Public employee union leader Willie Pelote is warning Democratic legislators that if they acquiesce to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on slashing spending to close the state budget deficit, unions are "ready to hold legislators accountable for their actions in this election year."
Pelote, an assistant director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, issued his warning and a list of revenue-raising measures he and other union activists want enacted in an article published today on California Progress Report, a liberal Web site.
He said Schwarzenegger's new budget "promises more pain for Californians and is largely composed of ideas that were discarded during last July's mid-year budget revision," and added, "It is now time to see whether the Democratic majority will rediscover the courage of their convictions in order to stand up for ordinary Californians."
Pelote called for closing corporate tax loopholes, ending contracting-out of state functions to private firms and other steps to ease spending cuts. "In this, an election year, Democrats will have much more to lose by abandoning their values. When voters go to the polls, they will ask themselves, and rightly so, what is the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans?"
Democratic leaders have been critical of Schwarzenegger's plans for closing the budget deficit without new taxes - including an assumption that the federal government will give the state nearly $7 billion more in aid - but not have offered plans to raise revenues or other alternatives.
Pelote's full article is accessible here.
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