May 2, 2008

'Maldo's a good contrast to Jeff'

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata gave an extended interview with the Associated Press this week about his role in the recall of Sen. Jeff Denham. Perata said one motivation was to get Democrats closer to being able to pass a budget with tax increases.

"If I have an opportunity of picking up a Democrat who would support a balanced approach to solving the budget problem, I'm going to do that," Perata said.

Perata contrasted Denham, who held off voting for last year's budget during a 52-day standoff, with Sen. Abel Maldonado, the moderate Santa Maria Republican who sided with the Democrats.

"In terms of someone who is willing to look at the overall health of the state of California as opposed to narrow ideology, Maldo's a good contrast to Jeff," Perata said.

Denham and his GOP colleagues have made the argument that they was right, that the budget was out of balance. The state deficit ballooned in the months following the passage of the 2007-08 budget.

Perata dismissed those arguments. "It's immaterial whether or not he was right that there was a deficit coming," he said. "The fact of the matter is we now have a huge deficit now, and he has taken the 'No, I won't tax, it's got to be all cuts.'"

A Denham spokesman said Perata just wants to "install a puppet" in order to "massively raise taxes."

Read the full AP story.

Posted by Shane Goldmacher on May 2, 2008 11:07 AM