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State jobs boom under Davis That's an 11 percent increase in the work force. Even after adjustments for the state's growing population, the worker-to-resident ratio has increased 3 percent, according to a Times analysis of state data. "This is completely unjustified and shows a lack of leadership," said Dick Ackerman of Irvine, the ranking Republican on the state Senate budget committee. Republicans say Davis must pursue significant layoffs to help close a budget gap for the coming year projected to be between $25 billion and $30 billion. The governor is due to release a revised spending plan on Wednesday. Administration officials said Davis signed off on the plan on Friday. It's unclear whether it will include more layoffs, although officials said they were discussed. Ackerman favors trimming the state's work force as part of cutting costs. "The state government and the (Davis) administration," he said, "has to be more responsive." Most of the work force increases took place in Davis' first two years in office. In October 2001, the governor announced he would freeze state hiring, except for public safety and other crucial services. Payroll records from state Controller Steve Westly show the number of workers continued to increase, peaking in July 2002 before starting to decline. Steve Maviglio, the governor's spokesman, said Davis stuck to terms of his freeze. "The only way there is hiring going on is because there is safety, security or other dire needs for people," Maviglio said. That's "ludicrous," Ackerman said. "They are not all in homeland security or in hospitals. ... We're talking about thousands of people hired. The vast majority of those people are someplace else." Ken Mandler, publisher of Capitol Weekly, which closely monitors state employment, said hiring over the past 18 months has continued in departments beyond public safety and health -- despite the hiring freeze. It appears that it's business as usual in the Capitol. By Mandler's calculations, the state has hired 10,300 people this year. That, he said, fits the standard rule of thumb that 1 percent of employment naturally turns over every month. Mandler compares the controller's payroll records month to month to determine when and where the state adds new employees. In addition, state Web site postings for job openings show how loosely the freeze can apply. For instance, the State Teachers Retirement System on Friday began advertising for an investment officer. Other positions sought over the past 18 months run the gamut, from a janitor in the Department of General Services to an information officer in the California Housing Finance Agency. To be sure, California is leaner on employees than other states. The Golden State ranks 49th in the nation in the number of employees per capita, Mandler said. "We're not top heavy on state employees because we distribute a lot down to local governments." Regardless of whether the administration complied with the terms of Davis' hiring freeze, the work force is significantly larger than when he took office. The governor's reluctance to trim jobs exacerbated California's deficit and angered local officials, who have been forced to slash spending faster and further than their state counterparts. "The fact that the state doesn't seem to operate under the same sense of urgency or constraint is disheartening," said John Sweeten, Contra Costa County administrator. "It's not so much disappointing as it is distressing, and the distress stems from the inherent inability of the institution to function in the way it is supposed to."
For Sweeten, state foot-dragging is especially annoying because Contra Costa County is poised to eliminate 99
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