With Don Perata announcing an agreement between Senate Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on the budget, the focus in the Capitol among those leaders has turned to picking off at least two Republicans in the state Senate to pass the spending plan.
While Democrats control 25 seats in the 40-member house, they need 27 votes -- two-thirds of the senators -- to pass the state budget, which is now 44 days late.
"No one would ever use that strategy," said a tongue-in-cheek Sen. Jim Battin. The Palm Desert Republican is termed out this year and is one of the rumored targets. "That's unheard of."
No package has been presented to Senate Republicans, said several GOP senators, so any talk of extracting votes is premature.
But Perata told The Bee's Jim Sanders of the compromise plan, "The question continues to be, are there Republican votes for it?"
Perata suggested Schwarzenegger should corral GOP votes. "A Republican governor should have some sway over Republicans," he said.
In the Senate -- where only two Republican voters are needed -- much of the focus has been on Sen. Abel Maldonado, who broke party ranks to vote for the 2007-08 budget, and Sen. Roy Ashburn, who lost a key vice-chairmanship under the new GOP leadership.
If two Republicans crossed over, every Democrat would need to vote for the spending plan, including moderate Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana.
Schwarzenegger has personally schmoozed Ashburn, appearing on the Bakersfield Republican's radio show last weekend.
"I hear this is the hottest show in the Valley," Schwarzenegger teased Ashburn in a chummy 20-minute chat. "Maybe I can become more popular."
The governor went on to call Ashburn one of the "warriors there by my side."
But the conversation mainly focused on the budget -- and Schwarzenegger's proposal, which is centered on a three-year 1-cent hike in the sales tax, after which the tax would dip below current levels. That hike would be paired with a spending cap and some type of rainy-day fund.
Ashburn sounded amenable on the show to that plan.
"The way you've described, given further detail to your sales tax proposal, it actually sounds like a tax cut," he said.
Both Battin and former Senate GOP leader Dick Ackerman are also grist for the Capitol rumor mill of targeted members. But both senators clearly stated they oppose new taxes, even in the form of the temporary sales tax hike Schwarzenegger has floated.
"That's a tax hike, and it's something I'll never support," Battin said.
"I do not support any tax increases," Ackerman agreed.
Capitol Alert interviewed each of the four GOP senators -- Ackerman, Ashburn, Battin and Maldonado -- and has the latest on their budget thoughts.
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