To the world, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is known as the Terminator.
To the governor, John Chiang may be the Detonator.
Schwarzenegger’s plan to cut the salaries of more than 200,000 state workers two weeks ago blew up in his face when Chiang, the state controller, opposed it.
Schwarzenegger is a Republican; Chiang, a Democrat.
Chiang argued that it would take at least six months to reconfigure the state’s payroll system to issue checks at the federal minimum wage level. He also disputed the governor’s interpretation of a 2003 California Supreme Court decision which supposedly said the minimum wage could be called for until a budget is passed.
Schwarzenegger has been locked in a battle with the state legislature to get through his budget, which calls for deep cuts, including layoffs.
At the same time, Chiang noted that even if the governor were right, the state’s computer system is too antiquated to handle the change and would take at least 10 months to update.
“Pragmatically, we just can’t get the system to work in a timely manner for us to implement payment of minimum wage,” said Chiang.
“To the extent that the Order attempts to govern the constitutional duties for which I was independently elected to perform and, because it is based on faulty legal and factual premises, I will not comply with the Order,” Chiang further wrote Schwarzenegger.
This was by no means the biggest challenge of Chiang’s life.
That came in 1991 when his sister, Joyce, disappeared. Sometime later, her body was found in Washington, D.C., where she
|
|
|
|
His background with the Internal Revenue Service was helpful in getting him elected to the State Board of Equalization, which collects state sales and use taxes, as well as fuel, alcohol and tobacco taxes. He was elected chair and in November 2006 became the highest statewide elected official when he was voted state controller, winning by 10 percentage points over opponent Tony Strickland.
As such, said Chiang, his primary obligation is to state workers and retirees, which is why he doesn’t take his opposition to the governor lightly.
He is big on holding the state accountable to the public. Along with the state treasurer’s office, he has proposed a citizens bond over |
|
|
