Enemy Combatant
Monday, December 29, 2003
OK, I just read a very informative article this morning (not available online yet, I don't think) that said the following (I'm summarizing):
California's Vehicle License Fee (VLF) was set up something like a non-self-executing REVERSE "cost-of-living-adjustment" tax, to go down when times are good and up when the economy sours . . .
" . . . During the boom years of the late 1990s, the VLF had been chopped to one-third of its full amount, and the state had 'backfilled' the dollars lost to local governments, replacing them with money from the general fund.
"Before voters recalled him, Gov. Gray Davis raised the VLF to its full level to help cover the state's huge budget deficit, estimated at around $40 billion.
"However, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took office, he fulfilled a campaign pledge to once again lower the fee to its one-third level. Essentially, he did it by declaring there was no fiscal crisis in California and using his power as governor to unilaterally reduce the VLF. The reduction in the fee created an additional funding shortfall of $4 billion.
"[When local governments howled, and threatened to sue the state,] Schwarzenegger responded by unilaterally diverting $2.6 billion to counties and cities to cover the money they'd lost when he reduced the VLF. He did it under an obscure state budget law, called Section 27, that was designed to allow the governor to cover some unexpected budget shortfalls in times of crisis. In other words, he did it by declaring that California was in a fiscal state of emergency and by claiming for himself the power to unilaterally appropriate money."
So, Gray Davis got recalled because he RESTORED a car tax to its previous level. Arnold then: (a) repealed the car tax because there was no crisis warranting the raise; then turned around and (b) grabbed money out of the general fund while the legislature was not in session, on the grounds that there was a new fiscal emergency (entirely of his own making, of course).
Can you IMAGINE any Democrat getting away with this kind of headspinning, schizoid, Donovan-like behavior? ("First, there is a crisis/Then there is no crisis/Then there is")
