For almost three months now, my state of California has been operating without a budget, which has made me irate (as I noted here and here). Like the House of Usher, the entire economy seems to be slipping into the tarn, but the legislature in California has been unable to get its act together and pass a budget. In a classic case of chicken, the GOP has insisted on draconian cuts, while the Democrats have insisted on more taxes instead, with both parties refusing to budge. (And Schwarzenegger, as a governor with no party loyalty to call upon, appearing utterly powerless in this ideological death match.) In the meantime, state workers have been laid off, vendors aren’t getting paid, and schools and communities and who knows what else have been going unfunded.

Today I went to the opening of the Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley’s campaign headquarters. It was a mob scene. It was like the turnout of an Obama rally, without the rally space. If this is any indication of excitement about Obama and fear of Palin (and it largely isn’t), the reports of McCain’s impending electoral victory have been greatly exaggerated. (Especially when one figures in Obama’s just-announced $66 million fundraising month.)

I ducked back outside for air and saw Karo Torossian, one of Assemblyman Paul Krekorian’s aides. I’ve written here several times of my admiration for my assemblyman. (I’m one of his delegates.) Before I could ask Karo where Paul was, he told me that Paul was running late and might not make it — the state Speaker, Karen Bass, had just set a conference call for 3:30. On a Sunday. I could figure what that was about. Anyone could have.

“They better pass a budget,” I said.

Karo said something like, “They have to pass a budget that protects against cuts….”

“They better pass a budget,” I repeated, being well aware of the statewide bipartisan anger over this issue. People who had lost their jobs or gone without pay were literally in tears on the news or the radio every day.

Well, it looks like they’ve got a budget, and one that will pass. As this story in the Sacramento Bee avers, it’s a budget that nobody likes. It looks like there will be further cuts and no new taxes.

But at least they’ve got a budget. Eleven weeks after its passage was mandated by law.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 8:54 pm and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.