Dave Cogdill

The slate of California Republican Party designees to the Electoral College vote includes the current governor and two people reportedly eyeing that job in two years.

The party released Friday its list of people who would cast a vote for Republican presidential nominee John McCain in the Electoral College vote on Dec. 15.

Legislators of both parties in the state Capitol were disappointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's vow Tuesday to veto the 2008-09 state budget when it reaches his desk and some went so far as to say that the flaws in the budget were the governor's own fault.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) pointed out that previous budget proposals with reform measures the governor backed died because he couldn't get any Republican legislators to support them.

Indicating his seriousness in running, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has already assembled a campaign team and a long list of supporters for a potential gubernatorial bid in 2010.

In the announcement of the exploratory committee's formation, Poizner, a moderate Republican, announced that former Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga) will be his campaign chair. Brulte also served as finance chair for the California Republican Party.

SACRAMENTO - A Republican state budget proposal died on a party-line vote Monday, with one Democratic legislative leader saying he's puzzled as to what a Democratic budget will have to include for at least two Republicans to vote for it.

The Republican proposal introduced by Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto) was defeated in a 13-21 vote, with six state senators absent.

MINNEAPOLIS -- A special election in California now appears more likely, after Secretary of State Debra Bowen said the deadline had passed to add any more measures to the Nov. 4 ballot.

An unfinished state budget, which would affect a potential special election ballot, will also keep some state Republicans home from this week's Republican National Convention.

Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill took a dim view of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "compromise" state budget proposal Wednesday, saying the governor was rejecting sound economic strategies that his own party has embraced.

"The only true answer is what Republicans have been saying all along, meaningful budget reform and spending reductions," Cogdill (R-Modesto) said in a statement released by his office. "Increasing taxes on hardworking Californians is irresponsible."

State legislative Republican leaders made another push for a spending cap and rainy-day fund Friday to accompany any agreement on a much-overdue state budget.

Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines and State Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill both made that push in advance of a committee hearing this afternoon on a Republican-sponsored bill that would put those mechanisms in place.

State Senate leaders called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Monday to exempt state corrections officers from his executive order cutting pay for about 180,000 state workers to federal minimum wage.

In a joint statement, State Senate Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) and Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto) said cutting prison guard pay would put public safety at risk.

Accusations and rhetoric between state legislators continued Friday in the ongoing stalemate over passing a new state budget, with one Republican leader using a new tactic: sarcasm.

State Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto) issued a statement Friday calling on top legislative leaders to meet, along with a release of his weekend schedule with the notation on every day, "Available to discuss the budget."

Cogdill said in his statement that over the last month, the "Big 5" of himself, Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines (R-Clovis), the top two Democratic legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had met only twice to discuss the budget, and the "Big 4" of just legislative leaders hadn't met in three weeks.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's issuance of an executive order cutting pay for 200,000 state workers down to federal minimum wage drew quick reaction from across the state's political scene.

Democrats denounced the move, while Republicans said the decision should put pressure on state legislators to approve a new state budget - without tax increases - that could restore normal pay for those workers.