Gov. targets budget blockers

FRESNO -- In a rare move, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger went on the offensive Monday against a group of legislators from his own party, making clear that there could be political costs if they continue to block passage of the state budget.

The governor dropped into the districts of two Republican state senators -- one a holdout and the other the only one to vote with Democrats for the budget, based on Schwarzenegger’s spending blueprint, that the Assembly passed in July.

The governor’s visits were a shift in strategy: Until this week, he mostly had sought to appease GOP senators at the negotiating table amid accusations that he was too willing to cut deals with Democrats on the budget and other legislative business.

But on Monday, with the budget standoff threatening to sink his plans to bring healthcare to all Californians and overhaul the state’s water infrastructure, Schwarzenegger took his private jet to the district of state Sen. Dave Cogdill of Fresno, a leader of the holdouts, and toured a health clinic that may have to close as a result of the impasse.

Earlier in the day, Schwarzenegger traveled to Santa Maria, hometown of Sen. Abel Maldonado, whom he called “an extraordinary leader,” praising the senator for breaking with the GOP caucus to cast a vote for the budget.

The only kind words Schwarzenegger had for Senate Republicans on Monday were those lauding Maldonado. The other Republicans he scolded.

“It is embarrassing,” Schwarzenegger said in Fresno, referring to the Senate’s failure to pass a budget 44 days into the fiscal year. He accused GOP lawmakers of continuing to withhold their votes, even after all their demands related to the budget had been met, in hopes of extracting other policy concessions.

“All of a sudden, now we’ve got to work on this, we’ve got to work on that,” Schwarzenegger said. “So they are adding things. We say today, don’t keep adding things. You are hurting people. People in California are suffering. Lay off. Pass the budget.”

Though Schwarzenegger didn’t mention Cogdill by name, he did single out Cogdill’s fellow GOP holdout, Sen. Jeff Denham, a Republican whose district includes nearby Merced. Denham, a political moderate who hails from a “swing” voting district and has broken with his party on issues in the past, is under substantial pressure to do so now.

The state Democratic Party launched a recall effort against Denham last week. School groups and unions have held media events in his district, calling on him to cast the one remaining GOP vote needed for passage of a budget in the Senate.

“He should get a lot of heat,” Schwarzenegger said of Denham, prompting the healthcare clinic workers who were standing behind the governor to break into applause. “If you think of one person who can make the budget pass, Sen. Denham could do it. I hope everyone here today calls the senator. Call him. Say, ‘It is up to you now. You are our man.’ ”

Denham later issued an angry written statement.

“Governor, let me repeat myself again, since perhaps you are not listening yet,” he wrote. “I will not be bullied, intimidated or pressured into voting for a budget with inflated revenues, unaccounted expenses or accounting gimmickry.”

Cogdill also shot back. He suggested that the governor should direct his frustration at Democrats who have refused to approve emergency legislation, sponsored by Republicans, that would continue funding health clinics in the absence of a budget.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) said Monday during a visit to a Sacramento clinic that the emergency funding proposal was a ploy.

“To say . . . let’s temporarily fund these programs so we can come back three or four weeks from now when nobody’s paying attention and gut or entirely eliminate programs like these is unacceptable,” he said.

For GOP lawmakers, continuing to defy the governor has implied political costs. Schwarzenegger’s approval rating among Republican voters statewide is significantly higher than that of lawmakers, according to public opinion polls, and he can raise millions in campaign funds at a time when the state Republican Party is broke.

“He’s still the kingmaker for those who have aspirations for higher office,” GOP political consultant Bill Whalen said.

Denham, for example, has been considering a run for lieutenant governor.

But on Monday, the Senate’s 14 Republican holdouts showed no sign of compromise.

“We’re trying to get the most responsible budget we can,” said Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman of Irvine.

Ackerman took issue with the governor’s charge that his caucus was stalling a spending plan with demands unrelated to the budget. He said disputes remained over language in the budget adopted by the Assembly that would change some liability laws and direct the spending of billions of dollars in bond money approved by voters.

“I don’t think he should be criticizing Republicans,” Ackerman said. “If he wants to criticize the Legislature as a whole, that I could understand.”

The governor, who says he has promised to use his line-item veto authority to cut the $700 million in spending from the budget that Senate Republicans find most objectionable, suggested that the lawmakers were trying to derail an overhaul of California’s healthcare system.

“It is to their interest to drag this out,” Schwarzenegger said in Fresno, “so that we will not have enough time to get into healthcare reform.”

Lawmakers will have only a few weeks left on the legislative calendar when they return Aug. 20 from summer break. If the budget is not quickly resolved, it is unlikely that any other major business will be done as attention turns to keeping government services from shutting down. Senate Leader Don Perata (D-Oakland) already has said that his house will not take up any legislation in the absence of a budget.

Ackerman denied that his caucus was throwing sand in the gears of healthcare reform. “Absolutely not,” he said.

The governor’s appearances come after several weeks of keeping a relatively low public profile on the budget. Most of last week he was out of state on vacation. But the impasse is taking a toll not only on his policy agenda but also on Californians across the state.

About $787 million in payments have not been made to healthcare providers since the July 1 start of the fiscal year. An additional $271 million in payments due to be sent Thursday will not go out without a budget in place. Smaller facilities like the Sequoia Community Health Center, which the governor visited in Fresno, said they may soon be unable to make payroll.

Today the governor will travel to Bakersfield, home of another Republican state senator, Roy Ashburn.

Times staff writer Nancy Vogel contributed to this report.