Taking Budget Fight to Davis

Hundreds of low-income Los Angeles County residents boarded buses bound for Sacramento on Sunday to protest Gov. Gray Davis’ plan to cut programs for the poor in the state budget.

In a bid to close a $23.6-billion budget gap, Davis has proposed reducing the state’s spending--including welfare and health-care services for the poor and the infirm--by $7.6 billion.

The rest of the deficit would be remedied by increased taxes on smokers and motorists, and a bevy of accounting shifts, budget transfers and loans, according to the plan he proposed this month.

Advocates for the disadvantaged argue that programs that help low-income families meet basic needs should be spared.

“We want to prevent some cuts that we think are too hard-hitting on poor people,” said Mary Ochs of the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, which organized the protest.

Lydia Ponce, 40, and her 8-year-old daughter were among nearly 100 people waiting Sunday morning to board buses at a meeting spot south of downtown Los Angeles.

The Venice Beach resident said she planned to lobby legislators to preserve funding for CalWORKS, a welfare-to-work program she depends on for child care. “The money has to come from somewhere else,” she said.

Ponce said she won’t be able to continue working toward her college degree and juggling two part-time jobs if she loses public assistance. “If it’s a choice between paying child care or paying the rent, I can’t do both,” she said.

Also in the group was Zed Null, 53, who suffers from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders. The Hollywood resident said he would be devastated if the subsidized services he has relied on for the last 15 years are cut.

“They already asked us to come up with a list of what we felt we could do without,” he said. “That’s the equivalent of saying, ‘You’ve got 10 fingers and 10 toes. You can choose which ones you don’t mind losing.’”

About 600 people such as Ponce and Null from across the state planned to rally today at the Capitol and meet with individual legislators throughout the day.

“We don’t expect necessarily to prevent all of the cuts ... but we feel it’s important that the voices of low-income families be heard,” Ochs said.