Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger scored a victory Thursday over state Controller John Chiang when a Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled the governor has authority to implement furloughs and that Chiang must adjust pay accordingly.
The Democratic controller said last week in a legal filing that he sided with state worker unions and would refuse to implement the governor's furloughs without a court order.
Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette wrote Thursday that the court would in fact provide that order with its ruling. Chiang's office was unavailable initially Thursday, but if he abides by his statement, he'll carry out the furloughs.
The feud between Schwarzenegger and Chiang began in earnest last summer when Chiang refused to cut state worker pay to the federal minimum wage, as the governor requested. The matter is still tied up in courts, and the temporary pay cut was never implemented.
When Chiang sided again last week with labor unions, Schwarzenegger's office fired back by sending out links to videos purporting to paint Chiang as a political opportunist. One showed the that the controller was at the Democratic National Convention during the state's budget crisis last August.
Another brief clip showed Chiang in a television interview stating, "I'd love to be governor," but that such dreams were far off. Though Chiang's answer seemed innocent enough, Schwarzenegger has latched onto the comment as a sign that Chiang is siding with unions to build his base for a future gubernatorial run.
The governor himself couldn't help but drop subtle digs at Chiang twice this week, without saying his name. On Monday, he said how important it was for all state leaders to work together as a team, "especially the constitutional officers and not to look at this as a political way of getting around it, or just because someone is running for governor."
At the Sacramento Press Club on Wednesday, Schwarzenegger hit Chiang again: "There are constitutional officers that decided to make this a political issue and there are some of them that are running for governor and they feel that it's a little bit uncomfortable for them to go in that direction, because maybe they don't get the support from labor. I can't help them."
Out of all the Democratic constitutional officers elected in 2006, who knew that the low-profile Chiang would emerge as the governor's main political foil, rather than Lt. Gov. John Garamendi or Attorney General Jerry Brown?
Update (12:30 p.m.): Chiang said in a statement that he will immediately move to implement the furlough plan, though he emphasized that it would not solve the state's cash problems.
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