Author: John Wildermuth

Talk, even when it comes to California’s budget, is cheap. Making good on that talk, however, is a great deal pricier, not to mention a whole lot more politically problematic.

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave his final State of the State address Wednesday morning, he had a whole list of things he wants to add to California’s already rickety budget, including a $500 million jobs program and another $200 million or so for homebuyer credits.

Although the governor said that the words were bitter in his mouth, he admitted "we face additional cuts … we know the pain it entails. I mean, what can we say at this point except the truth, that we have no choice?"

Yet Schwarzenegger spent more time talking about what wasn’t going to get cut than suggesting any places where the budget ax would fall. Education funding would be protected, he said, and "we can no longer afford to cut higher education."

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes his angry “donor state” argument, as he has regularly since 2003, it sounds both outrageous and easy to fix:

1. California only gets 78-cents back for every dollar state taxpayers send to Washington.

2. The feds should return the rest of our money. Right now.

As the Fox of this blog pointed out Tuesday, the governor is expected to argue in his State of the State address this morning that it’s past time for Washington to play fair with California. The budget he will unveil Friday is expected to use a chunk of new federal dollars to help balance the state’s books.

Put aside for a minute the California-first, “I got mine, Jack” attitude behind Schwarzenegger’s demand and forget all that “E Pluribus Unum,” “one nation, indivisible” stuff you learned in high school civics.

There’s no such thing as an ex-politician, as the approaching contest for a Central Valley congressional seat proves.

When GOP Rep. George Radanovich announced last month that he would be leaving Congress after eight terms to spend more time with his ailing wife, he endorsed state Sen. Jeff Denham of Atwater as his chosen successor.

“Jeff and I share over 100,000 constituents and I have witnessed firsthand the work he has done for our special part of California,” Radanovich said in a statement. “Given his proven record as a candidate and elected official, I will do everything in my power to help him win in June and November of next year.”

Not so fast. Dick Pombo, who lost his Tracy-area congressional seat to Democrat Jerry McNerney in 2006, is heading south for a comeback.

It all seemed so simple in 2004, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave his first “State of the State” address.

“The state of our state will soon be strong because our people and our purpose are strong,” Schwarzenegger told a joint session of the Legislature. “We have a new spirit, a new confidence. We have a new common cause in restoring California to greatness.”

The governor had plenty of reasons to be happy. Three months after ousting Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in an unprecedented recall election, his popularity was high and 71 percent of Californians were confident he’d do what was right for the state.

Fast forward six years. Now, as then, the governor takes pride in being the ultimate optimist, someone who’s always ready to see a “fantastic” future in the headlights, regardless of how ugly things look in the rearview mirror.

This just in from the Fiorina campaign: Barbara Boxer is a Democrat.

Not only that, she’s an unabashed Democrat, who was “prioritizing her own bitter partisan politics” when she voted over the weekend to support the health-care bill wending its way through the Senate.

You might remember that health care bill. You know, the one backed by Democratic President Barack Obama that every single Democrat in the Senate voted for.

Carly Fiorina, who’s looking to win the June GOP primary and challenge Boxer in November, wrote in an email to supporters Tuesday that “with her 1 a.m. vote, Barbara Boxer proved yet again that her loyalties lie with the special interests, NOT with the people of California she was elected to serve.”

Now it’s mighty courageous – a word that’s not always a compliment in politico-speak – to mount a political assault on a three-term Democratic senator for supporting a Democratic bill backed by a Democratic president in a state that typically votes, well, Democratic.

It’s easy enough to be a success in Sacramento: Make an occasional stirring speech and then vote with the party on everything. You’ll generally be on the winning side if you’re a Democrat and the losing side if you’re a Republican, but so what?

In these days of gerrymandered districts, a record of party-line votes is a virtual guarantee of re-election and personal political success.

But politicians interested in actually accomplishing something for the state should remember the words of that esteemed philosopher, Jay Ward’s Super Chicken:

“You knew the job was dangerous when you took it.”

When L.A. schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said last week that he wants to weed out ineffective teachers because “we do not owe poor performers a job,” it sent a ray of hope to educators across California.

Hey, if it can happen in the huge, sprawling Los Angeles Unified School District, one of the lowest performing urban districts in the state, it can happen anywhere.

Now it’s up to Cortines to make his pledge more than a one-time sound bite.

Cortines make the comment in advance of a Los Angeles Times story Sunday that showed just how lousy a job the district does in evaluating beginning teachers, often giving them tenure – the ticket to a virtual lifetime job – without ensuring that those rookie instructors know what they’re doing in the classroom.

Antonio Villaraigosa, elected Assembly speaker in 1998, was a union organizer for the United Teachers of Los Angeles before winning his Assembly seat.

Fabian Nunez, elected speaker in 2004, was political director of the Los Angeles County Federation of labor before winning his Assembly seat.

John Perez, who’s expected to take over as Assembly speaker next month, was political director for a United Food and Commercial Workers local before winning his Los Angeles County Assembly seat.

And Kevin de Leon, the man Perez nosed out earlier this month to get the nod for the speakership from the Democratic Assembly caucus? He was a staffer for the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association before winning his Los Angeles County Assembly seat.

Are you sensing a pattern here?

It’s one thing to hear that California is looking at a $20 billion-plus budget shortfall next year. It’s another to realize just what isn’t getting done in the state because of the financial mess.

A report released this morning by TRIP, a national transportation research group, said the state’s crummy roads are costing California drivers about $40 billion a year from traffic accidents, higher vehicle operating costs and just plain delays from highway gridlock.

The road troubles will do far more than inconvenience drivers stuck on Southern California and Bay Area freeways.

“With an unemployment rate of 12.5 percent … and with the state’s population continuing to grow, California must improve its system of roads, highways, bridges and public transit to foster economic growth, avoid business relocations and ensure the safe, reliable mobility needed to improve the quality of life for all Californians,” the report stated.