A 'financial flu'

Kicking off the last week of campaigning in what officials acknowledge is an uphill campaign, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Sheriff Lee Baca joined firefighters, carpenters and other union members in support of the Proposition 1-A-F on next Tuesday's ballot.
"California has a financial flu," Baca said at a City Hall news conference. "We all have to join together to help restore it."
The measures are part of a deal that was worked out earlier this year to pass this year's state budget and deal with the more than $40 billion shortfall facing the state.
Villaraigosa said the measures will allow the state to continue its funding on everything from firefighting to schools and he recognized the difficulties faced by people.
"But now is the wrong time to take it out on the state," Villaraigosa said. "We don't have a lot of options. The fact of the matter is, if these don't pass, the state will have to make cuts like we've never seen."