Posted on 03/18/2012 8:41:41 AM PDT by SmithL
Does Jerry Brown ever haul his almost 74-year-old body out of bed in the morning, look in the mirror and ask himself why he ever had the notion of running for governor again, three decades after leaving the job?
If he did, he'd probably never admit it. But Brown 2.0 clearly has found that governing California in the 21st century is more difficult than the scenario he painted for voters in 2010 – that his experience and professionalism would succeed where others had failed.
Last year, he excoriated Republicans for not allowing voters to decide whether taxes should be raised to balance the state budget.
This year, however, fellow Democrats inside and outside the Capitol have made his life difficult.
"I'm working in a tough neighborhood right now," Brown told a gathering of police chiefs the other day, describing the "deleveraging" he's trying to accomplish in state finances.
Democratic legislators are balking at the spending cuts and pension reforms Brown says are needed to balance the budget and persuade voters to hike taxes.
"I can't imagine myself voting for this," Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, said last week about Brown's social service reductions.
Democrats say they're hoping for a brighter revenue picture, but if anything the income side of the budget ledger is looking bleaker than Brown's numbers.
Revenues are running billions of dollars below what current budget said they would be, and the Legislature's budget analyst says future revenue assumptions in Brown's new budget are billions too high.
Therefore, if Brown's serious about being "committed to getting the budget balanced," it could mean much deeper cuts in Democrats' pet programs.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Without politics Jerry Brown would be standing on the corner of a busy interection with a cardboard sign.
What to do, what to do?
Oh! Hey! I know!,
We can raise the taxes on the top earners, you know, the ones who pay 45% of the taxes already?Yeah, that's the ticket!
This is poetic justice of sorts. His administration was the beginning of California’s institutional decline and now he has to deal with the consequences of what he set in motion during the 1970’s.
Another shocker from the party of take and spend.
If there’s any good news politically in California, it may be that Democrats are completely in charge.
Every single statewide elected constitutional officer in California, from governor on down, is a Democrat.
Democrats control the State Assembly and State Senate by comfortable margins.
Politically, there is no way that Democrats can blame Republicans for any of the problems in California. They are completely in charge, from top to bottom. They have the power to implement whatever they want, to solve the problems of California. They can’t say they are being blocked by evil Republicans or any of that.
For better or worse, good Democrats are in charge of a major American state. For better or worse, their policies will be implemented, and we’ll see how these policies work to solve the enormous problems of the Golden State.
Jerry's plan? Raise taxes, build more windmills and enforce a stupid cap-n-tax plan.
The rats have made a complete mess of CA and they show no intention of slowing down or changing course.
Forgot a BARF Alert.
“Democratic legislators are balking at the spending cuts and pension reforms...”
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Stunning.
Apparently, while California CLEARLY is in unrecoverable free fall, the ground is not yet in sight for the Idiot Communists.
>skeeter on comment #2.
The prime example of why freerepublic needs a ‘best comment of the year’ award!
It's the poverty pimps vs the SEIU.
This is the last step before complete implosion. There's not enough money for both.
This means the Legislature will NOT be able to agree on a budget. The state will miss the very next bond payment after the next budget is due. They won't even be able to access the short-term bond market to carry them over for a few weeks while state politics lay in a smoking ruin.
This is cool.
The left is a coalition of competing parasites. As the system collapses they’ll be forced to turn on each other.
Good times.
Well, they can blame Republicans for not letting them raise taxes on society's producers again and again and again and again...
Awesome post.
Just to give you a heads up, I'm going to be stealing that line.
"coalition of competing parasites" - - love it.
It’s only a problem when the businesses refuse to sell to the state.
DeSaulnier’s politics have evolved considerably since he sold his business and became a professional politician.
It’s ok I stole it from a column I read recently!
——This is poetic justice of sorts. His administration was the beginning of California’s institutional decline and now he has to deal with the consequences of what he set in motion during the 1970’s.——
So totally right! What goes around, comes around.
“Without politics Jerry Brown would be standing on the corner of a busy interection with a cardboard sign.”
“I always used a variation of this line when it came to describing Teddy Kennedy. Without his father’s money Teddy Kennedy would have been sleeping on a grate all these years.
Agree with Lancey. That was AWESOME!!!
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