Opinion: The controller hits the Legislature -- in the ol’ bank account

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At last, at long, long last.

The state is out of cash. State Controller John Chiang has had to say ‘’no’’ to so many thousands of people -- no checks to people expecting tax refunds, no checks to students expecting some college grants. Now he’s saying ‘’no’’ to 120 people whose intransigence helped to get us in this budget pickle.

The Legislature. As of now, lawmakers will no longer receive their daily checks for $173. Chiang’s not exactly singling them out, because all state employees’ per diems and travel expenses are being halted.

This is the money many legislators use to keep a second home in the capital. As I understand it, the state cannot do what the vox populi has been clamoring for: it can’t stop paying legislators’ salaries. But it can stop the per diem.

Will the possibility of not paying the mortgage change any minds in the Legislature? Dunno, but I just love the great example from the Catholic Church about how removing a roof can move hearts.

After a 13th-century pope died, the cardinals duly assembled in a papal palace outside Rome to choose a new pope. They considered. They prayed. They discussed. For thirty-three months.

Finally, the exasperated locals had had enough. What’s keeping you? they asked. The cardinals said they were waiting for the Holy Spirit to descend.

So the locals said they would help to give the Holy Spirit a clearer shot. They removed the palace roof.

I would never do that to the beautiful Capitol building, so we’ll have to find out whether Chiang’s action might move legislators to try to keep their own personal roofs over their heads by expediting the budget.

You haven’t heard the last of this. Chiang is getting his share of flak over the $924,000 being spent for new furniture for the controller’s expanded suite of offices. Republican state Sen. Abel Maldonado calls this ‘’disgusting’’ and ‘’disingenuous’’; the controller, saying this project began before he took office and is spread over seven years, counters that Maldonado is ‘’grandstanding,’’ and his accusations that are ‘’pathetic’’ and ‘’unfortunate.’’

We may not have a budget out of Sacramento, but at least we’re getting some entertainment value.

AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli