http://nctimes.com/articles/2006/05/..._115_17_06.txt



Senate leader says California won't pay for Guard deployment

By: AARON C. DAVIS - Associated Press

SACRAMENTO -- The state Senate leader on Wednesday pledged not to budget "one dime" of state money for President Bush's proposed deployment of National Guard troops along the U.S.-Mexico border until the state determines whether the plan would hurt California's ability to respond to a disaster.

"As a matter of moral principle and constitutional precedent, we will not be party to budgeting one dime to enable any role for the California National Guard in border monitoring until the Senate immediately and thoroughly reviews the implications of this use of state funds and personnel," Sen. President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, wrote to the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.

Perata said the state's contribution to the National Guard instead should be spent on preparing the unit for its primary mission of responding to natural disasters and civil unrest. A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez said he supports Perata's review.


A California National Guard spokesman, Maj. Jon Siepmann, said the Guard had not yet received details of the deployment and that it was too soon to determine the possible effects of the Senate leader's action.

Siepmann said 5 percent of the Guard's budget, or about $38 million, comes from the state. The federal government's share this year was $694 million, he said.

Perata also created a committee that will examine the Guard's potential use in policing the borders and its impact on diverting Guard personnel from the state's other needs.

His directive to budget committee Chairman Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata, effectively embargoes the state's share of the California National Guard's upcoming 2006-07 budget, which begins in July, pending a determination by the newly formed committee.

Perata said he expects the Senate Select Committee on National Guard Direction and Deployment to hold its first hearing early next week.

"Maybe what we have going here right now will be a civics lesson to understand more clearly the role of the National Guard within the concepts of states' rights and state responsibilities," Perata said during a press conference.

Perata's actions came as Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger were scheduled to speak via telephone Wednesday afternoon regarding questions Schwarzenegger raised in a letter to Chertoff late Tuesday.

In the letter, Schwarzenegger questioned the logic and logistics of the National Guard deployment. He also asked Chertoff what the government believes would constitute a successful border deployment and when it might end.

"Securing our borders is a law enforcement function, and what we need are more Border Patrol agents, not National Guard troops who are neither trained nor suited for this purpose," he said in the letter.

Schwarzenegger told Chertoff that putting Guard units at the border for two- to three-week rotations would be "a logistical nightmare" and would be asking too much of troops that had recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The governor asked if the federal government would pay all the costs involved in sending National Guard troops to the border and whether he or the Department of Defense would determine the California Guard's role.

At a news conference Tuesday, Schwarzenegger called the proposal a "mixed bag" and said he did not have enough information. He said the federal government's handling of the border was "disastrous" and "embarrassing," and said he wasn't sure that sending the National Guard would solve illegal immigration.

"So, what if they have 6,000 National Guards at the borders and we find out that the same amount of people are coming across?" he said. "Does it mean he will increase it to 12,000, to 15,000, to 50,000? We don't know."

Associated Press Writer Laura Kurtzman in Sacramento contributed to this report.

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Comments On This Story

Note: Comments reflect the views of readers and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff.
Ord Cit wrote on May 18, 2006 10:02 AM:"There are those from the highest office to the ordinary citizen looking for a solution to the illegal immigration problem, and there are those who just want to get in the way of a solution. Guess which group "Not One Dime" Don Perata belongs to."

Ron wrote on May 18, 2006 12:31 PM:"Yeah, he won't pay for the guard, but he's all for the new "Gay History" testbooks our schools will have to buy. Talk about a waste of money."

patriot wrote on May 18, 2006 12:32 PM:"Perata and the entire Democratic delegation to Sacramento have made their position on illegal immigration well-known in recent weeks. They are 100% against any enforcement of immigration laws, and they sense that sending the Guard to the border is an attempt to enforce immigration laws. Schwarzenegger is smarter, correctly concluding that the Guard will not be used to enforce laws. Bush is sending them there with no enforcement powers whatsoever, so what is the point? To trick the public into backing a massive amnesty plan to turn illegal aliens into U.S. citizens, grow our population by millions and swell the federal deficit by billions. "