Now we know why lawmakers from small towns, like in the Valley, go on junkets — to see the big city!

At least that’s how Gov. Schwarzenegger described it today. Addressing a big-city audience in Beverly Hills, the governor said it's good for lawmakers “from those little towns” to go out in the world and see worldly things like “an airport,” “a highway that maybe has 10 lanes” or even “a highway on top of a highway,” according to the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert.

Read more here, including Sen. Dean Florez’s take. “Does the governor think that I just normally fly up on ‘crop dusters’ to Sacramento field by field?” the Shafter Democrat told Capitol Alert.

I just got off the phone with Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, who was a little more forgiving. She’s seen a few highways and some airports, for sure. But she said many of her constituents grow up without taking in big city amenities — including her own father.

“My father talks about the first time he ate at a restaurant was when he was, like, a junior in high school,” she said.