Arnold Plays, State Workers Pay

Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to withhold the pay of some 200,000 state employees, including janitors, prosecutors, file clerks, and prison guards. He claims that he is required by law to not pay the employees in the absence of a state budget. But he makes an exception for those bargaining units that have accepted a deal including pay and pension cuts.

But if he can't pay employees in the absence of a budget, then how can he pay the ones that took his deal? This isn't law - it is heavy-handed extortion: sign the deal, or don't get paid.

And a big part of the deal - raising the pension retirement age for new employees - does nothing to deal with the current budget mess. It won't have any significant effect for 20 years or so.

Schwarzenegger is trying to play the political power "game," by using the current crisis to extract concessions from "the other side." He has lost sight that real people are more important than petty partisan "victories." The livelihoods of 200,000 Californians and those who depend on them are at stake - that is not a game, even if Schwarzenegger wants to pretend it is by using them as pawns.

This latest move only confirms that Schwarzenegger has failed as a manager, a governor, and a leader.