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.