Legislative leadership among the casualties of state budget vote

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Count Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) and Assemblywoman Connie Conway (R-Tulare) among the casualties of the state budget process. Yee and Conway lost their jobs in the legislative leadership because of their actions during the budget. Yee was stripped of his post by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) this week.

Yee responded in an open letter that the move was retribution for Yee’s failure to vote for the budget. ‘I am proud to have been the first Asian American to ever hold this position. However, I am more than willing to relinquish this title if that is the price for voting my conscience on the state budget and standing up against severe cuts to education, social services and healthcare,’ Yee wrote in a letter addressed to Steinberg.

Yee is expected to run for mayor of San Francisco, and votes for deep budget cuts could be an obstacle in the famously liberal city.

Conway was also stripped of her post as Assembly Republican caucus chair after challenging the leadership of Assembly Republican Leader Martin Garrick (R-Solana Beach).

--Anthony York in Sacramento