Threat of Budget Ax Falling Keeps Union Lobbyists on the Go : Capitol: They’re trying to forestall proposals they say would damage the careers, pay and pensions of state employees.

SACRAMENTO —  “We beat on these guys (legislators) every day. We’re in their faces every day,” said Sherrie Golden, chief lobbyist for the California State Employees Assn.

Golden is one of a cadre of about 30 public employee union lobbyists who have been camping out in the Capitol for days now. They have been latching onto lawmakers and trying to persuade them to defeat parts of a budget deficit-cutting proposal that the unions say threatens the secure careers, steady wages and predictable pensions of more than 250,000 state workers and 600,000 government retirees.

A short, deceptively soft-spoken woman with a soothing Southern accent, Golden is angry at her political friends in the Legislature who have embraced a deal that she believes would close the $14.3-billion budget gap at state workers’ expense.

“We are not used to losing,” Golden said this week.

With an unprecedented budget shortfall and almost every area of spending being eyed for cuts, this has been a particularly difficult time for lobbyists such as Golden. Knowing the choices are narrow, few legislators are willing to listen to their pleas. Those who do, tend to have the same response: There is simply not enough money to go around; everyone will have to share the pain.

This week, Golden allowed a reporter to accompany her as she roamed the corridors of the Capitol, greeting lawmakers and staff members in a desperate attempt to block actions that at times have seemed all but inevitable.

She has reason to worry. State employees are facing a 5% pay cut, two days of unpaid leave each month, up to $200 monthly in higher health insurance costs and a possible reduction in retirement payments.

Late last week, when she and the other lobbyists in the union coalition learned the details of a budget deal worked out by legislative leaders and Gov. Pete Wilson, it looked as if lawmakers were prepared to jam the budget cuts through before anyone had time to react.

“They thought they had the votes and we thought they had the votes,” Golden said. “We were really scared.”

But a variety of circumstances gave the unions time to marshal forces and launch a formidable, unified assault on the Legislature.

Now, with every day that passes, the union coalition hopes it is making gains, especially among Democratic lawmakers, who hold majorities in both houses of the Legislature and are traditional allies of organized labor.

On Tuesday, Golden began her day at a meeting of the Public Employees’ Retirement System’s benefits subcommittee where a key element of the proposed cutbacks was under review.

In fashioning a solution to the state budget crisis, the governor and legislative leaders had agreed to pull $1.6 billion out of the retirement system and give Wilson control over the board that runs it.

The battle over how to do this has become a crucial element in the budget settlement, and Golden knew she could count on help in opposing the settlement from retirement system board members who stand to lose power under Wilson’s plan.

Her testimony was brief and to the point. “The legislation proposed by the governor cannot be passed by this Legislature. It has to be killed. . . . Our people are fighting this just as you are.”

Accompanied by the state employees union president, Yolanda Solari, and two top employee association officials, Golden moved next to the office of state Treasurer Kathleen Brown, who would be removed from the pension board if Wilson’s proposal is approved. Brown already had gone on record opposing the proposal, comparing it to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s attempt to pack the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1930s.

Brown refused to allow a reporter into the session with the union leaders. Afterward, Golden said Brown had agreed to use her influence with legislators to help defeat the proposed changes in the pension plan.

Brown was one of a number of candidates for state office who have received financial backing from the state employee union’s political action committee. The group contributed $10,000 to her campaign committee last year.

The association also gave generously to Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), as well as other Democrats, who hold decisive majorities in both houses of the Legislature. In addition, the union’s committee contributed more than $33,000 to Brown and Roberti’s efforts to defeat initiatives on the ballot last year.

“We knew (the 1991-92 state budget) would be bad,” Golden said. “We were prepared to take our share. But we didn’t know how bad, how Draconian it would be. . . . We were surprised the Democrats would take this hard a line on us. It’s unthinkable that they would even think about passing these kinds of bills.”

But the state employees association also was disappointed in Wilson, who had indicated in an interview with association leaders before the fall election that he would not use the employees’ pension fund to balance the state budget, Golden said.

Partly on the strength of that interview, the association decided to remain neutral in the governor’s race, giving equal amounts to Wilson and his Democratic opponent, former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein. Had they followed their usual practice, the group would have supported Feinstein.

“We thought it could make a lot of difference to us, if we stayed neutral,” Golden said.

In addition to giving $10,000 to Wilson and $10,000 to the Republican Party at his request, the employee association donated $11,625 to the Pete Wilson Inaugural Committee and spent $1,000 on tickets to the inauguration.

But now Golden and other employee association executives say their efforts to bring Wilson into their fold have failed. “I think the guy would love to bust the unions,” Golden said. “He was real clever in the way he strategized (on the budget). He gave the Democrats what they were screaming for--taxes. And then he got this other thing, structural reform, and then he said, ‘I’ve gotcha.’ ”

Wherever she goes in the Capitol, the Louisiana-born Golden, who has been lobbying here since 1978, is greeted warmly by lawmakers from both parties, by legislative staff, by other lobbyists.

She is a member of the Derby Club, a group of lobbyists and lawmakers that meets weekly at Posey’s Cottage, a longtime Capitol hangout. Issues are sometimes discussed at the Derby, but there’s no real lobbying there. Its purpose is to maintain good relations between lobbyists and lawmakers.

Golden lists two members of the Derby, veteran Democratic Sens. Alfred E. Alquist of San Jose and Ralph C. Dills of Gardena as among her oldest friends. She said she hoped Dills and Alquist would support the union coalition in opposing the budget settlement, but admitted she could not be certain that they would be able to.

Another member of the Derby is Senate Republican leader Ken Maddy of Fresno, who has been Wilson’s chief supporter in budget negotiations.

When Golden saw Maddy entering the governor’s office Tuesday, she stopped him long enough to get a reading on budget negotiations. He complained about the long hours he has been forced to endure during the budget crisis and vowed that there would be no Senate session on the budget this Saturday because he planned to take the day off.

Maddy by all rights should be an enemy in the budget battle, but it is clear that Golden sees him as a friendly adversary. When she remarked to him, “The members (of the Legislature) are mucking everything up,” he responded: “That’s because you are mucking up the members.”

Later she met with the staff of Assemblyman Dave Elder (D-San Pedro), who chairs the Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee. Elder has been a staunch ally of organized labor and is crafting a plan that would protect pension benefits while freeing money to help resolve the budget deficit.

Golden sees no letup in union lobbying until the budget and accompanying legislation is settled.

“As we move closer to closure, then we’ve really got to pay attention to things,” she said. “I think every day we’re better off, but (the legislative leaders and Wilson) could be wheeling and dealing and it could be over. . . . We’re beating on our people and if we’re successful the governor will have no choice but to talk to us.”