California Budget Crisis: No Progress, State Workers Defy Schwarzenegger’s Order
January 13, 2009 by Johnny California
Filed under Budget Crisis, California Legislature, Gov. Schwarzenegger, Jerry Brown
You’d think that the threat of Californians receiving IOUs instead of tax actual tax refunds checks would be enough to motivate the legislature and the Governor to figure out a compromise on the budget crisis, right? Apparently not. The only thing we’re constantly reminded of is how Gov. Schwarzenegger has absolutely ZERO power or influence with anyone in Sacramento.
Here’s the latest example: Last week,the Governor issued an Executive Order closing state offices every other Friday with the workers going on unpaid “furlough” for those two days. Unfortunately for the Governor, this Executive Order does not apply to state offices run by other state elected officials. The SacBee reports:
Schwarzenegger’s executive order — which applies to most state workers — cannot be mandated on the offices of California’s other statewide elected officials.
“It’s their decision,” said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. “It’s our belief that state government should do everything it can to cut spending before asking the taxpayers to shoulder even more of the burden.”
The six Democrats — Bowen, Lockyer, state Controller John Chiang, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, Attorney General Jerry Brown and Lt. Gov. John Garamendi — have all declined to voluntarily implement the furloughs.
“While I fully understand the seriousness of the state’s current budget crisis, I do not believe the burden to solve the crisis should fall so inequitably on the shoulders of state employees,” O’Connell wrote in a letter sent today to Schwarzenegger’s personnel department.
Not surprisingly, these decisions break down along party lines. If you work for the Attorney General, the Lieutenant Governor, the Department of Education, the the Secretary of State, the the state Controller, you get to stay at work every other Friday — yes, all of those officials happen to be Democrats. If you happen to work for Republican Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, you’re going home two days a week with no pay.
What we don’t understand is why the Governor would issue an order like this without checking in with other elected state officers to see if they’ll enforce it or not.
This issue will likely be added to the Governor’s “State of the State” address which he delivers this Thursday. It’s going to be a bummer. The San Jose Mercury News reports:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be hard-pressed to find good news for his State of the State address on Thursday as he continues his search for a budget compromise with state lawmakers before California runs out of cash in a few weeks.The Republican governor will focus his annual speech on the state’s dismal revenue outlook amid a deepening national recession. He also is likely to press for a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, as he has done for months.On Monday, he was meeting with legislative leaders from both parties after vetoing an $18 billion Democratic budget proposal last week.
“We are starting again. As the governor said, we are turning the page on negotiations this week with all four legislative leaders at the table,” Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said.
California is expected to run out of cash in February, which would force the state to issue IOUs to vendors for only the second time since the Great Depression. It last gave IOUs during the recession of the early 1990s.
Running out of money also means California might have to delay checks to taxpayers owed refunds or issue them IOUs.
Schwarzenegger has described the current situation as “financial Armageddon.” Nevertheless, his pleas have failed to coax majority Democrats and, most notably, members of his own party out of their ideological corners.
