Opinion: The era of post post-partisanship

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It was nice while it lasted. Sacramento was suffused with the glow of post-partisan cooperation from the moment Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared at about noon Friday that the era had begun, up until mid-morning Sunday, when the governor’s team released a detail or two about the 2007-08 budget proposal.

The budget plan is to be presented in its entirety on Wednesday. But in the meantime, Democrats are reacting with a discernable lack of enthusiasm to the governor’s proposed cuts to CalWORKS, a welfare program funded by the state but operated by the 58 counties.

Much of Schwarzenegger’s agenda, which for months now has cheered Democrats and angered many Republicans, may well come down hardest on counties. County hospital managers, for example, are nervously awaiting details of a health reform plan that could increase public hospital responsibilities but make it harder to collect from patients. Nothing new here: ever since voters cut property taxes in 1978, state officials have balanced their budgets on the backs of counties, pausing only to criticize county supervisors for running out of money. Just over two years ago, this robbery was supposedly reversed with Prop 1A. But that just zipped up one county pocket. There are plenty more that remain to be picked.