Schwarzenegger Twists the Knife and Pours Salt in the WoundPaul Hogarthbyline‚ Aug. 28‚ 2007As if the state budget process wasn’t brutal enough, Arnold Schwarzenegger used the “blue pencil” last week to make even further cuts in social programs – to the tune of $700 million. After the legislature went along with cuts in public transportation and drug treatment, Arnold took another $55 million out of mental health treatment for the homeless – effectively castrating state law. A Governor who says he wants to pass universal health care cut over $427 million from the state’s Medi-Cal program, and in a gift to his friends in the insurance industry, $6.3 million to help Californians get cheap prescription drugs. He says it was the only way Republicans in the State Senate would vote for the budget. But with Dick Ackerman’s bad faith tactics that held our state hostage for 52 days, did Arnold really have to keep such a Faustian bargain? And with the process now behind us, will he aggressively push to nix the 2/3 vote requirement to pass a state budget, and prove his “post-partisan” credentials? |