Democrats Should Include GOP In The Budget Solution
December 29th, 2008
The Issue: California has finished the first half of the 2008-2009 fiscal year without a balanced budget. As more money continues to be spent, the state loses a substantial piece of the ability to make changes that could fix the problem. To make matters worse, the leadership of the California Republican Caucus is no longer part of the negotiations. Democrats are gambling with a lot when they assume the responsibility of fixing the budget alone.
At this point in the process it would seem repetitive to continue to write about how California got to the place it is now. If you want to read a summary, check out Saturday’s post.
If the state of California overspent toward an annual budget deficit of roughly $15 billion during the past 6 months it has been operating in this fiscal year than one can assume that our actual over-expenditure at the current moment is near $7-8 Billion (if the state spends the same amount during the first half and the second half of the year). That means in order to end fiscal year 2008-2009 with a neutral ending balance– the same amount of expenditures as revenues– then not only will the State need to cut the $7-8 billion it is expected to be over spending, but an additional cut of equal size deeper than the cuts would have to have been to finish off the year.
Here is another way of explaining it. Let’s say we knew we were overstaffed in an agency of 5 employees at the beginning of the year. The budget we have could pay for 4 employees all year, but since we already issued paychecks for 5 employees during the first 6 months, we would have to cut down to 3 employees during the back 6 months to spend the same as paying 4 all year long.
Now the Democratic Leadership has taken on the burden of solving the budget problems without their Republican colleagues. Sure Arnold Schwarzenegger is at the table, but he isn’t a force inside the caucus with his recent public criticism of GOP members. Dave Cogdill and Mike Villines at the minimum should be part of the solution. Here’s why.
If the budget situation gets ugly, like it already is and the public doesn’t feel that the Democrats effectively “solved” the budget crisis, than the Democrats will take all of the blame. On the other side, if the Democratic Leadership succeeds and “saves” the economy through their proposed solutions, they will be heralded as the champions of the people. Which of the two scenarios is most likely to occur?
The Democrats are taking on quite a gamble not letting the GOP have a say in the process. No one will be happy with the proposed solution to the budget and they will blame the Democratic Party and their leadership. When the races for Statewide office come up in 2010, the GOP will speak about the Democratic incompetence and will take the governorship, as well as other statewide offices.
By choosing a budget solution that is reasonable, like something that could be negotiated out of the budget solution proposed a few weeks ago by the Republicans, the Democratic leadership could give a little, get a little and come to a compromise that would allow everyone to share the credit and the blame for the budget.
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