People know how little I think of ‘SkyBox’ Gray Davis. But two recent news stories show him an even less favorable light.
We know he lied about the budget deficit before the election.
Now he’s lying about the causes of the deficit. From the Sacramento Bee, when Dan Weintrab sets him straight:

The important fact about the treatment of energy purchases as loans is that they did not affect, in the slightest, how Gov. Gray Davis and legislators fashioned a state budget in 2001 or 2002. While they may have created a cash-flow squeeze, requiring additional outside borrowing, the energy loans had absolutely no effect on the budget itself, as state budget officials repeatedly pointed out at the time. Some Republican legislators suggested that the energy outlays be treated as budget outlays, rather than as loans, but the dominant Democrats rejected that suggestion because it would have sharply curtailed other spending.
This bit of fiscal history is being offered because Davis, Attorney General Bill Lockyer and other state officials have decided to rewrite it to serve their own political purposes. The false account of what happened is contained in filings this week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, supporting their assertion that California was ripped off during the energy crisis by energy generators and brokers.

So, basically, we got mugged by the energy providers. And, having blown our paycheck at the stripper bar, we’re looking at our domestic partner sadly, and explaining that we’d have brought the paycheck home if only we hadn’t been hit on the head.

That’s a deliberate lie. There’s no other term for it because Davis, Lockyer and the others who filed the papers with FERC know the truth. It’s a lie that not only bolsters their case with FERC for refunds, but one that also, in effect, acquits Davis and legislators of responsibility for the budget crisis that did develop in 2001.
The budget crisis occurred because Davis and lawmakers of both parties foolishly succumbed to political pressure from various interest groups to cut taxes and raise spending when state revenues suddenly spiked upward in 2000, even though they knew that the windfall could be a one-time occurrence. It was just a one-time revenue boost, as it turned out, but because spending had been ratcheted upward and multibillion-dollar tax cuts had been enacted, the state was left with a huge “structural deficit” between income and outgo. The current estimates of the problem, something in the $26 billion to $35 billion range, are the accumulated deficits of the past two budgets, plus the projected shortfall for the next fiscal year.

I don’t have trouble with Gray Davis because he’s liberal, or because he’s a Democrat, or because he shoves his staff members around when annoyed. I have trouble witH him because there was never a state policy he wouldn’t rent for a campaign contribution, or a state issue where he’d directly sit down with us – the voters he’s here to serve – and tell us the truth except when it served his immediate political interests.
Sorry, Ann, but this is just too damn much. But wait! There’s more!
Despite the fiscal crisis, and the fact that the jobs of teachers, home health workers (but not prison guards!) are on the block, ‘SkyBox’ always has room on the payroll for a few good men and women – who worked hard on his campaign. From the normally supine L.A. Times (intrusive registration required, use ‘laexaminer’/’laexaminer’):

As California’s budget problems leave the prospect of freezes and layoffs hanging over tens of thousands of state employees, many of the people who worked on Gov. Gray Davis’ reelection campaign have been given new government jobs or promotions.
At least 21 of the governor’s campaign workers have been either hired into new state jobs or have received promotions despite the current hiring freeze and a call by Davis to cut half a billion dollars annually out of salary and benefit packages for public employees.
Sometimes their salaries come out of the very departments facing cuts that will be directly felt by the public — areas such as environmental protection, disease research and child protection services — even though most of the employees actually work on the governor’s support staff.

After all, who’s gonna take care of his Presidential campaign??
Look, it always happens that good election staff get jobs. That’s the normal deal. But at this moment in time, it’s disgusting. And that’s why I’ll never support Gray Davis for anything, ever.