California budget deadlock ends with one Republican vote

California, the largest, and arguably the most liberal state (and proud home to 50% of the owner's of this blog) has finally passed it's state budget for the fiscal year 2009. The arguments over the budget sounded eerily similar to those shouted by both sides during the arguments for and against the economic stimulus package that passed last week.
Democrats (who have the majority in both the California Senate and California Assembly) were unanimous in their support of the bill, and Republicans unanimous in their opposition, the blueprint for which was outlined by Califnornia's moderate Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The problem in fixing the state's $40 Billion deficit was that Republicans would not budge on approving tax increases to fund the gap, and Democrats would not budge on cutting funding for the state's Medical program, education and other government subsidized programs. This created a deadlock that lasted for nearly 3 months, and it took the governor threatening to lay off almost 20,000 government employees for the state senate to finally act.
The Democrats made sure that all the local papers knew that they only needed one vote for the budget to pass, and they demonized Republicans as tight fisted, cold hearted misers that would rather watch people lose their jobs than act for the benefit of the state.
It was one lone Republican, Abel Moldonado, who crossed the aisle and cast his vote in favor of the budget, and his vote came at a compromise: allow for open primaries in statewide elections, and remove a $.12 tax on gasoline that had been added in the final budget.
Moldonado even admitted that voting for the budget (which included tax increases on vehicle excise taxes) may have cost him his political future in his heaviliy conservative district and quoted on the senate floor: "This might be the end for me, but this vote ensures that it's not the end for the state of California. I'm asking for an aye vote."
This brings to mind that which is the fatal flaw in California's State Congress, a gerrymandered congressional district system that heavily favors the incumbent and keeps the California Senate virtually locked at a perpetual number that discourages compromise and fosters a partisan political spectrum in which moderates and swing voters are few and far between.
Until this system is fixed and the drafting of congressional districts are written by non-partisan citizen committees, then California will continue to have these same problems and the citizens of California can expect further inaction from a State Senate that places ideology and ambition over a sense of cooperation.