CA Controller Won't Pay Legislators

Finally there's a Democrat in California I can support!

The Los Angeles Times reported today:

California lawmakers must forfeit their pay as of mid-June because the budget they passed last week -- which Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed less than 24 hours later -– was not balanced, the state controller said Tuesday.

Since last week, Controller John Chiang, a Democrat, has been pondering whether to pay lawmakers. They passed budget legislation on June 15, meeting their constitutional deadline for only the second time in a quarter-century, but their plan relied heavily on accounting schemes to paper over the state's deficit. In his veto message, Brown said he could not sign such a plan.

Chiang, who issues the state's paychecks, said Tuesday that it wasn't sufficient to keep their pay coming.

Voters approved a law last fall that empowered legislators to pass a budget with a simple majority vote but also threatened to strip them of pay for every day the blueprint is late. The measure makes no mention of approving a balanced budget, but other laws on the books dictate that state budgets be balanced.

Ironically, the law was backed by unions. Can you spell backfire?

Meanwhile, one lawmaker started crying immediately after hearing Chiang's decision:

"I halted a fulfilling private sector career path to enter public service, " said Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D-Burbank) in an emailed statement. "I now have to explain to my wife and daughter that we won't be able to pay the bills because a politician chose to grandstand at our expense."

Left, Assemblyman Mike Gatto struggles to pay his bills.


Hey, Mike! I would be happy to explain to your wife and daughter that you didn't do your job in passing a timely balanced budget. So now you have to suffer the consequences! Maybe you ought to go back to the private sector, eh?


To read the full article go here.