http://www.sacbee.com/latest/story/1641040.htmlSchwarzenegger slashes budgets for constitutional officers
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By Jim Sanders
jsanders@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Feb. 20, 2009 - 2:43 pm
Last Modified: Friday, Feb. 20, 2009 - 5:43 pm
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger formally ended months of political fighting Friday by signing a new state budget - but not before taking another shot at constitutional officers.
Among $1.3 billion in vetoes, Schwarzenegger sliced budgets of the attorney general, controller, treasurer, secretary of state and Board of Equalization by 10 percent to compensate for savings that would have occurred from furloughing employees.
Schwarzenegger chopped even more from the budget of Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a potential gubernatorial candidate in 2010, slicing his budget by two thirds - from $2.78 million to $1.04 million, saying he did so "to ensure that sufficient resources are reserved for key programs within state government. In these tough times, we cannot continue to fund the Office of the Lieutenant Governor at the level provided in recent years."
The unusual scope of the reduction, however, which will force Garamendi to lay off much of his relatively small staff, may have been payback for his sharp criticism of the budget deal that Schwarzenegger had worked out with Democratic legislative leaders. Garamendi's complaints about the deal's spending cuts have been widely seen as currying favor with unions and other pro-spending groups as he seeks the Democratic nomination for governor next year.
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