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How Schwarzenegger and the G.O.P. Are Responsible for California’s Budget Mess
By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento
As long as Governor Schwarzenegger keeps his promise not to seek higher taxes to fix California’s budget deficit, he will have the support of Republican lawmakers.
As long as Republican lawmakers support the Governor’s budget program, the Democrats will be unable to gain media traction for any plan to mix in tax hikes with budget cuts.
The press corps will label any plan that lacks bipartisan support, “petty, partisan politics” (to paraphrase Pat Brown).
This ‘take’ by the press corps means it will be unlikely that public opinion can be mobilized against a “cuts only” solution to the budget. Republicans don’t care about public opinion in any case – just the opinion of the majority that dominates the primary elections in their district. But if there ever was a chance, the “free” media outlets have ended it.
To offset the blame that will follow from deep cuts in public education, freed felons and the like, the Governor has hit the stump with a proposed ‘reform’ package that is really warmed over ‘Wilsonism’ - a higher reserve plus seizing from the Legislature the authority to suspend state laws if cash looks tight.
Voters have twice rejected this plan – but it works to give the media something to say that distracts the public from the real issues. To sweeten the bait, Schwarzenegger includes “redistricting reform”. He knows nothing about redistricting except that the press doesn’t like it. But it serves his purpose in distracting them.
The poor Assembly Budget Chair is reduced to ‘blogging’ to make a fact-based case ignored in media coverage of the budget – or mentioned in graph 6 of a “partisan bicker” context. But his facts are clear and persuasive.
The car tax cut produced a hole in the budget. Borrowing to pay for that hole without
A new revenue source ‘covered’ the problem, but deepened the hole. The pre-school program put on the ballot by Schwarzenegger without a revenue source added to the hole’s depth. Those three things define our problem now. The Governor plans to cut education to fill the hole created by his tax cuts and unfunded spending.
That’s the truth.
Here’s another truth. This year, the State is looking at a cash flow problem as well as a deficit. Sometime in August there may be no funds with which to pay thousands of state employees. While legislative employees are used to this problem (and obtain no-interest loans from local credit unions), they constitute a few hundred, not tens of thousands of workers.
If the government is forced to close its doors because it can’t pay its employees, then there will be hell to pay.
Bill Cavala was Deputy Director of the Assembly Speaker’s Office of Member Services where he worked for over 30 years.
He attended undergraduate and graduate school in the 1960’s and received a doctorate in political science at UC Berkeley. He taught political science at UC Berkeley during the 1970's while he worked part-time for the State Assembly.
Cavala left teaching at UC Berkeley and went to work for Assembly Speaker Willie Brown in 1981 until his tenure as Speaker ended in 1995, and he has worked for his five successors as Speaker up to and including Speaker Fabian Nunez.
Mr. Cavala manages election campaigns for Democratic candidates.
Comments
Stop blaming the car tax cut. The car tax increase was ILLEGAL, and if Schwarzenegger hadn't rescinded it, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN STRUCK DOWN! The state would then have had to pay it back with interest. Then when that had happened, you'd be saying he should have repealed it sooner, and you'd be right. He did the right thing in rescinding it and saving us from an even bigger hole
Posted by: Ben at March 26, 2008 10:21 AM
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