are not yet reflected in Monday’s Senate Daily File. Perata’s office declined to comment on the committee changes.
Perata, who will be forced to leave the Senate at the end of 2008, has meted out harsh discipline to Democrats and Republicans alike during his run as leader.
In 2007, he locked three moderate Democrats out of their offices after they attended a fundraiser for moderate Democrats in the Assembly.
He also stripped Sen. Jeff Denham, a Republican, of his vice chairmanship of the Senate Governmental Organization Committee after Denham refused to vote for the budget in 2007. Denham has since been put back on the committee, though Perata has spearheaded a recall campaign against Denham, which recently turned in double the number of signatures necessary to trigger a recall.
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