Voters should clean house

Members of the state Legislature should hang their collective heads in shame that they couldn't pass a budget until Aug. 21, more than 50 days after the 2007-08 fiscal year actually began.

Due to their ineptitude and that of the "governator," who finally signed the $145-billion-plus budget Aug. 24, the hospital in Thousand Oaks, Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center, couldn't get the Department of Health's required approvals for its 90-bed, 200,000-square-foot new wing.

The department lacked funds to conduct the inspections, resulting in backups and delays while the hospital's $180million addition sat vacant.

The wheels of government ground to a halt while legislators on both sides of the aisle played politics.

Patients in need of surgery and other vital procedures had to find openings at other hospitals.

Along with the inconvenience, Los Robles, a private corporation that wisely invested in expansion, was denied profits it could have been generating.

Assembly members and state senators failed- again- to pass the budget on time. They looked responsibility in the eye and they folded their tents. Stonewalling and bickering led to paralysis in government.

When politics becomes more important than governance, the taxpayers lose. The people of California deserve more- much more- than they're getting from Sacramento.

If justice prevailed, the voters would boot every incumbent out of office. Perennial officeholders would finally catch on that continuing incompetence is no longer tolerable.

But this punishment, even if justified, isn't likely to occur. California's gerrymandered legislative districts are far too skewed in favor of incumbents from both parties.

We continue to reelect fat cat Democrats and Republicans who are never seriously challenged. The same old faces return to Sacramento each year. And they don't care about the state budget. They care about the next campaign fundraiser and pleasing the lobbyist who's buying lunch tomorrow.