[Wilbur]

And this came up years ago in another budget hiatus, and the system still hasn't been fixed (there's a complete new system in development, has been for years, slated for final testing and implementation in 2010, but we know how that goes.

Arnold's people knew this. Lots of people knew this. Arnold knows the havoc and expense of reprogramming the system THREE times would be many times any savings produced by the stunt, and knows it would all be wasted anyway b/c a budget will most likely be signed before Sept. 1 (in which case they have to have a way to make full payroll or they could then be in serious legal trouble if they underpay, b/c the excuse for not paying the contracted salaries will have evaporated.

All a stunt to get everyone excited and get legislators' phones ringing..... and it seems to be working.