Two stories from the L.A. Times today (requires registration; use ‘laexaminer/’laexaminer’).
First, Cuts Target Ill and Aging:

As part of the budget-reduction package that he has proposed to close a huge shortfall this year, Gov. Gray Davis is urging lawmakers to cut an array of services to the elderly and ill, such as cutting back on syringes for diabetics and reducing payments to nursing homes that care for 200,000 aging and infirm Californians.
Educators were among the first to complain about Davis’ budget proposals, which include $3.1 billion in cuts to public school spending. But the Democratic governor also proposed $2 billion in cuts to welfare and health-care programs primarily for the poor. Health and human services spending cuts amount to his second-biggest target.
Lawmakers face stark choices when they arrive in Sacramento today to begin vetting Davis’ overall proposal to start filling the state’s $21-billion-plus budget gap by a combination of cuts and other adjustments that amount to $10.2 billion. Those represent the first move toward closing the budget deficit, which includes the estimated shortfall in this year’s budget as well as the projections for an even bigger problem for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Then, A Little R&R in Maui Precedes the Budget Battle:

At 7 a.m. Saturday, California Sen. Richard Alarcon, a Democrat from Sylmar, ordered a coffee to go from the terrace restaurant at the Sheraton Hotel here. A warm breeze from the beach crossed the resort’s palm grove and koi pond and whispered across the veranda, launching another lovely December day in Hawaii.
Today, Alarcon will be back in Sacramento to confront an ugly task: cutting government services and possibly raising taxes to close a projected revenue gap bigger than the entire budgets of many states.
But over the weekend, he was hundreds of miles away — in Maui, snorkeling, working out at the hotel fitness center and playing golf at taxpayers’ expense.
Like nearly a dozen fellow lawmakers, Alarcon flew to Maui on Wednesday to attend a conference sponsored by the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the 26,000-member union of prison guards. The conference involved three morning panel discussions on Thursday and Friday — one of which Alarcon skipped — leaving lawmakers ample time for play before their departure Sunday.
Attendees included three out of four of California’s legislative leaders, and the wives of many of the lawmakers. Most of the politicians promised to pay for the Maui trip with their own money or campaign accounts, which in some cases include thousands of dollars in donations from the prison guards.
But Alarcon said he would have the Senate — California taxpayers, in other words — foot the bill for his $450 flight. The rest of the costs, including his $300-a-night room at the swank Sheraton, would partly be covered with the tax-free $125 senators receive each working day for living expenses.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think there was a benefit in coming here,” said Alarcon, looking island casual in khaki shorts and a T-shirt. “Relationship-building is critical in this business.”
…
Announcing his $10-billion budget-cutting package Friday, Davis said no area of government would be spared. The Department of Corrections, however, fared better than most. Under Davis’ proposals, the agency would lose $13.56 million from its overall budget of about $5 billion. By comparison, Davis proposes $74.3 million in midyear cuts, from an overall budget of $4.48 billion, to the University of California, and nearly $60 million, from a budget of $3.45 billion, in reductions for the state university system. This year the guards union won pay raises of 37%, spread over five years, from the Davis administration, a package that will cost more than $500 million annually when fully implemented. Only one legislator, state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), voted against the raises.

Now I don’t want to get all “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” on you. But in case you wonder why it is that taxes go up, budgets go up, levels of service go down, and deficits go up, don’t watch Tony Soprano managing his pet politicians on his Jersey City projects, just take a look at the above.
Now I’ll buy some favor with Ann Salisbury by pointing out that this isn’t the Governor’s problem alone; everyone is standing at the trough. But like Captain Renault, I’m sure he’s “shocked, just shocked” to find that the state is being bought and sold. Sadly, I’m not.