Sunday, Jul. 05, 2009

Time is running short for Schwarzenegger

California looks for way out of crisis

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California voters gave Arnold Schwarzenegger a single, blockbuster-sized mission when they sent him to Sacramento six years ago in an unprecedented election: Fix California's chaotic budget system, once and for all.

Today, California is unable to pay its bills, and Schwarzenegger finds himself mired in the worst financial crisis in decades and in a race against the clock to deliver on his promise to "end the crazy deficit spending."

In less than six months, the Republican governor will enter his final year in office and become a political lame duck, as attention begins to focus on his potential successors. That gives him little time to dig California out of its deep financial hole and enact the lasting budget reforms that he had hoped would shape his legacy.

The nation's most populous state, responsible for 12 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, is saddled with a $26.3 billion deficit, has started issuing IOUs for the first time in two decades, is burdened with the lowest credit rating of any state and is seeing unprecedented joblessness and a decline in personal income.

To Cynthia Sterling, president of the Fresno city council, the fault for California's financial mess lies squarely with the governor. A moderate Democrat, the type of centrist Schwarzenegger has been courting for years, Sterling shared the stage with the Republican governor in the past to show bipartisan support for his initiatives.

Today, she believes Schwarzenegger has talked a good game but failed to follow up the rhetoric with decisive action.

"He made poor decisions and did not include those of us who were in the know," she said. "We're in real financial crisis because of this governor."