I settled down in front of a computer yesterday to watch the California Channel’s presentation of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee’s hearing on four important November ballot measures: Propositions 30, 38, and 39 dealing with taxes and Prop 31 on budget reform. Despite the Cal Channel’s schedule listing the broadcast, all that popped up on the screen was the State Senate logo.

I tried the two other scheduled broadcasts of Assembly Committee hearings thinking, perhaps, there was a technical problem. However, those broadcasts came through. Yet, every time I returned to the Senate hearing on ballot measures only the Senate logo was displayed.

I gave up after a half-hour.

Only later did I learn the truth from the Sacramento Bee’s Dan Walters blog post – the Senate pulled the plug. Despite the legal requirement to hold a hearing that aired the pros and cons of initiatives the Senate decided this information was not appropriate for the public.

I suspect that is because those who listened in would have heard the word Tax over and over again.