Members of ACSS Chapter 512 joined other constituents of Sen. Abel Maldonado for a June 12 luncheon that began at Hearst Castle and included seal watching in Cambria and a tour of the Piedras Blancas lighthouse. Maldonado, a Republican, broke with his party to cast the deciding vote for the 2009-2011 budget. “It was the hardest vote in my life,” he said. “At the last minute, I said to myself, ‘California first, Abel Maldonado second,’ and I think other people should have done the same.”  There will be cuts to come, he said, but he also expects tax increases on such items as cigarettes and alcohol. He has a 17-inch stack of mail decrying the closing of parks and has met with disabled people who will suffer from the proposed cuts. “The state needs to move forward in a way that makes us solvent,” he said. “We can get some good reforms in the next couple of weeks and get this state on our way.”