State parks likely to run out of toilet paper

September 23, 2010

The sad state of affairs that has become Sacramento is perhaps best captured by an email sent out by the state Finance Department, warning that rural state parks are likely to run out of toilet paper by early October.(LA Times)

The problem involves banks canceling a state credit card for lack of payment. The card is used to buy toilet paper and other supplies. And it won’t be reinstated until the governor and Legislature enact a state budget and card payments are renewed. So until the state is once again flush with cash, well . . .

Urban state parks “should be OK for a while,” the administration’s internal e-mail says. That’s because they benefit from the state’s bulk purchasing in high-population areas.

Columnist George Skelton, who covers Sacramento for the Times, writes “Coincidentally — or perhaps justly — the paper-short rural parks are located mostly in the districts of Republican legislators, who make a career of demanding spending cuts and voting against budgets.”

The toilet paper shortage comes as Sacramento prepares to break the record on Friday by procrastinating 85 days without enacting a spending program.

Meanwhile, thousands of business vendors who supply the state and provide services haven’t been paid since July 1, the start of the fiscal year. They’re getting by on personal savings and outside loans.