Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's hand-picked guy for lieutenant governor isn't furloughing his tiny staff.
"The Office of the Lt. Governor contracts with the Senate for its human resources services and is governed by their personnel regulations, which do not include furloughs at this time," said Erin Shaw, Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado's communications director, in an e-mail to The State Worker.
We had asked whether Maldonado would furlough his seven employees after noticing that he had pulled his office out of a furlough lawsuit appeal that was backed by his predecessor, John Garamendi. After Garamendi won a congressional seat last year, Maldonado assumed the office in April after his appointment by Schwarzenegger and a lengthy and contentious confirmation.
Garamendi, a vocal critic of furloughs, was one of the Democratic statewide office holders -- the so-called "constitutionals" -- whom Schwarzenegger sued for refusing to furlough their employees. The constitutionals have maintained that the governor can't legally dictate how they run their operations and that they have avoided furloughs by finding other ways to save money.
Here are the other constitutional officers: Attorney General Jerry Brown, Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Controller John Chiang, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell and the members of the Board of Equalization.
Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, the lone Republican constitutional officer at the time, didn't furlough his people but also stayed out of the legal fight.
The constitutionals lost at the trial court level and appealed the decision to Sacramento's 3rd District Court. There's been no hearing date set for the case.
On June 30, Maldonado asked for his office to be dismissed from the appeal.. The appellate court granted the request on July 2.
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