QuantumTom

So, now I am beginning to understand this a little better.

In a quest to better understand the ever-unfolding saga of California’s budget mess, I stumbled across an article on the subject that the San Jose Mercury News published back in February.

Schwarzenegger’s first act as governor, signing an executive order to cut the vehicle license fee by two-thirds, blew a large hole in the state budget. It saved the average motorist about $200 a year but would have devastated the cities and counties that had been receiving the money. So Schwarzenegger agreed to repay them every year with state funds. That promise now costs the state $6 billion a year, or $2 billion more than the rate of inflation and population growth since early 2003.

I remember the day of the recall vote I was unable to get to the polls – and was probably too apathetic – to vote one way or the other. The governator got elected and his first act was to fulfill his big campaign promise – reducing the car registration fee. Well, it cost us about 2 billion. That figure would have gotten us through December.

Then there’s all the voter mandates we passed – the “three strikes” law, Prop. 98, not to mention newer stuff like the high-speed rail bond measure – it’s like that episode of the Simpsons where Homer gets elected Sanitation Commissioner.