Posted on 07/25/2008 7:52:24 AM PDT by SmithL
State workers chanted Thursday outside the Capitol to assail Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plans to pay 200,000 state employees the federal minimum wage until a budget is signed, providing some of the most compelling budget-related scenes of angry Californians this year.
It may have been what the governor wanted all along, even if they shouted his name in disgust.
The governor's draft executive order to withhold a portion of state workers' pay, obtained Wednesday by The Bee, has generated public attention for the state's budget situation in a way that months of Schwarzenegger town halls never could.
Whether Schwarzenegger's attempt to up the ante will prove effective is another question. The logic he's employing goes something like this: If more people feel pain from a prolonged budget delay, lawmakers will be pressured – or shamed – into compromise.
"When a president does this, they call it the 'Washington Monument strategy,' " said Dan Schnur, new director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California and a former GOP strategist. "The idea is that if the American public sees the Washington Monument being shut down because of a budget stalemate, people are going to be a lot more upset because the consequences are so visible. We don't have a Washington Monument here, so this is the next best thing."
The budget is almost four weeks late as Democrats and Republicans remain divided over how to bridge a $15.2 billion shortfall in a $101 billion spending plan.
Lawmakers face little threat of losing their safe political seats and have stood their ground on principle, while Schwarzenegger has expressed frustration with the languid process.
The executive order Schwarzenegger plans to sign would save about $1 billion per month, administration officials said. It would cut pay for roughly 200,000...
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
I wish my gov (Rell, Ct) would do the same and make it permanent.
The federal minimum wage is pretty high at this point and I’m pretty sure a whole lot of California Govt. employees are not worth that much.
Except for the crackhead welfare cases and other assorted leeches, life would probably go on quite normally for the rest of Californians if the state govt shut down. In fact, life would probably be better.
Pigs oinking at the trough. I care as much about them as they care about the taxpayers they rob.
“State workers chanted Thursday outside the Capitol.”
Instead of working at their jobs?
Cut Lesgislators salary to $0!
There’s the solution.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.