SACRAMENTO — Not long ago, it would have been hard to find much outrage in the Capitol over the state shelling out $125,000 to give away teddy bears at the DMV. Or $266,000 for lawmaker lunches and dinners. Or $800,000 to house four sexual predators in the Inland Empire.
Not any more. Sacramento is undergoing an attitude adjustment.
Once dismissive of rooting around for nickels and dimes, state legislators are overturning as many Capitol cushions as they can in a hunt for spare change.
Lawmakers, facing a projected $14-billion budget shortfall and a skeptical public, have a new theme -- each dollar counts.
"We want to make sure the money goes where it needs to go," said Assembly Budget Committee Vice Chairman Rick Keene (R-Chico).
So far it has been more talk than action. Legislative decisions on where to cut won't come until later this spring.
But there is reason to believe this year may be different. Lawmakers know that voters now expect more oversight. They want to erase the idea that reckless spending is the norm in Sacramento. And they want to make sure not to give Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger more opportunities to bash them.
The reasons are political, practical and even philosophical as tiny items and small sums are suddenly living large at the Capitol. Like the $36,000 the state spent on a Swedish wheelchair for a Medi-Cal recipient. Or the $275,000 spent to adorn a freeway sound wall with sculptures and carvings.
While lawmakers want taxpayers to know that they still plan to tackle the multibillion-dollar issues that caused shortfalls to soar, they also want the public to know they got the message from last fall's recall.
That election has changed the dynamics of negotiating a state budget. Schwarzenegger was elected on a platform of cleaning up government waste, stopping reckless spending and bringing an end to partisan bickering.
Democrats initially rejected the new governor's claims of waste and abuse of tax dollars as overblown. Now they realize there may be more to gained in working with him. Most Democrats are convinced that it will be necessary to raise taxes this year. But to win public support, they acknowledge that they must first cut the fat.
The reviews began with the governor's call for an audit of the state's books, which administration officials say will uncover substantial waste by the summer. Schwarzenegger later signed an executive order launching his California Performance Review initiative. He describes it as "a total review of government; its performance, its practices, and its costs."
