Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pursuing an orthodox conservative no-taxes-ever policy even as other Republican governors have abandoned it to save their states. Schwarzenegger's colleagues in Nevada, Idaho, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana and Colorado haven't turned Democratic, just realistic.
Schwarzenegger continues to insist on "balancing" the state budget by cutting programs, borrowing, and promising to get more money from Washington. He seeks a strict cap on state spending. A balanced budget is a pipe dream with a chronic shortfall of about $8 billion a year, the result of lingering recession, the lasting effects of Proposition 13 and spending decisions during the flush years that created obligations, such as health insurance for low-income children.
Five other Republican governors, more willing to face reality, have resorted to higher taxes in recent years. Now Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, trying to avoid dismembering state services, is working with Democrats in his legislature to suspend the state's famous taxpayer-approved spending limit. Owens, up to now a champion of spending limits, says that, considering federal cuts in aid to states, common sense dictates that Colorado increase spending for healthcare for the poor, higher education, transportation and public safety -- increases not allowed under the spending cap. Owens says he will seek increases of $3 billion over the next five years.
GOP governors -- An editorial Wednesday on Republican governors' approaches to taxes and spending misstated California's bond rating history under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in saying that the state had "watched its bond rating plummet." Two of three major bond rating agencies sharply lowered the state's general obligation bond ratings in December 2003, the month after Schwarzenegger took office, but raised them in 2004 to about the levels that existed before he took office.
California under Schwarzenegger has watched its bond rating plummet. It has financed past debt with a $15-billion bond issue that will burden the state for years. Money is being siphoned from long-starved transportation programs and local governments, and education increases have been cut back. College and university tuitions are way up. By insisting on strictly cutting spending and increasing borrowing, Schwarzenegger damages the California dream he says he loves.
As for getting more money from Washington, that's also a pipe dream. Washington is cutting aid to the states, especially in programs such as Medi-Cal, not increasing it.
