Washington continues its power grab in California

Washington continues its power grab in California

By Kimberly Dvorak

San Diego – California’s broke. If there was a state that needed the stimulus money the most, California would be near the top, yet Washington D.C continues its power grab by not releasing the $6.8 billion in promised funds.

The Service Employee International Union’s (SEIU) has filed a complaint against California in Washington with the Obama administration that the state unfairly cut wages by $74 million (1.4 percent of California’s budget) for a group of its healthcare workers.

This same group of 223,000 caregivers pays the SEIU nearly $5 million per month in union dues. According to The Los Angeles Times, this particular program has “loose oversight and bureaucratic inertia that have allowed fraud to fester.”

In effect the federal government wants to run California. “Why do we have governors, mayors and other elected officials if Washington D.C. and the Obama administration can strong arm how we conduct business within the state,” U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray R-Calif. said.

“The intimidation and shake down of Chicago-style politics Obama is using shouldn’t be tolerated,” Bilbray continued. “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger shouldn’t back down to these SEIU union officials or the White House.”

When California faces huge deficits and the first decline in state income tax revenue since 1938 the back and forth couldn’t come at a worse time. Also for the first time in the state’s history the largest source for income will not come from sales, property or income taxes, but courtesy of the federal government.

According to a SEIU spokesperson the union donated more than $33 million to get Obama into the White House. “This is political payback pure and simple,” explained Bilbray.

At the time of posting there was no comment from the White House and the $6.8 billion in stimulus money remained in limbo.

“We can’t give into the White House on this. What would be next?” Bilbray finished.