Contributors
Carol Platt Liebau - Columnist

Carol Platt Liebau is a senior member of the CaliforniaRepublic.org editorial board. She is an attorney, political analyst and commentator based in San Marino, CA, and has appeared on the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNN, Orange County News Channel, Cox Cable and a variety of radio programs throughout the United States. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Carol Platt Liebau also served as the first female managing editor of the Harvard Law Review. [go to Liebau index]

Budget Cut Crybabies
The “Entitlement” Mentality of California’s Liberals
[Carol Platt Liebau] 1/12/04   

After delivering a State of the State Address almost worthy of Ronald Reagan (can there be a higher compliment?) early last week, Governor Schwarzenegger unveiled his proposed budget last Friday. And lo, the screaming has already begun.

The great Russian author Leo Tolstoy once wrote that “All happy families resemble each other; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” And in a sense, the same could be said of state governments. In times of plenty, legislators resemble each other in their willingness to loosen the purse strings without too much dickering about where all the funding increases are directed.

But how different are times of fiscal austerity! Every state’s reaction is unique – and uniquely telling. In his address, the Governor noted, “Every cloud has a silver lining. The good news is that the spending crisis forces us to bring badly needed reform to government.” We can only hope. But one thing is certain: The reaction of Democrats, special interests and much of the media to the Governor’s spending proposals reflects their view of the proper relationship between a state government and its taxpaying citizens. The picture isn’t a pretty one.

Witness last Saturday's headline in The Los Angeles Times: "Budget Ax Would Fall Heavily on the Poor, Ill." But before liberals and the media begin marking the end of civilization as we know it, some facts are in order: Most of the Schwarzenegger "cuts" are actually nothing more than reductions in projected spending growth. Actual spending will increase for education (K-12 and community colleges), along with health and human services -- and these, together, account for more than 70% of the budget.

Or consider the ridiculous “reaction” to the State of the State Address offered by Senate President Pro Tempore John Burton. With a delivery more suggestive of a “Saturday Night Live” parody of Democratic talking points than a reasoned rebuttal by a principled opposition, Burton simply asserted that the budget crisis could not be resolved without tax increases (oh, that’s right, “added revenues”), and raised the specter of Republican callousness toward “the blind, elderly and disabled.”

But wait a minute. In the beginning of his talk, Senator Burton alluded to “the fiscal mess we’re in.” How, exactly, does he think that mess was created? Here’s one clue: Take the Healthy Families Program – where spending has grown from $59.3 million in 1998-99 to a projected $839.1 million in 2004-05. That’s a 15-fold increase in just 5 years. Supporting that rate of expansion, even as it was becoming clear that the state was enmeshed in difficult economic times, amounts to legislative malpractice – and by now, everyone knows that spending increased by 43% over the past five years, even as revenues grew only 25%. But the great thing about being John Burton (or simply serving as a Democratic legislator) is that you don’t ever have to pay for your mistakes – you just tell the taxpayers to keep doing it. Talk about an “entitlement” mentality!

A similar attitude emanates from special interests like the California State Employees Union. Under the Schwarzenegger budget proposal, newly-hired state workers will receive smaller pensions than current employees. But this plan is unacceptable to the union’s president, J.J. Jellinec, who calls the pension “inadequate.”

Well, Mr. Jellinec, welcome to the free market. If the state is unable to attract qualified workers with the new pensions, they will have to be increased – but with the very generous benefits, numerous holidays, and job security that state workers enjoy, it’s hard to believe that the state will have a problem finding employees anytime soon. And given that Gray Davis added 44,500 state employees to the payroll (a 15.7% increase, even as total non-farm employment rose only by 7% statewide), would it really be a tragedy if some of the potential new hires decided instead to brave the cold, cruel world of the private sector?

It’s easy to don sackcloth and ashes, like Bruce Harris, Chancellor of the Los Rios Community College District. Mr. Harris is concerned that because, under the proposed budget, a full-time student will have to pay $220 more to attend, some will “throw up their hands and not consider” continuing their education. Please. Any student who considers $220 an insurmountable financial obstacle isn’t likely to have the requisite determination for a successful college and professional career.

What’s difficult is achieving what the governor is seeking to accomplish – placing the state back on a firm financial footing so that we can take care of those who need our help the most. If every community college chancellor is going to bemoan a $220 fee increase imposed on young, able-bodied students, there is no way that we will ever be able to help all the children afflicted by catastrophic illness . . . because the state will be bankrupt.

Yes, the outcries from Democrats and special interests are revealing – of nothing but contempt for the taxpayer. How about, just for once, everyone – not just the “rich,” and not just the “taxpayers,” but members of the entire taxpayer-supported establishment that has lived it up for the past five years – demonstrating their willingness to “sacrifice” for the state’s long-term benefit? No, it’s not nearly as fun as spending other people’s money, or money the state doesn’t have. But it’s the right (in fact, the only) thing to do.

And while they’re at it, it’s time for California’s liberal legislators – frequently arrogant and too often unaccountable – to stop berating the governor, and take a moment just to thank California’s hardworking taxpayers, who subsidize them and their policy ambitions with such unfailing generosity.

CRO columnist Carol Platt Liebau is a political analyst and commentator based in San Marino, CA.

copyright 2004

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