State budget requires real leadership
When California voters first put Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger into
office in the waning days of 2003, there was widespread agreement
that the recall of Gov. Gray Davis and election of the
bodybuilder-turned-Hollywood star was a vote for an end to the
partisan quagmire that infected Sacramento.
State budget requires real leadership
When California voters first put Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger into office in the waning days of 2003, there was widespread agreement that the recall of Gov. Gray Davis and election of the bodybuilder-turned-Hollywood star was a vote for an end to the partisan quagmire that infected Sacramento.
Schwarzenegger was seen then as a solution, a leader who could reach across the legislative aisle to bring about the things Californians outside of Sacramento can agree upon – effective schools, working infrastructure, stewarship of the Golden State’s natural beauty. In short, they were looking for leadership over partisanship.
Fatigued with annual budget battles drawn along party lines, they were looking for a person to balance the books in California.
In that, Schwarzenegger has not yet prevailed.
This week, the govenor vetoed an $18 billion Democratic mid-year budget package, continuing a negotiations deadlock that threatens to bring much of state government to a standstill.
Now, the Legislature is waiting for Schwarzenegger’s answer to California’s $41.5 billion shortfall. Already, he has promised deep program cuts, a 1.5 percent sales tax increase and cuts to dependent credit on state tzx refunds. The governor was expected to submit his own proposal by the end of this week.
The governor appears to understand what policy analysts and economists agree upon: California cannot escape its fiscal meltdown without additional funds. That means more taxes.
In doing so, he has earned the opposition of some members of his own Republican party, who insist on adhering to a head-in-the-sand no-new-taxes dogma.
If you think for a minute that all the wrangling in Sacramento doesn’t matter to San Benito County, think again.
The biggest single chunk of state spending is in public education. A well-educated populace is the best investment in the future of the state’s economy.
Local schools already are planning for mid-year reductions. San Benito, with unemployment far surpassing the state average, will acutely feel the pinch in its social services.
But, faced with such a crippling deficit, Schwarzenegger already has said that his plan will include deep cuts to public schools and social services. Ironically, Schwarzenegger’s approach, combining cutbacks with tax hikes, is close to the Democrats’ rejected budget proposal.
It appears both the governor and the majority in the Legislature are getting it.
The minority GOP delegation, however, rejected the Democrat-engineered budget out of hand, joining a lawsuit filed by anti-tax groups to block the plan prior to Schwarzenegger’s veto.
What’s needed now is more than a plan. Schwarzenegger needs to display the kind of leadership that is needed to move the most recalcitrant elements in his own party.
Bipartisanship means that none of us is likely to get everything we want, but through compromise we can weather this crisis and move forward.
