Brown: tax increases last resort?

15 November 2010 |permalink | email article

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a hapless lame-duck, has challenged legislators to chop billions more from the state budget in yet another special session beginning Dec. 6 when new lawmakers are sworn in. But all eyes will be on Democratic Gov.-elect Jerry Brown who returns to the Capitol on Tuesday without instant solutions in his political tool kit.

Brown – elected as the state’s youngest governor in 1974 and this month was elected as its oldest – met with state lawmakers last week to stare at a dire $19 billion shortfall which the Legislative Analyst’s Office now says is $25 billion out of whack. It’s a whole new world involving state layoffs and a fight over pension cuts certain to put him at odds with unions who have always been a critical base of his support.

Unlike Schwarzenegger, a product of the Hollywood world, Brown, now 72 and while a legendary iconoclast, is a seasoned product of the political world. This time, as the New York Times noted, he will not be serving under the shadow of his father, Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, a legendary figure in California politics fiercely devoted to his son, who died in 1996.

Question of the Day

Is it really possible to believe tough guy dealmaker Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s chief of staff six short weeks ago, will be successful in offering a softer, more emotional side in his campaign for Chicago mayor before the Feb. 22 election in the Windy City? 

What they said

[John Boehner], the next House Speaker, telling the American Enterprise Institute in late September he would push to “repeal the $550 billion worth of Medicare cuts” without yet explaining how he would pay for that $550 billion. In House races voters 65 and older supported Republicans over Democrats by 21%. A fifth of those voters rated health care their most important issue, with distorted ads claiming Obama’s health care reforms would “gut” their Medicare coverage. Go figure!”

“One of the big flaws now is that there is all this noise on the right. When I yell there is a reason for it. There is a political and factual discernment behind it. I am not doing it gratuitously.” – Keith Olbermann, disagreeing with Jon Stewart’s characterization that MSNBC is the lefty version of Fox News, in a New York Times magazine profile.

“I respect the First Amendment rights of every member of my family.” – Sen. John McCain, insisting there is no rift of opinion between him and Cindy McCain over the issue of repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy. Last week in video comments his wife appeared to accuse political leaders of forcing gay servicemen to live a lie.

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