On May 19, Californians tried to tell the governor that they were tired of the mess he’s made of the California budget.

Voters tried to tell him that they approved of the budget the Assembly had passed earlier, the one that he vetoed.

Voters sent a clear message that they wanted a balanced budget solution that includes revenue increases.

In fact, according to an April 30 Field Poll (www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2306.pdf):

• 74 percent of California voters support increasing tobacco taxes;

• 73 percent of California voters support an oil extraction tax;

• 63 percent of California support raising the state income tax for top earners.

Every other oil-producing state in the union taxes the extraction of oil from its lands – including Texas and Wyoming. Even Sarah Palin raised the oil severance tax in Alaska to 25 percent in 2007.

The California Budget Project estimated a 9.9 percent oil severance tax would bring it at least $1 billion to state coffers. If oil prices rose again above $100 a barrel, then we could see $2 billion in revenue per year. Given the high likelihood of such increases, an oil severance tax would be a significant long-term boon to the state's coffers, since oil companies can't exactly shift production out of state, since oil is only going to become more valuable over time.

And that money could help prevent the most egregious human services cuts that were agreed to in the budget deal – the cuts to Healthy Families that will cost 500,000 children their health care coverage, the cuts to In-Home Supportive Services that people need to survive.

Voters don’t want drastic cuts to the programs Californians depend on. Voters don’t want to close schools and parks. And voters don’t want $2.5 billion a year in more corporate tax breaks for a handful of the world's largest corporations. Or to lose billions in federal funds because of stupid cuts.

Californians expect choices to be made that keep teachers in the classroom, keep public safety personnel on duty, keep infrastructure projects moving, keep our hospitals operating and our cities and county governments open to serve us.

Californians expect revenue increases to come from the corporate chief executive officers who receive astronomical profits from doing business in California.

Oh, and that whole “the rich are leaving California” mythology was debunked two weeks ago by a Public Policy Institute of California analysis of the census (www.kcra.com/money/20017385/detail.html). In fact, the study concludes that the poor are leaving California, not the rich. Which is just what the Republican Yacht Party wants.

Years of shortsighted political pandering to oil companies and big corporations have left the state with truly staggering budget problems.

Tough choices have to be made, but Californians demand and deserve better.

A budget that preserves services all Californians need and positions our economy for recovery is the only solution.

This new budget preserves billions of dollars in tax cuts for oil companies and the state’s biggest businesses.

It will have drastic impacts on California’s economy.

It will:

• Drain $24 billion from California's economy, stunting the state's recovery efforts;

• Drive up the unemployment rate by more than two percent, plunging California further into recession;

• Deny 300,000 students a college education and increase class sizes in our public schools, making California less competitive;

• Decimate public safety and the public services that maintain our quality of life and attract businesses;

• Result in a loss of billions in federal funds.

It does not matter to Californians what the Republican Yacht Party and the governor promised Grover Norquist.

The last time I checked, he neither lives nor votes in California.

I do.

Rebecca Curry lives in Kelseyville.