Capitol Alert: Perata: 'This is an act of war'

An indignant Don Perata made fun of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his brigade of "13 armed escorts" today.

The Senate president pro tem was mocking Schwarzenegger as out of touch with the average Californian at a rally protesting the plan to temporarily slash the pay of state workers to $6.55 an hour.

Visibly fired up, the Oakland Democrat declared he had only one question for Schwarzenegger now that the governor had revealed his plan to conserve cash during the budget crunch by cutting workers' pay.

"Who in the hell do you think does the work around here?" he shouted to the applauding workers.

"If it weren't for public servants," Perata egged on the crowd, "we would not have a civilized society."

Perata went on to lambaste Schwarzenegger for hosting a ballot measure fundraiser in Carmel tonight. "I don't think anybody here is going to be in Carmel tonight for any reason," he said.

He followed his outsized rhetoric with a threatening message about the impact of the budget negotiations. Perata ominously told the crowd that "you will not be realizing the wages and compensation you deserve" if the budget doesn't include the hike taxes Democrats have proposed.

Then, he called his experience negotiating with other members of the Big Four "a lot like high school."

After the rally, he called the governor's move "unnecessary" and "incendiary."

"You know, he is really trying to incite the wrong people. But if he wants a fight, he's going to have a fight. ... This is an act of war. It's a declaration. He is doing war on the people of this state who make California run. So whoever advised him ought to be in an unemployment line right now. If he thought of it himself, shame on him."

Perata, who was carjacked at gunpoint late in 2007, said the governor doesn't have to face the realities of everyday life in the state:

"I can guarantee you he will never get carjacked."