It's still not clear that the unions will spend money against Prop. 1A, despite Kevin Yamamura's report here that the SEIU, the California Federation of Teachers and the California Faculty Assn. have formed an opposition committee. But it would indeed be a perfect California marriage if the state's biggest public employee union and its anti-tax groups got together to kill this measure. The unions want to increase spending. The anti-tax groups want to reduce taxes. You can't do both, so one of them has to be wrong about the likely outcome of the political and fiscal crisis that defeating 1A would bring about. My hunch is that the union folks are gambling that they can win two-thirds majorities in the Legislature and seat a Democratic governor in 2010, then make the tax hikes permanent without having to worry about a spending limit. The anti-tax folks? The best they can hope for in the Legislature is continued stalemate, which probably means more borrowing and gimmicks. Or, on the ballot, a tougher spending limit not linked to taxes. The voters love that idea at first glance. But will they support it after the unions get down trashing it?
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