Budget Balanced on Faulty Figures As election neared, state leaders ignored warning signs of a faltering economy and made erroneous assumptions about future revenue. By Jeffrey L. Rabin Times Staff Writer February 23, 2003 Last August, Gov. Gray Davis and members of the Legislature were in a bind: The state budget was two months late, election day was fast approaching and they still had a gap of more than $10 billion to fill. Rather than confront the magnitude of that challenge, however, California's elected leaders resorted to budget tricks, ignored evidence that the economy was faltering and made false assumptions...