Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Schwarzenegger talks budget reform in Oakland

OAKLAND — A mostly unsympathetic but largely docile audience of local officials heard Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger explain his no-new-taxes budget reform plan Monday.

Perhaps the only forward motion to come out of the town-hall-style meeting at Oakland City Hall was the governor's promise, exacted by Mayor Ron Dellums, to extend the deployment of California Highway Patrol officers, which began last August to quell Oakland's street crime. Dellums seemed to catch the governor flat-footed, requesting the extension in front of a crowd even before giving the governor a microphone.

"Nice move, mayor," the governor replied, praising Dellums as one who "always fights for his city. ... Let me look at it this afternoon and I will have an answer for you tomorrow."

About 40 minutes later, at the event's end, Schwarzenegger said an aide had just informed him the deployment would be extended.

Dellums spokesman Paul Rose said the mayor decided to ask the governor to extend the program after meeting with Police Chief Wayne Tucker last week: "The mayor said, `The governor will be in town Monday and I'll ask him then.' And that's what happened today."

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said the deployment is renewed every 90 days, and CHP and Oakland Police officials are in regular contact.

Schwarzenegger's budget spiel Monday was largely the same as that which he has made at similar meetings all over the state: AdvertisementA slowing economy and a "dysfunctional" budget system have the state spending too much, hence our $17 billion deficit: "We've got to live within our means."

The governor said he doesn't approach the budget as a Republican or as a Democrat. "When you take politics out of it, we can solve it much quicker. ... I don't want to win a popularity contest, I just want to fix the problems."

Schwarzenegger at no time Monday seemed about to win a popularity contest, though the discussion remained civil.

Peppered with questions about reinstating the Vehicle License Fee he repealed soon after taking office in 2003, which would restore about $6 billion per year to state coffers; about ending California's tenure as the only major oil-producing state without an oil extraction tax; about reassessing commercial property to bring tax revenues up to date; and about mulling whether California should remain one of only three states requiring a two-thirds Legislative majority to pass budget bills, the governor basically said "no," "no," "no" and nothing at all.

"I don't know why we would look at anything and say, 'We have to raise taxes,'" the governor replied to a question about commercial property reassessment.

But, as he has said before, "we don't have a dictatorship — this is just my opinion," and there are 120 "great brains" in the Legislature with whom to work out a deal.

Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, D-Oakland, minutes later introduced himself as "one of those 120 brilliant minds" and urged the governor to see $2.2 billion that the Assembly Budget Committee last week added into the governor's proposed budget for schools as "an investment." Swanson also urged Schwarzenegger to act on the Assembly's proposal to close certain tax loopholes, and to work closer with lawmakers to get a fairer share of federal dollars sent back to California taxpayers.

"I'm a big believer in education," the governor replied, but Assembly Democrats want a $6 billion to $8 billion tax hike which probably won't get the supermajority vote it needs to reach his desk. And, he said, "what one person calls a tax loophole, another calls a tax incentive" crucial to maintaining the state's economy.

Alameda Mayor Beverly Johnson cited the inequality in state funding received by school districts; per-student allocations vary widely around the state.

"You are absolutely correct. ... It's outrageous," the governor said. "We are going to go after those spending formulas, we are working on that."



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