Water seizes center stage from governor; Schwarzenegger comes to Fresno to discuss budget, but is confronted with water issues

From the Fresno Bee:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came to Fresno’s Tower Theatre on Thursday to pitch his vision for California’s next budget. What he got instead was an earful about the state’s water woes.

During a question-and-answer period following an 18-minute budget stump speech, several in the audience pointedly criticized the governor for not paying more attention to a water shortage that has particularly hurt farmers on the Valley’s west side. It was an issue many in the audience considered more immediate than the state’s looming $24.3 billion deficit and the deep spending cuts being proposed to close it.

“If you allow water to flow, you allow dams and canals to be built, you will raise revenue and you won’t need to make cuts,” said 55-year-old crane operator Tom Salmon of Oakhurst.

The governor responded, saying, “I think it’s very important that everyone knows that I have been fighting for water for the last four years straight.” But Salmon pressed the issue, protesting that not enough has been done.

As the atmosphere turned tense and Salmon wouldn’t let up, Schwarzenegger called Orange Cove Mayor Victor Lopez to the podium. In a short but heated response to critics, Lopez called Schwarzenegger the best governor in the nation’s history; a friend of the farmworker, the farmer and the businessman; and someone who can help solve the state’s water issues.

“We’re going to get that water,” said Lopez, whose east-side Valley city is a high-priority water customer a world apart from the struggling cities on the west side, where agriculture depends on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for its water supply.

The Sacramento Bee adds:

After another questioner importuned Schwarzenegger “please don’t make us look like Bakersfield,” the governor acknowledged that the water victory would have to wait until there is victory on balancing the budget.

“We will get a water deal as soon as the budget is done,” he said. “But there will never be a water deal until you get a budget, because you have to pay for it … It will be on the top of our list … it has been on the top of the list for the last three years.”

A carpenter told the governor that a way to put his union members and others to work was “to build more dams.” And a city councilman from Porterville suggested that Schwarzenegger lead a counter-lawsuit against environmental groups and others who have filed suits in federal courts that have delayed some water storage and conveyance projects.

“I have been urging the federal courts to turn on the pumps, turn on the pumps,” Schwarzenegger said, “because I think it’s ridiculous that we pay more attention and feel sorry for the smelt and the fish and the (other) species than for the people of California.”

The most comprehensive coverage of the meeting is from the Fresno Bee – click here; additional coverage from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

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