Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, chairwoman of a legislative budget conference committee, ordered up a report last winter ranking which of the state's counties send the most tax money per capita to the Capitol, and which ones consume the most in health and other services. It showed that conservative counties - like Modoc, with 49.9 percent Republican registration, the state's highest - generally consumed the most, and liberal counties sent in the most.

Marin County was No. 1 in contributions, at $4,793 per person, and San Francisco was No. 3 at $3,578. Modoc was No. 2 in consumption at $2,216 per person, and conservative Tulare was No. 1, with $2,223.

"I don't think voters in the conservative counties understand the connection between the service they are receiving and the votes their representatives are making," Evans said…In Modoc, the way it works is that if the cuts being proposed go through, near-catastrophe will reign.