Orange County Register

If you haven’t seen it yet, I have a story today about legislative Democrats pushing for tax increases and the governor vowing to veto them. Orange County State Sen. Lou Correa didn’t have time to call me back before deadline yesterday, but we talked late in the evening and he had some interesting things to say about the Democrats’ proposals.

As I mentioned in my story, Correa is an interesting case because it’s an open question whether he would actually follow his Democrat colleagues and vote for a tax increase.

As loyal Total Buzz readers know, Correa represents one of the most competitive districts in California. He narrowly defeated Republican Lynn Daucher in 2006 and his vote for tax increases in February are believed to make his re-election bid more difficult next year.

If he votes for tax increases again, he could further endanger his re-election chances.

Correa, however, wouldn’t say directly whether he would vote for tax increases again. He said it’s his practice not to reveal his position until it’s actually time to vote.

“I’ll wait for the vote to say,” he said. “It’s my practice not to announce my vote until the time of the vote.”

But Correa did say that he doesn’t think there would be a lot of support for another tax increase.

“I think the likelihood of the new revenues is very, very unlikely,” he said. “I don’t think they’re anywhere near viable.”

That said, Correa told me that he’s optimistic something will be done on the budget soon.

“It sounded like everybody wanted it done,” he said.

Correa has to be in a tough spot. In order to pass their plan, Democrats need every one of their members to vote for it. Correa, however, has to know if he votes for another tax increase his chance of getting re-elected may be shot. What can he do?

If history is any indication, Correa will wait until the last minute to make his position known. Some may call that gamesmanship. Others would call that just being smart.

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