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| Budget Battle Devolves Into Food Fight |
| 2009-07-09 |
| Seven days after the new fiscal year began, the state of California still appears to be far from a budget solution. Disabled protesters, angry over cuts to vital services, were arrested outside the Capitol on Tuesday; inside, lawmakers bickered about fruits and juices. A war of words developed between Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers over the fruit-related focus of three new bills. "The governor is not against condiments. The governor's not against fruits of any kind," said spokesman Aaron McLear. "But he believes we ought to be focused on solving our budget crisis first and foremost." Assembly bill 606 creates a commission to serve the marketing interests of the blueberry industry. Another bill defines "honey" to mean the natural food product resulting from the harvest of nectar by honey bees, and a third bill adopts regulations establishing definitions and standards for 100-percent pomegranate juice. "Look, we're pro-condiment, we're pro-fruit, but the focus needs to be on the budget crisis," McLear said. Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Fresno) called Governor Schwarzenegger's criticism childish and said he is fed up. "The governor's turned from an action hero into just another politician," Senator Florez said. "He should really, really take a course on fundamental government on how the legislature works. The fact that he doesn't understand these things worries me." McLear shrugged off the criticism. "If others in the building want to level personal attacks, that's certainly their prerogative." While the rhetoric escalated inside, at least a dozen protesters in wheelchairs were arrested for physically blocking the entrance to Governor Schwarzenegger's officer to protest his proposed cuts to healthcare. The protesters were cited and released at the scene. Governor Schwarzenegger said he plans to invite Assembly Speaker Karen Bass back to the bargaining table, but the Speaker's office said no call had come by Tuesday night. Bass boycotted the meeting of the "big 5" lawmakers because she says the governor is demanding reforms instead of focusing on the budget deficit. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 Sounds more like Monty Python to me. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2009-07-09 13:52 |
| #7 "The governor is not against condiments. The governor's not against fruits of any kind," "Look, we're pro-condiment, we're pro-fruit, but the focus needs to be on the budget crisis," I had to keep reminding myself this wasn't Scrappleface or Iowahawk. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2009-07-09 12:39 |
| #6 Totally agree with Spot. Sebelius tried that line in Kansas - yes the HHS director - when there was going to be a shortfall in money for state employees. She was attempting a crises in order to bypass the Kansas constitution and move money from other budgetary allotments without first going to the state House and Senate for approval. IMHO she knew that if she did so she would lose certain funding for her projects. House and Senate cried foul so Sebelius threatened vital civil service shutdown, "The police will not get paid" and all. It proved so unpopular a statement that she backed down, took the cuts, then had the gall to blame the Republicans for cutting education. In reality if she had been doing her duty instead of jockying for Obama there would never had been an issue. You see, a lot of people take the approach say what you mean and mean what you say. "No police, well I'm gonna go buy some ammo and canned goods." State employee payroll budget should be fairly predictable so where did the money go to cause the shortfall or was it poor budgeting? Ironically, these threats make people less dependent on the government. If government cuts its vital services (fire, police, road, etc), then what is the use of the government for ordinary citizen? By design or accident, proponants for big government turns government into a turtle stuck in a strawberry bucket. Do the really want to take everyone's money and reduce the singular family's prospect of security and feeding itself? Kinda corners a person in a bad way don't ya think? I understand that this is California and the produce industry is very important, and its nice to know what honey is and the standards for organic cheese, but it just might have to happen that subsidies for people and plants may just have to take a back seat to water, police, fire, roads, schools, so forth. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2009-07-09 11:00 |
| #5 Here's my rant: I'm sick and tired of the threats to cut "vital services". Let's be clear - the politicians deliberately choose those programs to cut first in order to get people worked up. There's no reason that those programs couldn't be saved, they're just a convenient excuse used to justify more taxes. There are billions of dollars of other cuts that could be made first, but don't have the constituency that evokes easy sympathy. So the politicos cry "drastic measures will be taken!" Don't buy it. |
| Posted by: Spot 2009-07-09 10:00 |
| #4 "He should really, really take a course on fundamental government" TRue I don't think Arnie understand how to spend billions beyond what he is making. My solution would be to have ANYONE getting and government assistance to provide proof of citizenship or they are cut off. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2009-07-09 08:43 |
| #3 Duhhhhh 49 to follow. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-07-09 07:32 |
| #2 Behold! The wheels are coming off. Another |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-07-09 07:28 |
| #1 "Look, we're pro-condiment, we're pro-fruit," -of course you are, remember which state were talking about here. Blueberries, honey, - yep all real important shit for the stat govt to get involved in right now. Send'em all an IOU says I. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2009-07-09 00:44 |