COMMUNITY COMMENTARY:

Christmas came early for California in the form of a fat lump of coal.

While the ink is barely dry on the budget signed in late August, and while you can still hear the faint echo of the governor and Democratic leaders insisting it was a responsible spending plan, the financial debacle Senate Republicans warned was imminent is now upon us.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), the Legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal and policy advisor, recently said the current budget is rapidly depleting the $4 billion reserve and will actually end up almost $2 billion in the red. Between this year’s shortfall and next year’s estimated deficit, the LAO believes California is staring down the barrel of a $10 billion budget shortfall. Now news reports are stating the LAO underestimated the shortfall and the deficit is probably more than $14 billion.

This comes as no surprise to my colleagues and me in the Senate Republican Caucus. We were adamant that the governor’s and Democrats’ budget proposals were bloated and seriously underestimated budget threats while overestimating revenues. Now, just a few months into the 2007-08 fiscal year our poor budget choices have come to roost.

Frankly, even someone with a limited understanding of the state’s economic condition could see trouble was brewing on the economic front — jeopardizing the Christmas miracle Gov. Schwarzenegger and the Democrats must have been counting on. The mortgage market meltdown that had been threatening for many months has stunted the state’s economy. This summer legislative leaders knew that revenues were already falling short of projections.

While the governor and Democratic leaders ignored the facts, Senate Republicans were lambasted by lawmakers and newspaper editors alike for holding out for a more realistic budget. In fact, the $4 billion reserve that is now looking insufficient was actually less than $2 billion before Republicans demanded more spending restraint.

Now that the inevitable finger-pointing has begun, Democrats are putting the blame on the governor. You may recall that Schwarzenegger’s first official act repealed the tripling of the vehicle license fee, which had been instituted by former Gov. Gray Davis to help close the massive $38 billion budget deficit that opened up in 2003. The car tax increase was a major factor in the recall of Davis and the election of Schwarzenegger.

To Sen. Pro Tem Don Perata and other Democrats, its revocation meant they had less of your money to spend.

Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), assemblyman and chairman of the Budget Committee, equated the governor’s action as “squandering $20 billion so that an average car owner can pocket $200 a year.” All this time you probably thought it was the government that squandered your tax money, but Democrats apparently believe it is you who squander it if they don’t take it away from you!

SEN. TOM HARMAN represents the 35th District.