SACRAMENTO — Just before midnight Tuesday, as word spread through the Capitol that a key Republican negotiator had been unceremoniously ousted by a cadre of anti-tax colleagues, lawmakers were filled with dismay: Budget negotiations were surely collapsing.
Then came an interesting development. Other GOP legislators, enraged and galvanized by what they saw as their more conservative colleagues' recklessness, redoubled their efforts to get a spending plan passed. They would negotiate around, rather than alongside, "The Irrelevant 11" -- the hard-line senators who had chucked their more moderate caucus leader -- and get the job done.
The only question was: Who would cast the final GOP vote needed for a fiscal package that included billions of dollars in tax hikes? There were two options, both men willing to bolt and vote with Democrats for very different reasons.
Earlier in the week, negotiators said, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders believed they had sewn up the vote of Sen. Dave Cox, a longtime legislator experienced in deal making. A 71-year-old from Northern California, Cox had negotiated budgets on behalf of fellow Republicans during the state's last fiscal crisis.
But on the first vote, Cox said no. He had been promised that money from childhood programs he considered unnecessary would be used to balance the budget. He was also promised that transportation projects would be sped up.
Those who had been in talks with him complained of erratic behavior. He would signal his readiness to vote, they said, then pivot and demand concessions that were clear deal breakers -- suspension of the state's landmark global warming law, for example.
His moves were threatening to unravel a deal painstakingly stitched together during three tense months. But people close to Cox say he had made his demands early and was simply sticking to them.
Democrats and the governor began to look for an alternative. They zeroed in on Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), an ambitious moderate with designs on higher office.
They were skeptical. The first of several trips that Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) made to Maldonado's office was not encouraging. The Republican's advice: Work on Cox.
