Brown appears resigned to a ballot full of tax proposals

Inside Bay Area ^ | 3/12/12 | Steven Harmon, Bay Area News Group

[SmithL]

Gov. Jerry Brown sounded resigned to facing competition with his tax proposal on November’s ballot in comments he made Monday to the Police Chief’s Association and to reporters afterward.

Proponents of two other proposals, the California Federation of Teachers’ so-called Millionaire’s tax and wealthy civil rights attorney Molly Munger’s broad-based tax for schools, have rejected Brown’s entreaties to back off and are actively gathering signatures to get on the ballot.

That’s forced Brown to take his case to the public, arguing before editorial board meetings and various groups that his is the only plan that tames the deficit and seeks to avoid what could be further painful cuts in social services, schools, police and fire services.

“I take the world as we find it,” he told reporters. “Active conversations are going on. But I can tell you the zeal is very intense on those who wish to have their particular measure.”

Brown has expressed fears that having more than one proposal on the ballot could doom them all.

A survey last week by the Public Policy Institute of California showed Brown’s measure losing ground, dropping in support from 67 percent to 52 percent, though Brown said that the lower number tracks with his own internal polling.

“I think we can get it done,” he said. “If I can get most of the newspapers to editorialize for it, if I can get all the major businesses, from health care companies to insurance to Indian tribes, if I can get the Democratic party, if I can get all the trade unions except one, I believe I can pass it, you got a fighting chance. And that’s what I’m going for.

“I’m not going to try therapy sessions for those who have different perspectives,” he added.

In putting together a coalition of labor and business to back his tax proposal, Brown said he’s now got to reach out to “core Democratic voters,” who have been drawn to the more populist Millionaire’s tax.

When asked whether his allies will go on the attack against the two other tax measures, Brown used a little subtlety and some Latin to respond:

“I generally think campaigns don’t always stay on the high ground,” Brown said forebodingly.

He added: “I did mention Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes,” a quote from philosopher Thomas Hobbes, which means “the war of all against all,” though Brown had a slightly different translation on this day, saying it means, “government is needed to bring civilization and harmony to an otherwise fractious crowd, so I think there’ll be a little less harmony and a little more more fraction as we go forward; hopefully not too much.”

He commiserated with the police chiefs group, saying, “you cops know what it is to work in a tough neighborhood. I’m working in a tough neighborhood.”

Brown said he wasn’t surprised that anti-tax groups have backed out on their spending cap initiative, saying “they probably don’t have the money.”

Where they will have the money, and where their efforts will be, is the “paycheck protection” measure, Brown said.

“That will be the state cause of note, and that will probably be the national cause,” he said. “I think that’s where conservatives will put the money.”

[muawiyah]

At the moment California's Conservatives, and even wealthy Democrats, are putting their hopes in new homes in Virginia.

The Atlantic is just a few miles to the East ~ actually, Virginia has shoreline on the Atlantic ~ and you get a good hurricane whipping up out there the surfing can be quite stimulating and challenging!

California ain't no thang!

[drypowder]

The tax paying Kalifornians are getting hosed by the political structure of the state (and have been for years) and cutting spending is the only way. Brown knows that and his tax increase proposals to be on the ballot are meant only to offer him and the legislature political cover. Typical corruption.

[Mariner]

Hopefully we defeat them all.

This will pit the SEIU against the race/poverty advocates and we'll see the democrat party in CA implode.

The democrats will choose the unions every stinkin' time. No matter what.

We're talking about ANOTHER $19bil "shortfall" and folks becoming increasingly wary of state bonds. In fact, anyone who buys a CA state bond needs to see a doctor, now.

The funny thing is that it's CalPers and CalStrs that buy most of them now...the public employee and teacher retirement funds.

These folks are very, very desperate right now and it gives me great pleasure.

[vette6387]

“The tax paying Kalifornians are getting hosed by the political structure of the state.....”

Let me count the ways. Now, for the first time, you have to pay an $18
fee if you decide you don’t want to operate a vehicle for a year. Permanent Trailer Tags are now no longer “permanent,” and the kicker is that now if you buy a can of Refrigerant for your car’s A/C, you have to pay a $10 “refundable” fee on top of the purchase price which is only “refundable” from the very dealer from whom you purchased the material and only if you return the can within 90 days. The claim they want to “recycle” any unused refrigerant which is a neat trick since the charging hose you have to use punctures the can.