Monday was kind of a good-news, bad-news day around the Capitol. It was officially photo op day, as the governor signed his "terrific" budget into law. For the governor, good news. But for
Phil Angelides, who immediately blasted the budget as one that "underfunds schools and spends more [money] than the state receives," the budget was a bit of bad news.
Just before the signing, "Moody's Investors Service that it was
moving California's credit rating up a notch, though it stayed below average," the LA Times reports. Good news.
"But the upbeat news from Wall Street was dampened by warnings from budget analysts that
state expenses are projected to continue growing much faster than revenues, leaving the state with an
estimated shortfall of $7.5 billion in fiscal 2006-07."
You know something is awry when Angelides and
Ray Haynes are the both out blasting the budget with both barrels (though only one of them was spotted restaurant hopping last night around Sacramento wearing shorts and flip-flops.)
Haynes critized budgeteers for
spending like drunken sailors. "The seeds for a future disaster have been planted, and the current legislative majority is responsible," Haynes opines.
For Haynes, there was some good news: The governor broke out his blue pencil and cut some additional spending out of the final budget. The bad news: The amount he cut, $190 million, amounts to some of the small silver jangling around in the state's budget pocket.
Meanwhile, Dan Weintraub
blogs on "the Angelides budget. In a phrase, watch your wallet. "He said if he were governor, he would propose and pass a balanced budget that “fully funded” education and didn’t raise college fees. To do so, he would have to
find cuts or tax increases totaling at least $8 billion, and perhaps closer to $10 billion depending on how many fees he wants to repeal."
The Bee's Alexa Bluth reports the signing comes amidst "renewed talk of compromise" on the governor's special election initiatives. The press corps' budget guru, San Diego U-T's Ed Mendel, also mentions the guv's call for
help back from the brink of the ballot box showdown. "Let's keep our momentum going by working together to reform the budget once and for all and build a bright and promising future for our great state," Schwarzenegger said Monday.
Dan Walters says the budget signing has
done little to lift the fog of confusion shrouding the Capitol. " If anything,
the Capitol's confusion is increasing with Attorney General
Bill Lockyer's decision to challenge the legality of one of Schwarzenegger's three measures, dealing with drawing new legislative districts, and with some behind-the-scenes legal and political maneuvering over whether the governor could cancel the Nov. 8 special election.
The award for most Machiavellian rumor goes to the new one making its way around the Capitol that legislative leaders, particularly Senate Leader
Don Perata, want a term limits deal that would not be on the ballot until June -- too late for the current graduating class of legislators to file for reelection. That would leave some of Perata's rivals, for example Sen.
Martha Escutia, left out of any term limits extension plan.
Doesn't quite hold up under closer scrutiny, but it gets the award for sheer imagination.