Many folks said that if the Special Election failed to go the Governor's way, he would be on the next plane to D.C. asking for a bailout.
That didn't take long...
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, tin cup out in Washington, said today that Obama administration Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius would not punish California by withholding $8 billion in federal stimulus money for the MediCal program.
Schwarzenegger called the ruling a "great victory," coming a day after a great defeat when voters rejected five ballot measures aimed at narrowing a $21.3 billion budget gap.
This analysis - done by amnesty pusher, Obama whore and all around leftist shill Carolyn Lockhead of the SFGate - hits the usual talking points of the State leadership, i.e. "the electorate are a bunch of fickle mushheads who don't know what they want."
He said the message from voters came through "loud and clear," but he also bemoaned the fact that voters want the state to cut spending to fix its budget mess, but then recoil from actually making the cuts.
Schwarzenegger said the message he got from voters was, "'Look, we have to go off and sell off our motorcycles and our boats and our second cars, and shrink and have yard sales and garage sales in order to make ends meet. You do the same thing with government. Don't come to us for extra help.' That was the message, it was very loud and clear.
"And you know something, I appreciate that, when you hear that from the people, it gives us a chance to go and adjust, and say okay, we went the wrong direction. Now let's go in the right direction, let's go with what the people want.
All well and good, but then Arnie shows brilliantly exactly why people are so fed up and exactly why the people of California don't trust that their government is even capable of doing the right thing - let alone actually doing it...
"And of course it's very difficult for the people also, because when you ask them about the cuts, when you say, "Do you mind if we have to make an official $6 billion in cuts in education?' They say, 'Oh, no, no, no, no, no, not education.' (Note: Prop 1B - the measure that would give $9B back to education predicated on the passage of 1A - failed in every county except three - San Fran, Santa Clara, and Alameda.)
"And then you say, 'Well, how about in health care?" And they say, 'No, I wouldn't go after the vulnerable citizens.' (Note: Cutting $6B from the badly needed Prop 63 was a stupid, cynical idea almost designed to fail. One look at the streets of cities and large towns in California shows that mental health services are more needed than ever. In fact, if there is one area where almost everyone agrees that more needs to be done, it is here.)
"Then you say, 'Well, then you have to make some cuts in law enforcement. And they say, 'Law enforcement, I want to keep that in place.' (Note: Imagine that.)
"So people don't know themselves where they want to cut. They just say, 'Make the cuts and you figure it out.' (Note to Arnie: Yep... It's called doing your job. Look into it.)
And so the governator who promised to sweep Sacramento with a broom winds up in Washington pleading with the feds, who do not have to balance their budgets.
Since Sacramento seems to be very short of answers or even ideas, let me offer a few...
1) 10% across the board pay cuts to all California government employees. While it is true that there are hardworking, sacrificing people in civil service doing great work, it is equally true that there is an awful lot of dead wood - people who work as little as possible and milk the system for all it's worth. Most of those ultra-hardworkers are worked to death picking up the ample slack generated by the parasites.
2) An immediate 20% suspension of funds to all non-profits funded at least half by the State, along with a strict, frequent, and empirical requirement of proof that State money is being spent wisely and with good results. Non-profits are in many cases scams designed to bilk the taxpayers, with eager accomplices in the State government helping them steal.
3) As much as humanly and legally possible - cut all funding to illegal aliens and to all non-profits aiding them to break the law.
4) Absolutely no increases in benefits to any employee unions without a full accounting for where the money will come from. This means no "borrowing against future revenue," no playing numbers games with "future trends," no more Ponzi schemes.
5) All excess money from all employee union benefits pools will be immediately returned to the General Fund.
The Obama administration had been in a standoff with the state over whether California violated rules in the stimulus program by cutting programs. The stimulus package requires "maintenance of effort" by states to continue funding programs. The idea is to prevent states from cutting their own spending on programs and substituting federal stimulus money. That wouldn't stimulate much of anything. (Note: When was the "stimulus package" ever designed to stimulate anything??? With rules like these, how can any government ever hope to become fiscally responsible??? This paragraph really says it all about Obama and about the stimulus package.)
"There is tremendous will by the secretary and the White House to help California," Schwarzenegger said. "We're going to work with them to get as much money as possible."
Behind the scenes, the Obama administration has been loosely interpreting some of the rules governing stimulus money, allowing states to receive funds on the promise that they will maintain their own funding. The rules put California in a real bind: the state has to cut programs to balance its budget, but in doing so risks losing the federal aid intended to help states through the recession. (Note: Maintaining our obscene level of spending is exactly why we are in this mess! Jesus H. Christ! We are looking at a $42 BILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT! Nobody - regardless of their political persuasion - can look at that and say either a) that this is working, or that b) this is in any way sustainable.)
What this vote was exactly is a resounding vote of no confidence in the entire State government. It is time for the voters now to vote out the incompetents in this government. Every incumbent up for re-election must make a hard, reasoned case why they should not be chucked off a cliff with the rest of this garbage!
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