Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislative leaders were “unable to coordinate their schedules” for a meeting Sunday evening that could have ended the state’s budget crisis.
The possibility of a fix for a fiscal calamity that has chopped state services and left California paying its bills with IOUs may be important, but apparently not important enough to force some of the state’s leaders to deal with some inconvenience or even, God forbid, take an earlier plane flight to Sacramento.
The meeting was supposed to be the icing on the long-awaited cake, a chance for Republicans and Democrats to join the governor in finally signing off on a deal to close the state’s $26.3 billion budget gap.
Instead, on Sunday afternoon the governor abruptly postponed the slated “Big Five” session, with Schwarzenegger’s aides saying that Assembly Speaker Karen Bass was in her Southern California district and would not be able to return to Sacramento until at least 8 p.m.
Not so, a spokeswoman for Bass quickly responded. The speaker was slated to return to the state capital by 6 p.m., in time for the meeting, she said.
Of course, it wasn’t like the governor was in front of his Capitol office, leaning against the bronze grizzly bear and anxiously checking his watch. Schwarzenegger hadn’t made the trip to Sacramento from his Southern California home when he canceled the bargaining session, spokesman Aaron McLear told The Associated Press.
The meeting has been rescheduled for 11 this morning and it’s easy to argue “no harm, no foul” with the overnight delay.
But in politics, as in most everything else, impressions matter and this incident will leave a nasty taste in the mouths of the millions of Californians who have been hurt – and in some cases devastated – by the financial troubles the state’s budget woes have brought.
If the budget is that important and an agreement is that close, is it too much to ask Bass and Schwarzenegger to spend the weekend in Sacramento?
State workers have seen their pay slashed by 14 percent with unpaid furloughs, state colleges and universities are boosting fees and limiting enrollment and thousands of cities, counties and vendors are being paid with IOUs rather than cash.
Now they’re being told that the people who can stop the bleeding can’t be bothered to spend a Saturday away from home, making sure that nothing goes awry – and that everyone shows up on time for a meeting that could end a financial crisis that’s costing California millions of dollars each day.
Bass was telling reporters Sunday – before the schedule coordination fiasco – that a budget vote by the full Legislature could come as early as Wednesday or Thursday. There’s no telling what Sunday’s delay could do to that schedule.
Although schedule is probably way too exact a term. Finger- and toes-crossed hope is probably a better description. And nothing is final until the governor puts his signature on a budget revise bill.
One other reason any delay is a terrible idea is that details of the proposed deal are leaking out and the likely losers are working overtime, lobbying legislators to save their funding.
California cities and counties could see the state take around $4 billion in highway funding and property tax revenue to close its budget gap and as much as $1.7 billion more from local redevelopment agencies.
Some of that money would have to be repaid in three years, but that’s not much help for cities and counties, which are facing their own financial problems right now.
These are “irresponsible and illegal” budget proposals, the League of California Cities told members Friday.
“Call your Assembly member or senator … today,’’ the message urged, “and urge them to oppose all proposals that will devastate city services by stealing local gas tax and redevelopment funds and borrowing property tax revenues when repayment is in doubt.’’
When local leaders speak, politicians who need their support listen, which is another worry on the budget front.
John Wildermuth is a longtime writer on California politics.