Pay Raises for State Officials, Pay Cuts for Poor

Gov. George Deukmejian recently congratulated Gov.-elect Pete Wilson by including a pronouncement that Wilson will receive a debt-free California. I read in The Times how “a $17-a-month federal cost-of-living boost will be wiped out because the state will reduce its contribution” to those in need. All this, thanks to a budget compromise made to address “the gap between available revenues and projected expenditures.”

It should be clear or getting clearer that our “no new tax” paranoia cannot continue. Squeezing the vise ever tighter upon the aged poor, the blind and disabled is not worth being debt-free, nor is it worth holding our ground against new taxes. If available revenue is inadequate to meet the needs of all Californians, particularly those with the least among us, then it is time to increase revenue. This is the governor’s and Legislature’s task.

BILL KIRLIN-HACKETT, Orange