In this third in a series of new essays, Sheila Kuehl describes an oft-repeated dance the Republicans playwith the lives of Californians when budget  considerations hit the floor every year.     The dance goes something like this:  “by adamantly refusing to support even the smallest of revenue increases, including fees, the Republican members of the Legislature have been spectacularly successful  in forcing an all-cuts budget.  In seeming contradiction, in the most recent Floor vote, they then, in a breathtakingly cynical move, loudly refused to vote for the Democratic bill containing the cuts, allowing them to claim that they ‘didn’t vote to cut schools and services…”

What next in this very contentious battle between the Governor, the Republicans  and the Majority Party?  Continue reading…