From Jon Ortiz in Oakland:
OAKLAND -- Lawyers representing state worker unions and a few government agencies pounded away at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furloughs for the better part of three hours this morning in Alameda Superior Court, arguing that the policy is illegally harming the government, an overreach, a violation of minimum wage laws and outrageously irrational.
And that was in just two cases brought by California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment and California Correctional Peace Officers Association to Judge Frank Roesch's Oakland courtroom. SEIU Local 1000 and Union of American Physicians and Dentists will argue their cases this afternoon.
Roesch took both cases under submission and he'll probably do the same with those he hears this afternoon, which means he's going to think about what he's heard and issue a ruling later. That could take several days or several weeks.
What came across this morning from Roesch's questions is that he wonders whether the "emergency" that triggered Schwarzenegger's executive order is really an emergency. At several junctures he asked Schwarzenegger attorneys David Tyra and Will Yamada to define the word. At one point the judge asked, "How can you have an emergency that's 17 months long?" Schwarzenegger's furlough order, which took effect in February, expires in June.
As attorneys debated whether special fund departments and agencies should be furloughed - the two sides can't agree on whether there are five or 13 departments that receive no general fund money and whose money is untouchable for borrowing - CalPERS and CalSTRS attorney Harvey Liederman likened the indiscriminate nature of the policy a scene from one of the governor's films.
"The Terminator can sweep the machine guns and count the bodies, friend or foe, later," he said. "CalPERS and CalSTRS are collateral damage."
As some in the courtroom laughed and talked over each other, Tyra said, "That's disrespectful."
Court resumes at 1:15. We'll have more for you later.
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