Simon Calls for Dumping New Programs to Help Ease the State’s Budget Shortfall

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon Jr. on Friday called for closing the state’s budget shortfall by eliminating all recently approved government programs. He criticized the plan proposed this week by Gov. Gray Davis as relying upon “fiscal sleight-of-hand.”

Simon acknowledged that he may discover some new programs that deserve to be spared once he has the chance to review the entire budget. But he said eliminating new spending was only one of a dozen steps needed to extract California from its projected $12.5-billion shortfall.

Speaking to the Public Policy Institute of California, Simon also called for 6% of the state’s annual budget to be set aside in coming years to deal with tight times and natural disasters--a step that would require even deeper cuts.

“We need to make difficult choices now,” said Simon, a Los Angeles businessman and son of former U.S. Treasury Secretary William E. Simon.

Simon’s comments are the latest by Republican challengers to Davis criticizing the governor’s budget, released this week. Secretary of State Bill Jones and former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan both have blamed Davis for mishandling the state’s energy crisis and for what they consider overspending during flush years.

In addition to halting new programs, Simon proposed a 15% across-the-board cut in all state operational spending, with exemptions for public safety.

Even as he was advocating spending cuts, Simon also called for a reduction in the state’s capital-gains tax, long a popular cause among Republicans and conservatives. Simon joined with some conservative economists who argue that cutting capital-gains taxes helps spur investment and thus generates revenue. Others question that assumption, however, and say that such cuts are likely to reduce the money coming to the government.

Simon criticized Davis for relying on economic projections that may not materialize and for failing to make the cuts needed to pull the state out of its budget crisis.

“We’re asking for trouble with the sort of budget Gov. Davis has put forward,” Simon said.

Roger Salazar, a spokesman for the Davis campaign, said it was easy for critics to question the governor’s budget and to offer what he called vague alternatives.

“Anyone can put together a wish list and throw it out there,” Salazar said. “But unless they’ve got the responsibility for implementation, as Gov. Davis has, and unless they’ve got a track record of making things happen, they should be careful about throwing stones.”

Asked why he was spending so much time criticizing Davis’ budget and so little talking about how he differed from his opponents in the upcoming Republican primary, Simon replied that Riordan had not put forward a detailed budget proposal to analyze. Simon did not mention Jones’ budget plan.

Jones campaign consultant Sean Walsh said Simon’s plans show his unfamiliarity with Sacramento.

If the state were to salt away cash reserves every year, Walsh said, it would have a hard time justifying going into debt to do needed public works projects. Walsh added that a 15% across-the-board cut would never make it through the Legislature.

“It shows a fundamental non-understanding of how state politics and policy works,” Walsh said. “On the surface, it sounds good, but it’s not really sustainable.”

Simon, who has never run for elected office before, acknowledged that many of his proposals would not be popular in Sacramento. But he said he believes that, if elected, he could enact them.

“Whether or not I’ve had legislative experience, I don’t think is as much of an issue as whether I have good ideas,” Simon said.