[John Jorsett]

Ping

[Dr Warmoose]

This is exactly the reason why Davis should stay in office. Only Davis can pull off this laying off of union thugs members. Anyone other than Davis would be crucified.

[ElkGroveDan]

I think a few thanks need ot go to Howard Kaloogian and the SENATE too!!!!!

(The Dems know the'll find 6 Assembly Reps before they find 2 Senate Reps.)

[gubamyster]

Davis are actually considering a "no new taxes" budget,

Well this is a start. However in Davis-speak the $4.2 Billion tripling of the car tax is considered a tax cut, so they need to go a lot further than just “no new taxes”. They need to cut spending – a lot. Revenues have increased 25% while spending increased 40%. This tells me they are still taking in way too much of my money, AND outspending the amounts they are overtaxing me. They need to reduce the salary increases, and cut real employees as well as the “phantom” positions.

[Weimdog]

On Oct. 23,2002 Gov. Gray Davis announced a hiring freeze to deal with the growing budget shortfall, now $23.6 billion and counting.

    But from the time the freeze began through the end of March 2002, the state of California hired nearly 10,000 new employees, 9,311 to be exact.

    In some cases, the state hired at a more rapid pace than before.

    The California Employment Development Department alone hired 545 under the freeze but only 408 in the same period the previous year.

    Likewise, the state's Compensation Insurance Fund took on 885 new employees during the freeze, compared to 516 the year before.

    If these numbers seem trivial, consider the California Department of Corrections.

    This department hired 2,005 new workers during the five-month span from October to the end of March 2002. By contrast, from October 31, 2000, to March 31, 2001, when no freeze was in effect, the department hired 1,579 new employees.

    Hiring nearly 10,000 new state employees during a proclaimed freeze and under a $23.6 billion budget shortfall is remarkable enough.

    Now the Davis administration is about to establish the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, which also creates a new post of labor secretary.

http://www.examiner.com/opinion/default.jsp?story=op.pipes.0621w0

[jim_trent]

I got a new "Governing" magazine this week and they had a rundown of a lot of different measurements for all 50 states. California had the second or third highest number of governmental employees per 10,000 people. They had the HIGHEST average cost (salary) per governmental employee. And they were near the top in both fringe benefits and pensions.

Is it possible that this might be part of the reason for California's budget crisis?

[Lancey Howard]

Amazing BUMP.

[pke]

In Nevada the Democraps created a $50 million dollar "Rainy Day Fund". They bank taxpayers money and then act surprised when Republicans balk at the Democraps taxation! What a rip off!

[Enterprise]

"none of this would be happening had the recall effort not been instituted. We've hit him so hard between the eyes that he's willing to piss off his biggest supporters, the public employees unions."

I guess a drowning man will grasp at anything to stay afloat. I heard the other day that the State of California is going to offer golden handshakes. I'm assuming this is to draw down the number of State employees.

[heleny]

Seems that the Democrats and Davis are actually considering a "no new taxes" budget

Thanks for posting the summary of the news. I heard the show, too, and I thought only Davis was moving toward that type of budget, but the rest of the democrats weren't.

Also, as a clarification, Davis is only reducing spending with this proposal, not necessarily reducing taxes. He's not backing off the car tax, either.

All this had me wondering: if Davis shows some leadership and gets a budget with no new taxes (except the car tax hike), will it help his chances of surviving the recall election if it's held this fall? He can say he saved us from any new taxes (and try to label himself a fiscal conservative) without really hurting any employees or making any noticeable change in government services.

[Enterprise]

"Governor Davis develops backbone with public employees"

Bill Clinton developed a different kind of bone with public employees.

[heleny]

The article is:

Bid to resolve state budget stalemate: tax flip-flop
Davis, lawmakers consider revenue swap to avert tax boost
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/02/MN116044.DTL

[Redleg Duke]

Too little...too late.

[kellynla]

What a bunch of hogwash. The state lost more than 20K private sector employees since January while the CA state government HIRED 13K new government employees. The state could cut the budget by 500 MILLION DOLLARS just by deferring the cost-of-living increases in the state's two largest WELFARE PROGRAMS. I don't care what the moron Davis says or does. He took a state with an 8 FRIGGIN BILLION DOLLAR SURPLUS AND SPENT IT INTO A 38 BILLION DEFICIT IN LESS THAN FOUR YEARS. Now the budget can be brought back into balance and surplus within two years by cutting ten percent off the top. Davis has proven he is unwilling to do that so THE DIMWIT DAVIS MUST GO!