In a game of legislative chicken, California Democrats blinked in the wee hours Tuesday morning and gave in to Republican demands.

Held hostage by the minority party and their plan which a recent Field Poll says most Californians don't support, taxpayers will now be forced to lend the state government funds. We see that the California Legislature can't govern responsibly.

"You might look at it as a no-interest loan from taxpayers in the state," Jean Ross of the California Budget Project told the Sacramento Bee. "We're not solving California's real long-term structural problem."

Those who file quarterly reports and high-wage earners who experience windfalls would be required to pay their taxes sooner. Others, who can ill afford it, would see a 10 percent increase in income tax withholding. Overpayments would be refunded some time in 2010.

On top of all this, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to veto the deal by Friday because it doesn't include all of the reforms he was asking for. And Lt. Gov. John Garamendi has his support.

"The Republicans have already agreed to a tax hike for every Californian who receives a paycheck and for every California Corporation. A 10 percent increase in tax withholding is nothing more than a tax increase. This flawed budget affects those least able to put food on the table. California's working families deserve real solutions and vital investments which ensure a better tomorrow," Garamendi said.

Which Republicans supported this plan? Why, locally, it was none other than Audra Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) who is running for re-election this fall.  

It's a patchwork budget of gimmicks which pushes the problem off to next year and also includes "voter approval of a so-called securitization of the lottery," Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said. "There's not five human beings who know what that means."

In other words, we will have another pricey special election in our future.

In the end, Democrats were forced to cave in to stop the bleeding going on in their own districts, Perata said. "I didn't want to answer one more phone call or run into one more person in my district who was crying, literally, because their child care program had quit or somebody was not receiving the service that they need. We were hurting the very people that Democrats come to Sacramento to serve, so it was time to end it."

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said she would continue to move forward with a bipartisan commission with budget experts from all sides to bring our revenue system into line with the 21st century economy.  Hopefully she can also persuade the extreme-right Grover Norquist kill-government Republicans who are uninterested in making government work.

"The tyranny of this minority when it comes to budgeting for this state and providing for our future must end," Bass said. "When the majority of Californians and the majority of their duly elected representatives support a responsible budget but that budget can't overcome the 2/3 hurdle then there's something wrong going on." 

This budget stinks and merely holding your nose isn't going to help.