California Republicans like to claim they are the fiscally responsible party, that they are better stewards of finances than us reckless and wasteful Democrats.

Anyone who looks at the details can see this is nonsense. Arnold Schwarzenegger is leaving a legacy of fiscal ruin for the state of California, aided and abetted by the Republicans in the state legislature who insisted on fiscally irresponsible policies of not generating enough revenue to pay for our public services.

Then there are Republicans like Carly Fiorina, whose record of failure is well known – having nearly destroyed Hewlett-Packard and being run out of her position as CEO is further evidence of Republican inability to manage money effectively.

As John Wildermuth explains today, the California Republican Party is also facing serious financial problems:

State finance reports released Thursday showed the California GOP is raising less and spending more than its Democratic counterpart, leaving the party in shaky financial condition four months into an election year….

So far this year, the state GOP has taken in $1.2 million in contributions, but spent almost $2 million. As of March 17, the party had $1.3 million in the bank and $320,000 in unpaid bills.

Republicans can thank Jerry Perenchio that the numbers weren’t worse. The reclusive former owner of Univision gave $500,000 to the party last month, adding a much-needed bit of gloss to the financial figures.

The Democrats, on the other hand, have better than $9.1 million in the bank and only about $3,000 in debts. They’ve raised $3.5 million this year, but, more importantly, they’ve only spent about $1.3 million, which means the war chest keeps growing.

Of course, Dems need that warchest since Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer can’t just write checks from their own accounts to fund their campaigns. But it’s a powerful signal that even in an election year that’s not considered to be as favorable to Democrats as the last few cycles, Democrats are having far more success fundraising.

What this means going forward for the Republican Party isn’t clear, but it could portend a shift toward more self-funding candidates. We all know the Republican Party is a creature of corporate interests anyway, and with the impact of Citizens United, we might just see the GOP “middleman” bypassed as corporations simply give money directly to their chosen candidates, or just run their own CEOs for public office. The recent scandal involving RNC funds spent at a West Hollywood club may further develop this trend.

Ultimately, the answer to this is going to be things like Prop 15 and public financing of elections. A shift toward more direct corporate funding, not mediated by the Republican Party, may help that effort by drawing a clearer contrast between corporate money and democracy.