Jerry Brown Backs Prop. 1A
This Just In: Attorney General Jerry Brown is supporting Proposition 1A, the linchpin measure on the May 19 special election ballot to impose a new spending cap on state government and extend $16 billion in tax increases, the former governor said in an interview with calbuzz.
The 2010 contender for governor was tepid in his endorsement of the measure, but credited Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders for their effort in crafting a compromise: “The budget thing is complicated and it is daunting,” he said. “They tried . . . and did the best they could to come up with something.”
“You can’t make the perfect the enemy of the possible,” Brown told calbuzz.
Brown is the final major candidate in the early gubernatorial field to take a public stand on Prop. 1A. His position aligns with that taken by two Democratic rivals, mayors Gavin Newsom of San Francisco and Antonio Villargairosa of Los Angeles. Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, also a Democrat, opposes the measure. On the Republican side, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman oppose Prop. 1A, while moderate former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell supports it.
The measure is one of five initiatives the governor and Legislature placed on the ballot to enact a February budget deal that purports to close a $42 billion projected deficit for the current and next fiscal years. Without passage of the measures, that deal falls apart and Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders will be forced into further negotiations over the deficit. A statewide survey released late last month by the Public Policy Institute of California showed the initiative losing.
In the interview with calbuzz, Brown declined to take positions on the other ballot measures yet: “I have to read them” he said.
Tomorrow: check back for more calbuzz on Brown’s first extensive interview about the 2010 governor’s race.
Nice to see Jerry’s Prop 13 radar is still broken. Can’t wait to see the “born-again tax cutter” on May 20.
I’m shocked, I tell you!
“I have yet to read them.”
And he wants to be Governor?
What a shock!! Brown supports a $16 billion tax increase? Say it ain’t so!
If he hasn’t read 1B-1F, how sure can we be that he actually read 1A? Is he aware that all of its tax increases are regressive? Is he really in favor of a budget cap that could interfere with the state playing an expanded role in health care? As governor, would he follow 1A’s path of pushing a disproportionate share of the tax burden onto those who earn less?
Jerry Brown was a disaster as Governor. He appointed Supreme Court Justices that disregarded their oath of office and in effect, suspended the “rule of law” unless they happened to agree with it.
He introduced the “Era of Limits” and halted construction on infrastructure like freeways and which is why you can’t get anywhere in California within a reasonable period of time.
He became a laughingstock of the country and was nicknamed “Governor Moonbeam.” The title would still be apt.
After running California into the ground a being rejected in his run for President, he settled on Mayor of Oakland. What a great job he’s done with that city. Maybe by comparison to past mayors of Oakland he could be considered to have done a competent job, but not a great recommendation is it?
As AG he has continued to prosecute lawsuits against local and county agencies that want to extend and/or approve freeways, citing global warming and using the threat of lawsuits to prevent construction because cement reflects heat and warms the atmosphere.
In short, Brown is an idiot and sadly, probably the best Democrat candidate for Governor.
Poor Jon, considering that you falsely report that a Hummer is a HumVee, and have made repeated enormous factual errors about state finances, I am not surprised in the least.
>Jon Fleischman said…
I'm shocked, I tell you!
Jerry Brown wants to build more prisons instead of changing sentencing laws and releasing the frail elderly and terminally ill. Register 20 people in poor neighborhoods and teach them to register 20 if you want to end the police state and fascism that we have allowed to rule over our lives.