EDITORIAL BREEDING CYNICISM PARTISAN GAMES IN SACRAMENTO UNDERMINE LEADERS' CREDIBILITY.

Last week, California's top politicians warned that time was running out on last Friday's "deadline" for putting an infrastructure bond on the June ballot. They were working like gangbusters, they said, to get the deal done on time. Could they pull it off?

But then Friday came and went, and almost magically the deadline was extended - through the weekend. Then late Monday, then Tuesday ...

So much for Friday's supposed drop-dead date. And so much for the integrity of our state's political leaders.

We go through this same rigamarole every year at budget time, when one faux deadline after another passes by. At the Capitol, deadlines are as worthless as, well, campaign promises.

And so while the last kernels of sand were supposedly draining from the infrastructure-bond hourglass, leaders postponed meetings, delayed votes and squabbled over partisan minutiae meaning absolutely nothing to the overwhelming majority of voters. They threatened to kill desperately needed infrastructure improvements over questions such as whether a small fraction of the overall spending funded more than the optimal number of dams for reservoirs.

If you want to know why people are cynical about politics, this is it. It's because the politicians are so irritatingly cynical in their attitudes toward the people. They put their political games over the needs of the public.

For most of us, deadlines mean something. Try ignoring your deadlines at work, day after day. Try telling your boss you'll get that project done Friday, no Monday, no Tuesday, no, next month. See how long you stay employed.

Every time a "deadline" comes and goes, so does more of the politicians' credibility. Their word means less and less, as does their supposed commitment to the public.

All of this comes at a price. Because when the politicians finally do take their bond plan to the voters, they will have to fight to overcome the very cynicism they have created.