BUDGET WATCH : Excuse the Ring

There can no longer be any doubt that just plain folks are righteously upset by the state budget crisis--now in its 45th day. Just ask Bill Verostek, president of Basic Mortgage Group in Orange.

Because of a telephone-number snafu related to a state plan to solicit money-saving suggestions from ordinary citizens, Basic Mortgage’s 23 phone lines were jammed for three hours Wednesday. The trouble was that the number of the proposed state line--widely announced as (800) MY MONEY and set to go into operation Sept. 1--was already Basic Mortgage’s. Irate callers who jumped the gun to register their complaints reached bewildered, and finally beleaguered, Basic Mortgage employees. The suggestions? Mostly various ways that legislators could go jump in the lake.

The Legislature’s idea for a toll-free phone line to receive suggestions isn’t bad. Texas tried one last year and received ideas that could save $2.3 billion. The low cost of a hot line makes it harmless to try one in California, where the proposal has broad support among Democratic, Republican and independent legislators.

But public anger at the Legislature and Gov. Pete Wilson over their failure to agree on a state budget is making it hard for people to offer much in the way of constructive criticism. The wrong 800 number--a result of a misunderstanding between Pacific Bell and Senate staffers--provided one more reason to wonder just what folks in the Capitol can do that doesn’t turn out to be a snafu. A very good question, indeed.