What Was Schwarzenegger Thinking About When He Proposed Cutting State Workers’ Pay to the Minimum Wage?

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

I don’t know about you, but when word leaked out last week that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had prepared an executive order reducing the amount the state would pay its workers to the federal minimum wage and paying them the rest they are owed under their employment contracts only after a state budget is passed, I was dumbfounded. It seemed like such an inept move from a political, public policy, and even a legal perspective.

The drumbeats are beating from Democratic President pro Tem Don Perata who said this had never been part of any discussions—which he has had on a daily basis with the Governor and described it as “an act of war”--to the grassroots who are on fire.

Take a look at what it has done for the Courage Campaign, one of California’s leading political organizing groups. They have collected tens of thousands of signatures on a petition that will be turned in today asking the governor to drop his plan--just from posting a notice on their website and sending out an email to its members. "In my experience leading the Courage Campaign, I've never seen such an overwhelming rapid response to an issue," said Rick Jacobs, leader of this group. "Within hours after we posted a story on our Web site and sent an e-mail to our members, we had more than 10,000 signatures -- a record in such a short period of time."

The best defense of it from a policy standpoint, expressed by the Governor’s spokesperson in today’s paper, is that workers will be paid their full salary once the budget has been passed and that this avoids expensive borrowing for the state. Never mind that John Chiang, the State Controller who is responsible for cutting the checks, says the state has enough to cover what these workers have earned. Don’t even look at the legal opinion of the non-partisan Office of Legislative Counsel that says it is Chiang, not the Governor, who has the legal authority here. Just dwell on the public policy values this reflects: borrowing from workers to tide the state over.

The Governor could sign such an order today. But I hesitate to spend too much time on this as I keep expecting to read an indication from the Governor’s office that in the words of former Presidential Press Secretary Ron Nessen that it had become “inoperative.” And in the press, there are questions being asked if it is really real.

Politically, it has unleashed almost universal ridicule and condemnation in the state’s newspapers from all areas and with editorial boards of all persuasions. Even some Republicans are upset.