Impasse Stirs Little Public Outcry in Capital

The state is out of money and has been reduced to issuing IOUs, a drop in credit rating may cost taxpayers millions, and schools and other essential services face severe cuts.

Yet as the once Golden State begins its 10th day without a budget, pressure on lawmakers and the governor to get down to business and resolve their differences is remarkably light.

The governor and lawmakers, with some exceptions, say they are hearing no widespread clamor from constituents to settle the budget impasse.

“I’m surprised at the lack of mail I’m receiving,” said Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles).

A coalition of educators is trying to step up the pressure, and Thursday launched a television campaign targeting Gov. Pete Wilson and his proposals to cut $2.1 billion from his initial education budget. The TV spot, which features a little girl in tears because she has been turned away from kindergarten, is part of an escalating effort that began with radio and newspaper ads this month.

The ad zeros in on Wilson’s plan to save $335 million this year by changing the cutoff date for entry to kindergarten--closing the door to an estimated 110,000 youngsters who will not turn 5 until after Sept. 1.

Some lawmakers say the relative silence from constituents on this and other budget issues is ominous.

They worry that a frustrated electorate may be viewing the latest dragged-out budget battle as one more sign of political ineffectiveness. And they fear that voters will exact revenge by voting against incumbents come November.

Torres says he picks up this message when he travels in his district.

“Incumbents are the prime target right now, and if they don’t get off the duff on auto insurance, health care, workers’ compensation and getting this budget done . . . they deserve to be defeated,” said Torres, who is not up for reelection this year.

Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R-Glendale), who is on the November ballot, said he has received no more than about four letters from constituents on the budget impasse.

“People are . . . so disgusted that they are not even bothering to write us about it,” Nolan said. “I also think a lot of people were planning to vote against incumbents in the fall anyway. This is just one more strike against incumbent legislators.”

The governor, too, is getting surprisingly little response from the public.

Wilson spokesman Franz Wisner said the governor’s mail and phone calls “are very light, not nearly the amount on other issues such as the helmet law (for motorcycle riders).”

Wisner said the governor’s office is getting about 200 telephone calls a day on the budget, compared to 2,000 daily on previous controversies, such as legislation barring discrimination against gays in the workplace.

The callers “are overwhelmingly in support of the governor’s position not to raise taxes and not to roll over the deficit,” Wisner said.

Some lawmakers say they have had flurries of form letters, often generated by computers and part of organized campaigns to influence the vote on the budget, but it is the mail from “civilians”--private citizens--that concerns them most.

Assemblyman Dean Andal (R-Stockton), who faces a strong challenge in the fall election, said he received 90 letters on Wilson’s proposed education cuts--the result of a full-page ad in a local newspaper. The ad was part of a campaign paid by the Education Coalition of California, a group including the California Teachers Assn., the California Federation of Teachers and the Assn. of California School Administrators.

However, Andal said half of the letters supported the governor’s education cuts and half were against them.

The group paying for the Stockton newspaper ad is the coalition that prepared the television spot in which a school official closes the door on a little girl, who cries: “But Mommy, I wanted to go to school!”

Within hours of the ad’s first broadcast Thursday, Wilson’s secretary of child development and education, Maureen DiMarco, defended the governor’s kindergarten proposal--saying that younger children generally do less well academically than if they sit out a year.

Another legislator who can expect a fight for reelection in the fall, Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove), said he has received more than 200 calls, letters and faxes on budget-related issues, mostly on education. But many appeared to be computer-written form letters.

GOP Sen. Ed Davis of Santa Clarita reviewed a day’s worth of mail with a reporter. Out of 16 letters, five were related to the budget but none addressed the governor’s educational cuts, which remain the main point of contention in the budget impasse.

Davis, who did not seek reelection this year, believes he is hearing little because “I pretty well reflect my district.” Staunchly supportive of Wilson, he complains about attempts by the education coalition to stir up the public over the proposed school budget cuts.

“Those are the porkers who are doing a lot of harm by terrible advertising,” Davis said. “They are pretending they are all for students, but it’s for teacher pay.”

In contrast, Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) said he has received a stack of letters, most of them opposing the governor’s education cut proposal. His constituents have sent him clear marching orders: “People expect me to fight for the educational needs of our children and that is exactly what I’m going to do.”

As a member of the budget conference committee, Republican Sen. Frank Hill of Whittier said he receives more than his share of mail--50 letters a day “from civilians, from real constituents.”

The message of most is quite simple: “My kids are in school, and I don’t want cuts.”

Top Democratic leaders in the Legislature report a substantial volume of mail and calls on the budget crisis. Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) is getting about 300 phone calls a day on budget matters--about twice the number received before the fiscal crisis. Over the past three months, Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) has received 8,700 calls and letters on the budget--down about 10% from budget crunch time last year.