Despite a campaign promise to make government more open, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is refusing to release records that describe the impact of ongoing layoffs on state services from highways to prisons.

The Bee sought the records in October from Schwarzenegger's predecessor, Gray Davis, but the request was denied.

The day after Schwarzenegger was sworn in as governor in November, he said at a news conference that the layoff plans would be released to the public, and he reiterated his commitment to openness.

"Very soon, we will have a plan in mind, and you will see it," he said, according to a transcript provided by his office. "We will share everything with the press. This will be a very unusual situation."

On Thursday, however, Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance denied a request from The Bee to release documents describing the effects of the layoff plans on state operations.

The department referred to the same Public Records Act court precedent cited by Davis and said that releasing the documents would "discourage candid discussion and inhibit the free flow of ideas" among government officials.

"Such discussion is essential for the department to effectively perform its function as the Cabinet-level agency that is the chief fiscal policy adviser to the governor in preparing the governor's annual financial plan for the state," wrote Department of Finance counsel Susan Geanacou.

Administration officials declined to comment on The Bee's request beyond the letter from the Department of Finance counsel.

As he pledged to "clean up Sacramento" in his gubernatorial recall campaign, Schwarzenegger proposed a sweeping plan to make public more government documents. He vowed to place open records and open-meeting provisions in the California Constitution, open up legislative party caucus meetings, make the governor's calendar available and lift any restrictions on e-mail communications and other draft documents, some of which are now exempted from public-records laws.

"The people of this state do not trust their government," he said in September at a press conference unveiling his plans for open government and political reform. "They feel it is corrupted by dirty money, closed doors and backroom deals."

Since the election, however, Schwarzenegger has not changed practices in the Governor's Office, saying he doesn't plan to release his calendar, schedules and other documents that previous governors withheld unless lawmakers are required to do the same.

Advocates for greater public access to government records took issue with the administration's position on the layoff plans, saying that Schwarzenegger appears to be continuing the pattern of relying on an open-ended precedent to deny requests for information.

"I don't see how taking a line from Gray Davis indicates any real desire to be more open," said Terry Francke, general counsel for the California First Amendment Coalition.

This year's budget included a provision requiring the administration to slash $1.1 billion from state operations, mostly through layoffs, abolishing vacant positions and wage concessions from public employee unions.

In response to state fiscal troubles, about 500 state workers have been laid off, demoted or transferred so far, according to the Department of Personnel Administration. Among the cuts, according to interviews with The Bee last fall, Department of Transportation officials said they will lose 1,612 positions, and Employment Development Department officials said they will cut 1,098. The total in the fiscal year that ends in June is expected to reach about 3,100. Thousands of other vacant positions have been abolished.

The Davis administration required departments to submit plans for how they would reduce payroll costs, including "descriptions of program impact." One area to be addressed was "effects on service levels."

In denying The Bee's request to see these records, the Davis administration cited a 1991 state Supreme Court ruling that Gov. George Deukmejian did not have to release five years of information from his appointment calendar. The justices found that doing so would interfere with the governor's ability to deliberate on public policy and discourage members of the public from meeting with him.

The Schwarzenegger administration cited the same case in denying The Bee's second request, made on Jan. 12.

But Tom Newton, general counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association, said that even the majority opinion in the Supreme Court case, Times Mirror Co. v. Superior Court, did not endorse the creation of a blanket exception.

The justices said that in each case, officials should weigh the public's interest in seeing the information against the interests of the government in not having the records released, Newton said.

"What the Davis administration said, and apparently what the Schwarzenegger administration is now saying, is that this is just a blanket exception. ... It's a bottomless pit of an exemption," Newton said.

Both Francke and Newton, told about the records The Bee is seeking, said the public has a compelling interest in information about the effects of budget cuts. It could, for instance, help them decide whether to support a $15 billion bond on the March 2 ballot, to cover the state's accumulated debt, tax increases, or deeper budget cuts.

"It's a way of confronting the public with the agonies of retrenchment, and doing so in a way that might lead to an enlightened public reaction, one way or the other," Francke said. "If agencies are telling the governor, 'Here are the sorry alternatives,' that's something the public is entitled to know."

Both administrations have posted lists on the Department of Finance Web site showing which state positions are being abolished. But those lists do not include descriptions of the impacts of the reductions.