Cut $1-Billion Surplus, Roberti and Brown Urge

Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), the Legislature’s two top leaders, said Tuesday that the $1-billion budget surplus proposed by Gov. George Deukmejian should be cut at least in half to finance other programs.

Staking out an apparent negotiating position, the two powerful Democrats said in separate appearances that the projected surplus for unexpected emergencies that the Republican governor adamantly insists upon is too high. It should be drawn down to $400 million to $500 million to provide additional money for such programs as public schools, prisons and Medi-Cal health care for the needy, Roberti and Brown said.

Roberti, in a breakfast session with The Times Sacramento Bureau, characterized the proposed surplus for the fiscal year starting July 1 as “excessive and unrealistic.” He also accused the governor of making “mean little” budget cuts and waging a “vendetta” against community colleges.

Brown told a press conference he believes that after all the programs in Deukmejian’s “terrible” state budget proposal are shaken out, a sum of $400 million to $500 million will be found to be “an appropriate surplus.” Roberti volunteered the same $400 million to $500 million range as an acceptable surplus.

Deukmejian warned the Legislature in January against trying to tap into his proposed $1-billion surplus, declaring, “I will protect the reserve with my veto authority if necessary.”

Roberti, who met privately with Brown and other Democratic leaders Monday to discuss strategy on the governor’s budget, charged that Deukmejian had severely “short-changed” public education, especially the community colleges.

“I think he has a vendetta against the community colleges for reasons nobody has been able to figure out,” Roberti said, asserting that the two-year schools never have received the same cost of living increase as four-year institutions. “Every year the community colleges get socked.”

A financial adviser to Roberti, Fred Silva, noted that in the current proposed budget, for example, the University of California and California State University systems were proposed for 5.5% increases while the community colleges were recommended for 4.4%.

Roberti indicated he agrees with claims voiced by Brown in two speeches last weekend that Deukmejian applies to budget programs a “light meter” test which favors whites at the expense of blacks and other minorities.

Deukmejian’s office deplored the assertions as “so outlandish and unfortunate that we will not dignify them with a comment.”

Roberti also struck out at Deukmejian’s proposed elimination of the $8-million state Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal OSHA) as a “mean little budget reduction” that “doesn’t do anything as far as balancing the budget is concerned.”

Deukmejian has said the worker safety program, a pet program of organized labor, can be taken over by the federal government and operated just as well as it has been by the state. Roberti, however, said the proposal seems to represent a “thumbing of your nose at people and saying, ‘So is your uncle.’ ”

Kevin Brett, deputy press secretary to Deukmejian, said Brown and Roberti should be reminded that the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget analyst has recommended a surplus for emergencies of 5% of the state budget, while the governor’s proposal is about 3%. “The statements by the Speaker and president pro tem are completely at odds with their own analyst,” Brett said.