California Insider

A Weblog by
Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub

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July 17, 2003

It's catching: Suspend the Constitution

California Schools chief Jack O'Connell elaborated this afternoon on his threat to file a petition with the Supreme Court seeking to force a Nevada-style break in the state budget deadlock. O’Connell said he expects his department’s attorneys to file a petition early next week “seeking a ruling that would suspend the two-thirds requirement for passing a budget or increasing revenues, and instead, allow a simple majority.”
No word yet on why O'Connell doesn't simply ask the Legislature to pass the education budget by a simple majority, which the state Constitution allows. I think the answer is pretty clear. This suit has no chance of prevailing, and O'Connell is grandstanding to put pressure on Republican lawmakers and win brownie points for himself with the education lobby.

UPDATE. State Treasurer Phil Angelides has just announced that he will join O'Connell in this lawsuit. This is a shame. I have had a lot of respect for Angelides in the past, even when I haven't agreed with him. But stooping to this level, asking the courts to intervene in the business of the Legislature, asking judges to set aside the state Constitution, is beneath him, or at least beneath the man I thought he was. He is either pandering or he has lost respect for the rule of law that underpins our liberal democracy. Either way it's got to be the low point in his career.

NOTE: For a more detailed explanation of how California law differs from Nevada, see my earlier post below.