Arnold was in town yesterday upbraiding our good conservative State Senator Dave Cogdill for holding out for a balanced budget. The event was your classic "sky is falling" nonsense.
Yes, the health clinic the Governor visited is in danger of not being funded. A late budget has nothing to do with this issue. Senator Denham, as has been widely reported, offered a spending bill to fund healthcare during the impasse and Senate Democrats said no.
The Governor should look in the mirror as he assigns blame for this "crisis". Hardly a fiscal conservative, he has spent all of the record increase in State tax revenues and then some. With all the new bonds being sold for infrastructure, and with spending baselines raised so dramatically under Arnold, only a slight downtick in tax revenue will create a real fiscal crisis.
The Governor has only himself to blame for this. I add my voice to those urging Senate Republicans to hold firm. It’s a game of chicken we should have been playing and winning every year since 1999.
August 14th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Michael:
The budget is balanced — with the largest reserve in the state’s history. On top of that, the Governor has promised another $700 million of cuts.
Stop hiding behind the bogus attempt to “fund” healthcare on a temporary basis. The fact is that the Senate holdouts want to gut these programs while no one is looking. No one’s falling for the bluff.
August 14th, 2007 at 12:00 am
To correct Mr. Maviglio the reserve of the 1977-78 year was larger as both a number and as a percentage. It was Jerry Brown’s adept use of this huge reserve that allowed for the state to mitigate the Prop. 13 property tax cut by bailing out local governments and helped him immensely in his re-election campaign.
August 14th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Mr. Leonard: You of all people should know the pre-Prop 13 world is entirely different in terms of revenues and expenditures. Please, don’t compare apples to grapefruits. My initial comments were accurate.