[Phil] Angelides is the state's banker, and one would expect that he would feel at least some compunction about the integrity of official financial reports. But he's also the leading Democratic candidate for governor and has never been shy about using his official position to tout himself or causes to advance his political career, or to undermine rivals. And the new Debt Affordability Report expands on that practice.

Titled "Stop the Borrowing Binge," it's an attack on Republican Gov. Arnold's Schwarzenegger's fiscal policies masquerading as a sober statistical report. "The findings of today's report are clear," Angelides said in an accompanying statement. "Gov. Schwarzenegger's budget plan has put our state in a terrible fiscal bind. California's level of debt is far greater than when he took office 23 months ago and the state is facing deficits as far as the eye can see." And so forth.

But if one sets aside the overheated rhetoric and looks at the report's numbers, the reality is not nearly as condemnatory. They reveal that predecessor Gray Davis ran up $18 billion in debt to cover budget deficits (not counting billions more in back-door financing not carried on the books) and that during the two Schwarzenegger years, it increased by another $8 billion...