Reporting from Sacramento

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget director is departing after nearly four years in one of the most influential posts in Sacramento.
"It feels like a good time for me to step back from the day-to-day fray of things," budget czar Mike Genest said in an interview.
He said he plans to leave before the end of the year, whenever a replacement can be found.
As Schwarzenegger's chief budget writer, Genest has overseen the paring back of California government as state revenues plunged amid the recession.
A veteran of Capitol budget wars, the GOP official developed a close rapport with Schwarzenegger. During the prolonged budget talks of 2009, Schwarzenegger would often try to lighten the mood by introducing Genest as a man on "suicide watch."
"I always turned it around and said that once everyone saw what we were proposing that it went from suicide watch to homicide watch," Genest said.
Red ink has plagued Sacramento during much of his tenure. There have been deep cuts to education and the slashing of social services for the needy and poor. The state passed temporary increases in the sales tax, income tax and vehicle license fees early this year. Still, stubborn deficits have persisted.
"We got through the recession so far," he said. "There's certainly more work to do."
Despite the onslaught of bad fiscal news, Genest said he was proud his department hadn't "flinched from the reality of the situation," releasing up-to-date projections of the state's budget woes no matter how bleak.
"I'll miss him," State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, a Democrat, said in an e-mail. "He's been a great navigator and a great partner through the toughest budget struggles the state's ever seen."
Genest has been with the Schwarzenegger administration since its inception, joining first as chief deputy director of finance. He assumed the post of budget director in December 2005, the third person to hold that position under Schwarzenegger, following Donna Arduin and Tom Campbell, a former GOP congressman now running for governor.
Genest doesn't have his next job lined up yet, he said, though he plans "to stay involved with public policy issues, because I care about the state."