Governor Schwarzenegger's veto of almost a billion of spending, primarily for the neediest Californians couldn't have come at a worse time. To recap, now is a good time to allow the needy to starve, the sick to suffer, and the elderly to go unassisted, but a bad time to increase taxes a single penny on the wealthiest Californians. Sen. Steinberg has indicated that he will attempt to reverse the cuts under a new governor, but that is still a ways away.
Anyway, some legislators and child care activists held a press conference in the East Bay yesterday, and managed to get a few members of the press there. It is still pretty big news that over a quarter of a billion for working parents on CalWORKS was cut, at least for non-insiders.
Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger's team has moved on. Any discussion of that news is just rehashing battles already fought. That the cuts are about to take effect, and the devestation about to be wreaked on families across the state, well, pay no mind to that. It just isn't news. Reporters spilling ink on the subject are basically historians wasting their time...or so says Aaron McLear, the governor's spokesman.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear this afternoon questioned why, despite today's news conference and the veto's impending effects, I'm bothering to report about a veto that happened weeks ago - "We're having a presser tomorrow to overturn Prohibition. Hope you can make it." - and referred questions to state Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer.
(Asked if he really wanted to be so cavalier about a veto that will impact so many families, McLear responded by e-mail, "Sounds like you're writing from a particular point of view - interesting reporting. Just making sure u know this story is weeks old.") (InsideBayArea)
I suppose when you are walking through Brentwood, admiring the scenery, you don't really see the people suffering from the cuts. But they are real, and their stories worth telling. That the Governor's staff is that heartless should be no surprise at this point, though.
