December 22, 2008
        
SCHWARZENEGGER TO BLAME FOR LACK OF BUDGET SOLUTION
Governor's press conferences can't hide his obstruction of crucial infrastructure-funding package
Statement by Assembly Majority
Leader Alberto Torrico (D-Newark).
"I now understand what the Governor meant when he told "60 Minutes" that a show business background helps make the job of a Governor easier. He is clearly more comfortable with fantasy than with governing. He must have used every bit of his limited acting skills to look people in the eye and blame the Legislature for inaction on our budget crisis, while single-handedly endangering hundreds of transportation projects with the threat of a veto. Now, he is trying to use smoke and mirrors to hide the fact that California's on-going financial crisis is a result of his playing games with people's jobs in order to get policy changes that have nothing to do with our immediate cash shortfall.
"Rather than act to sign an agreement that would create 367,000 jobs, speed up $3 billion worth of bond projects for transportation, drought relief, park restoration and green technologies, the Governor has opted for press conferences, props and gimmicks.
"This is bad news for California because it prolongs our cash crisis, shuts down infrastructure projects across the state and halts current bond work at a time when our unemployment rate is the third-highest in the nation.
"We were told by the governor's finance director, the state controller, the state treasurer and the independent Legislative Analyst's Office that the state needed a mixture of additional revenue and budget cuts to solve our financial crisis. After the Governor's complete failure to get a single Republican vote for a solution, Democrats acted with a
mixture of $18 billion in cuts and revenue and a stimulus package that streamlined CEQA exemptions and provided almost a quarter-of-a-million new jobs in public/private partnerships.
"It's outrageous that the Governor is obstructing a solution and placing a higher priority on a right wing agenda than the state's cash crisis and the jobs of hundreds of thousands of workers across California."
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