Legislative liberals expect an open, compassionate Jerry Brown

SacBee: Capitol Alert ^ | 11/5/10 | Susan Ferriss

[SmithL]

Los Angeles Democrat and Assemblyman Kevin de León, who played a key role in galvanizing Latino voters for Jerry Brown, said this week he's expecting the new governor to be "honest, transparent with all of us. And I expect him to be compassionate."

"On election night, the Latinos in California provided a huge lift to Jerry Brown," said de León, who's pictured at right. "And now Latinos expect him to help get California back to work. Latinos have been disproportionately hit by the recession."

Then there's an estimated $12 billion to $15 billion budget deficit -- and what to do if Democratic legislators want to avoid making deeper cuts to social services and laying off legions of state workers.

De León will be switching over to the state Senate on Dec. 6 after being elected Tuesday to the upper house. He participated in a post-election conference call Thursday with Senate Democrats, he said, and they discussed the sobering fiscal reality California faces. He's hoping Brown takes an "exhaustive approach" to reviewing government spending and uses his knowledge of how bureaucracies work to come up with plans.

"People regardless of ideology want an efficient government," de León said.

Sen. Gil Cedillo, a Los Angeles Democrat who was elected to de León's Assembly seat, also worked on the push to turn out Latino voters for Brown.

He said he doesn't think Latino voters or public-worker unions that launched a massive get-out-the-Latino-vote effort have illusions that Brown "is a savior."

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