So
much for campaign promises and listening to the voting public!
We’re
now almost three months into Governor Jerry Brown’s reign as the state’s chief
problem solver. The Democrats control
both houses of the Legislature and it now takes a simple majority to pass a
budget. Yet, gridlock remains. The status quo, meaning the annual budget
stalemate and finger-pointing war between Republicans and Democrats, is uglier
than ever…and it’s not even summer in Sacramento.
Gov.
Brown, who optimistically boasted of his experience to get things done last
fall, has taken to YouTube to plead his case with
California voters…his latest, filmed after the Governor called a halt to
negotiations, clearly shows a frustrated state chief executive. Lately, Gov. Brown has pledged to take his
budget frustration show on the road to venues throughout the state, as if a few
rallies attended by his supporters or press conferences railing against
Republicans will convince GOP legislators to change their minds. What’s interesting is that in his
"frustrated" YouTube video, and news reports following the budget collapse, Gov.
Brown drops any pretense of accommodation and adopts a hard-core Democrat Party
line – basically, accept his plan; a failure to do so is not democratic.
Looking
at Gov. Brown’s proposed budget outside the State Capitol, it is nowhere near the
50% cut and 50% tax increase/extension that is thrown out in public
conversation. It’s heavily weighted to
the tax increase/extension part of the equation. Equally important, Gov. Brown and the
Democrats are trying to re-live the unsuccessful Proposition 24 campaign (referred
to as the single sales factor) from 2010.
This measure, put on the ballot by the California Teachers Association,
tried to repeal certain corporate tax breaks- or, phrased differently, change
the state’s tax policy (meaning more revenue to fund big government) that would
drive corporations out of California because doing business here would become
even more expensive. Such a change would
hurt the state’s economy and cost California jobs, which the March PPIC poll indicates are the
voters’ top priorities What’s insulting
is that Gov. Brown and the Democrats preach democracy but aren’t listening to
the voters, who have already spoken on this issue…and strongly said NO.
The
Republicans, who have exhibited uncharacteristic discipline and steadfastly
opposed even the prospect of allowing a public vote on tax extensions and tax
increases, have also taken to the computer with their own YouTube video to justify their budget
opposition. Like the governor’s YouTube
videos, the GOP version focuses on one person – Jerry Brown – but does so in a less-than-favorable
light. Yesterday, they even had a Jerry Brown caricature appear at the Sheraton
Grand Hotel with a fake report card panning Brown. To further complicate matters, first lady and
the governor’s special counsel, Anne Gust Brown, allegedly yelled at Republican
leader Bob Dutton, who apparently has thin skin. You’d think that politicians should be used
to getting yelled at, even if it is by the Governor’s wife.
Collectively,
all of these YouTube videos, publicity stunts and the political posturing may
make for nice media stories – the press loves conflict – and may excite
partisan voters, but they turn off independents and ultimately don’t get
California anywhere closer to a budge solution.
It’s
sad but not surprising that the optimism of a new governor with strong
majorities in both houses of the Legislature has given way to the division and
stalemate that epitomizes Sacramento for years.
Now, we’re left to waiting for the May revise and attempts by Gov. Brown
and legislative Democrats to pick off four Republicans willing to "make a deal,"
a so-called compromise that will likely end their political careers.
In
a functional government, the legislature and the governor would sit down,
negotiate and solve the problem…and the negotiations wouldn’t play out on the
front page of the daily paper or on the Internet. That didn’t happen and hasn’t for some time. And, while allowing Californians to vote on
budget solutions is a cop-out of epic proportions, it could have been a
solution. The public should have been
given the opportunity to not only vote on tax extensions/hikes, but also on a
hard-spending cap and on regulatory/pension reform. Everyone has something to gain and lose by
voting on everything!
There
are no good "solutions" at this point. We’ll
be left with either an all cut budget – highly unlikely because the costs to
the entire state would be so draconian that it would jeopardize everyone’s
political careers – or a budget so full of gimmicks and one-time fixes that it
"kicks the can down the road" for future politicians to solve.
Frustrating
doesn’t even begin to describe California’s budget mess.