Schwarzenegger’s Pay Cut Stunt Not Very Popular Judging by Who is Saying What and Those Who Do Not Want to Talk About It

Senate President pro Tem Don Perata minced no words:

“This regrettable action undermines the state’s shaky economy, inflicts hardship on 200,000 hard-working Californians who have nothing to do with the state’s budget stalemate and reduces services to everyone who visits a DMV office, expects safe highways or needs other state assistance.”

“Cutting state services reduces the quality of life for all Californians; that’s why the Democrats have a plan that avoids gutting education, health care, higher education and transportation by balancing the budget with a mix of cuts and new revenue.”

“The Governor’s suggestion that the Legislature did nothing on the budget prior to May 14 shows how little attention he has paid to this process. The Senate held 67 subcommittee and full budget committee hearings going through the Governor’s proposal line by line. In mid-February, we took $7 billion in bipartisan budget actions – enough to solve half of the state’s deficit.”

“On May 14, the Governor proposed a revised budget with a $7 billion hole in it. The Budget Conference Committee fixed this by balancing the budget in six weeks.”

“If the Governor disagrees with the conference committee’s plan for filling the hole in his budget, we’re open to his suggestions on possible alternatives.”

“On Monday, the Senate will hold a hearing examining the far-reaching impact of the Governor’s executive order.”

His counterpart, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, described the Governor’s action as “disappointing…unwise…and unnecessary.” She said the pay cut order from the Governor will cause economic strife to public servants and their families who are working hard and playing by the rules.

The hearing that Perata referred to is one that is scheduled for Monday morning by Senator Dean Florez, whose Governmental Organization Committee has asked Schwarzenegger himself to appear and explain the rationale for his action. Through a press spokesperson, the Governor indicated that the answer to Florez’s questions would be answered in the Govnernor’s remarks before signing the Executive Order and in the order itself.

The hearing will go on, with or without the Governor and other witnesses have been called. Understand the dynaimcs here. Florez had just inside the entrance to his capitol office a framed picture from Governor Schwazenegger addressed to him as “my workout buddy.” I don't know if it is still there and if they are on friendly terms.

Florez is known for his dogged style of asking questions and following up on answers seeking the details and getting to the bottom of what is behind initial responses and press fluff statements.

If Florez’s statement yesterday from hi district office in Fresno is any indication, this is going to be a riveting hearing. “The Governor has given up and thrown in the towel, showing his true weakness as a negotiator. It was certainly sad to watch him shirk his responsibility – but it’s not surprising; he’s been doing this for quite some time.” Ouch!

He repeated this theme on the Fox News site in his district yesterday and went even further:

"It means that he's kind of thrown in the towel. He's given up. This is what you see large corporations do when they run into bankruptcy... the first thing they do is fire the employees.

"These are real workers... they are very much essential and for the Governor to just one day because of a cash crisis in his mind say, 'Today I believe they are unessential' tells me that he should have been thinking of that way back in January when he put his budget out."

While the ink was still wet on the Governor’s order, John Garamendi formally announced on the Capitol steps that he is a candidate for Governor of California in 2010 and had these words on this issue writ large at the beginning of his announcement:

“Why announce now?

“California is not a movie set. Gridlock is not acceptable.

“This is real life, real Californian’s are hurting- they have mortgages to pay, kids to feed – stunts like pay cuts to $6.55/hr don’t solve problems. I promise you this - when I’m governor no one leaves this building until there’s a budget on my desk. Senate and Assembly leaders will be in my office every day – all day!

“We’ll hammer it out, egos will be bruised and there will be shouting and probably insults, but by god- no one goes on vacation until the work is done. My dad had it right – you don’t leave the work until the fence is fixed - You can’t have cattle on the highway. I pledge to all Californian’s that when I’m elected governor of this Golden State not one moment will be lost in the hard work to get it done. The fence will be fixed, the cattle will not be on the road.

“Yes, it’s hard work, but the pay is far more than $6.55 an hour- Earn It!

“It’s time for a governor who is a work horse.”

Notice how his statement, written before Bee columnist Schrag, fits in with Schrag’s overarching theme of our present Governor who is not doing the real work needed to cinch up a budget deal.

There are even signs that some Republicans trying to distance themselves from the Governor’s actions. Republican Greg Aghazarian was quoted in the Sacramento Bee saying:

"While I appreciate the Governor's leadership on this budget crisis, I cannot support reducing the salaries of our state employees to minimum wage.

“If our state workers had the power to pass a budget, then it might be appropriate to hold them accountable, but that's not where the responsibility lies according to our State Constitution. I cannot predict when a budget will be passed, but I do know this, when it does happen it will be because we worked to achieve bipartisan solutions.

“I understand what the Governor is trying to accomplish with this action, but I must respectfully disagree and urge the Governor to reconsider his executive order."

It did not escape the notice of political blogger David Dayen that there is a political angle to this. He astutely analyzed the situation in a posting, “Fraying at the Edges,” in this context:

“Now, Aghazarian is talking out of both sides of his mouth. He's trying to win a Senate election against Lois Wolk in SD-05, and he wants to be seen as some kind of moderate when his record suggests the opposite. But the fact that he's gone off the reservation means that there's a lot of pressure to come out against the Governor on this one, putting him alone on an island of his own making. It's important to keep pounding away and make him completely unpopular and unable to help his party in the fall as a result of this stupid, heartless action.”

Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, was quoted in the media as denying responsibility for the Governor’s actions: "I think that it adds pressure. I do. I believe that none of us wants to see something like this. Nobody wants to see people that are being affected that, frankly, don't have a part in the decision process."

Seems like few want to be part of the Governor’s defenders on yesterday’s actions. More like "run away" in a Monty Python skit.