You may have heard quite a bit about Abel Maldonado in the past few weeks. The Republican State Senator from Santa Maria drew local and national headlines when he crossed party lines to support the recently passed California budget – the one vote that Democrats needed to finalize it. The impact of Maldonado’s decision was felt in Long Beach almost immediately as the budget became a reality, but he also played a key part in changing the state for the future by making several requests on the condition of approving California’s budget: elimination of a tax hike on gas prices, no pay raises for legislators in a deficit budget, and non-partisan primary elections in the future.
Senator Maldonado was in Long Beach yesterday to participate in a roundtable discussion with former Governor Gray Davis and others, about what is needed to dig California out of its current crisis. We caught up with the Senator over the phone to ask about taxes, the conditions he requested before approving the budget, and his vision for the future of our state government.
One of your conditions before approving the budget was to create non-partisan open primaries in future elections. What do you feel are the benefits of that system?
Less partisanship. Good government. A better government. Right now we have a government that just doesn’t work. We have the extreme Right and the extreme Left, and nothing gets done. I really believe that a non-partisan primary is the reform we need today. The system was built under Gray Davis, it failed under Governor Schwarzenegger, and it will continue to fail under the next Governor.
You also made it clear that you wanted to see adequate reform in this budget before approving it. Do you see that reform?
Yes, in things like the (state budget) spending cap. I think it’s one of the healthiest spending caps we’ve seen in California in some time. There are several good reforms for California, but the most important in my mind is the non-partisan primary. You know, it’s still an ugly budget. It raises taxes, and I don’t think that Republicans or Democrats, or anybody, likes to raise taxes. It was either that or decimate public education.
It seems like any number of things could send this budget back into a deficit. Would you call this a “fragile” budget?
Everything’s fragile. The economy of our country is fragile. There’s a lot of hope and faith that things turn around in this country. You look at the things that President Obama is trying to do, and I hope that he can achieve those goals because we do need change right now. I’m very happy that the numbers for January came back as projected, that’s great news. The numbers for February and March aren’t available yet, but I’m worried, absolutely.
Specifically, what does the budget mean for a city like Long Beach?
It’s a budget that will maintain jobs throughout the state. It’s a budget that keeps California from going bankrupt and will bring stability to cities’ accounts. If it keeps California solvent, then that’s good for Long Beach.
Some have said that creating a non-partisan primary will benefit you as much as anyone in the next election.
This notion that it benefits me, I don’t agree with that. It benefits any official who wants to put people before parties. It definitely does not help hyper-partisan Leftist officials or hyper-partisan Republican officials.
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Senator Maldonado’s decision last week ended the longest budget drought in California history, and while his vote may cost taxpayers upwards of $13 billion, it will also cost Maldonado. The California Republican Party voted last weekend to deny funding for 2010 election mailers to the six Republicans that voted in favor of the state budget. Maldonado stands by his decision, though.
In Long Beach, the new budget will cause some changes, though it is not expected to have a drastic affect.
“I think there will be indirect impact on the City of Long Beach, but there will be few direct impacts this year,” said Tom Modica, Government Affairs Manager for the City of Long Beach. The city waits for local projects that have been halted to begin again, but Modica expects that may not happen until late summer or even fall of this year.
“We’re glad a budget has passed, we’re glad the state is able to move on and get back to some degree of normalcy. We’re also looking forward to getting those bond projects that were frozen back in December,” he said. Some of the halted projects include work on parks, waterfront and transportation projects.
“Hopefully those funds will be released and we’ll be able to spend once again.”
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor