State Budget Deal

After all of the self-congratulatory remarks made after the completion of the state budget accord by California politicians (Aug. 6), one thing remains unclear to me: Why aren’t these same politicians berating themselves for being almost six weeks late on completing the budget?

Sacramento’s tardiness cost me a job working for the attorney general’s office this summer. As an undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz majoring in legal studies, I could have used the cash as well as the experience. My would-be bosses’ hands were tied; I could not be hired until the bums in the capital came through with a budget.

Why didn’t the top-level meetings aimed at resolving the budget crisis start early enough to resolve the differences on time? Why did the negotiations have to be so “secretive”? If I had shown up late for work every morning for the job I did not get, I would surely be out of a job. If the state elections took place right after the budget deadline, the politicians in Sacramento would not feel so free to be so lax about the on-time completion of their constitutional responsibilities to the people of this state.

SEAN CHANDRA

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