Posted on 01/31/2009 10:37:29 AM PST by SmithL
Thousands of state workers who thought Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't furlough them found out Friday that he thinks otherwise – and that he believes the law is on his side.
The latest twist in the state employee furlough saga occurred when Schwarzenegger's office called the other seven officers who are elected by statewide vote and the independent Board of Equalization.
The message: The governor can and will furlough your employees starting Feb. 6.
The BOE and the constitutional officers, who include Attorney General Jerry Brown, Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Controller John Chiang, have asserted that Schwarzenegger doesn't have authority over the 15,600 employees working for them. Schwarzenegger has accused his elected colleagues of resisting furloughs for political purposes.
Responses to the governor's move ranged from defiant to cautious.
Brown said in an e-mailed statement that he would "take appropriate legal steps" to keep his employees from furloughs but did not specify what that meant.
Lockyer spokesman Tom Dresslar said the treasurer would go along with any legislation, bargaining agreement or court ruling that specifically applies the furloughs to his office.
"We are not above the law, but we believe the law and the constitution make it clear that we are not below the governor either in this matter," Dresslar said. Lockyer has sent a letter to Chiang asking that the controller exclude Treasurer's Office employees from any furlough pay reduction.
Anita Gore, spokeswoman for the BOE, said the tax collecting agency's leadership would have something to say when they meet next week: "Our board members will weigh in and our legal staff will look at it, as I imagine all legal staff in all the constitutional offices will be looking at it."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
The BOE and the constitutional officers, who include Attorney General Jerry Brown, Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Controller John Chiang, have asserted that Schwarzenegger doesn't have authority over the 15,600 employees working for them. Schwarzenegger has accused his elected colleagues of resisting furloughs for political purposes.Get your popcorn, this will be one heck of a show!
The best thing they could do is to permanently furlough all the CA State Assembly members... especially all the ones from San Fransicko.
“We are not above the law” from Dressiler. That’s exactly what you guys are saying.
Arnie, fire them.
Can't do that. The are elected officers of the state.
In three years, this lead will read:
“Millions of federal employees who thought Pres. Obama couldn't furlough them found out Friday that he thinks otherwise - and that he believes the law is on his side.”
Remember, folks, the government that gives you your bread and butter, can take it away a lot easier than if we keep each other afloat.
You’re right. He should. Not only would it help the economy of CA, it would help him revive his standing among conservatives (think Pres. Reagan firing the FAA workers). Not much, but some.
Agreed. This one is going to hurt, especially for the lower-paid state workers, for whom two mandatory days of furlough per month will result in a substantial proportionate loss of income. In the long run, this will help the state economy and will help restore Schwarzenegger's conservative credibility.
This will also help restore California's reputation as a bellwether state.
Odd, but this article doesn't mention anything about how Boxer, Feinstein and Pelosi view the furlough.
This is a sideshow designed to distract the public from the structural budget problems that plague CA.
We’re not talking about trying to fire the elected officers, just some of their employees.
“This one is going to hurt, especially for the lower-paid state workers, for whom two mandatory days of furlough per month will result in a substantial proportionate loss of income”
It might hurt worse to lose that job.
There’s always substituting. The schools around here don’t have enough subs to cover every day.
Schwarzenegger should back off the furlough plan for departments headed by elected officials. Instead he should simply use his executive authority to cut their budgets by 10%, then let them figure out how to make the cuts and run their empires. Actually this could be the solution to the entire budget crisis, and also get the state back into black ink. We’re told the state is facing a $40 billion deficit over the next year. The total budget is somewhere around $100 billion annually. So, Arnie simply needs to reduce the budget for all departments by 10%, and freeze the total budget for 4 years, or at least as long as he’s in office. That will result in a $10 billion per year reduction, thus in 4 years we’re back in black ink. Obviously the percentage reduction would need some fine tuning to accommodate changes in revenue, but the principal would work. The democrats would whine and scream bloody murder, but that would be a good thing too. Any family or entity that can’t stand a 10% reduction is living too close to the line.
Good plan but ...the 400 lb gorilla that no one wants to confront is Prop 98. Until Prop 98 is busted there will be no 10% or even 1% reduction in state spending. The legislture, with the governor's approval, has the aurthority to suspend Prop 98 but those Democrats funded by unions won't dare and Schwarzenegger hasn't got the huevos to even suggest a suspension.
I am referring to the workers.
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.