Here’s what I got out of Jerry’s Brown press conference
yesterday: the public employee union position is currently prevailing in the
Horseshoe (the governor’s suite of offices.)
Governor Brown believes his spending cut and tax extension
plan should go on the ballot pretty much as is. Adding long-term budget fixes
like pension reform and spending limits would weigh down the ballot too much so
that all the measures, including taxes, might fall of their own weight.
The unions, of course, don’t want spending limits or pension
reforms and Brown doesn’t appear to want them on the ballot, either.
I thought the governor’s goal was to go for long term fixes
to the state’s structural fiscal problems. In fact, I agree with the governor on
another issue raised at the press conference about cancelling the sale of the
state property, structured in such a way that it was a long-term loser for the
taxpayers. Shouldn’t the long-term budget fix be part of the special election?
The reform and tax measures do not have to be linked on the
ballot, but if voters are to decide how the state will manage its fiscal
problems they should be given multiple choices.
The governor was also asked about assurances that local
governments would have revenue to cover programs shifted from the state to local
governments. The governor said he would put local government protections in the
constitution.
Was he also referring to his budget proposal to allow a
55-percent vote for local economic development to replace the redevelopment
agencies he wants eliminated? Creating a 55-percent vote for a special purpose
tax is an amendment to Proposition 13’s two-thirds vote provision.
So, what I understood from the governor is no major fiscal
reforms, tax extensions and changing Proposition 13 to make it easier to raise local
taxes. Is that a formula for success?
Brown was asked about his electoral thinking to get his
measures passed. He made a reference to the old peripheral canal debate about
bringing water from Northern California to the south. "The bigger the pipe the
happier the people down the road, the unhappier the people up the road," he
said.
It appears that Brown is constructing a big pipe benefiting
the public employee unions down the road.