Brown, Republicans joust about special election

25 February 2011 |permalink | email article

No Sacramento politician can remember a California governor sitting down in front of legislative budget conferees. But Jerry Brown didn’t show up Thursday morning to testify, but rather to have a lively dialogue for an hour with a bipartisan group of lawmakers about the state’s massive budget mess which attracted many pols and reporters to the unprecedented event.

With the clock ticking on his self-imposed deadline to get a special June election on the ballot Brown came prepared to mix it up and he did, taking a few shots at Democrats but aiming most of his exhortations at legislative Republicans who strongly oppose his plan to extend soon-to-expire taxes.

GOP lawmakers had announced Wednesday that 30 Republicans – two-thirds of the party opposite in the Capitol – had formed a “taxpayers caucus” to oppose his tax hike extensions unless they are accompanied by tax cut proposals. There were a few tough exchanges and a few Republicans showed no hesitation to push back.

“Pledges are interesting and they make good theater,” Brown said. “But the fact is we have to have a plan, we need a solution, and some who say they don’t want to vote. Then why are you here? If you’re going to be here, give us some ideas.”

He told the committee that Republicans should vote to put the tax question on the ballot, then campaign against it. “If you debate me, you will get a lot more coverage.” The absence of either voter approval of taxes…or an election altogether would lead to “a day of reckoning “budget with 26 billion in spending reductions. “I’m telling you: time is running out for California and this country if politicians just keep squabbling all the time.”

Quotable

“The first Clinton-era shutdown led to the furlough of about 800,000 federal employees, according to the Congressional Research Service. The second shutdown furloughed about 264,000 federal employees. An unknown number of federal contractors were also impacted.” – Ed O’Keefe, the Washington Post’s Federal Eye blogger. 

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