Posted on 06/27/2011 5:54:58 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
With California's new fiscal year starting Friday and no compromise with the GOP on a budget in sight, Gov. Jerry Brown's chief spokesman called Sacramento Republicans "basically moronic" for failing to strike an agreement.
Brown wants a fall election on taxes and to extend vehicle and sales tax hikes that will otherwise expire by Friday. Republicans are demanding pension, regulatory and spending policy concessions in exchange for such an election. They have balked at extending taxes.
"The Republicans in Sacramento are basically moronic. But we’re hopeful that they can realize we’re on an unsustainable trajectory here, one that is not fiscally responsible and one for which they are at least partially responsible," Gil Duran, Brown's press secretary, said in an interview with KPCC.
Duran also questioned Republicans' competence in drafting the policy changes they are seeking.
"Those aren’t their reforms. They aren’t smart enough to write reforms. They don’t know the first thing about the details of reforms. We have to do the work. Those are our reforms," Duran said.
Such acidic rhetoric is typical of talks that have broken down. Republicans held a news conference on Thursday accusing Brown of being the unwilling party in the negotiations.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
The CA GOP began to self-destruct when Reagan left office without a natural heir. So he was sandwiched between the two popular Browns and had little long-term difference. People there won’t understand.
It’s not like civility didn’t die a long time ago when it comes to politicks in California.
but this really goes to the heart of the issue. He and the Dems really think they are smarter. then what, I’m not sure, but it isn’t Republicans. woof
For starters, Jerry brown was never "voted out" of the Governor's office. He chose to not run for reelection and instead pursued the open U.S. Senate seat in 1982 and lost that race.
The budget deficit Brown left in 1982 for Deukmejian to deal with was about $1.5 billion.
....(and I'm no defender of Jerry Brown, just a stickler for actual true facts.)
Brown is serious about a real balanced budget. He would prefer to do that with taxes, of course.
However, he's GENERALLY an honest man and will demand an honest budget. He also knows these types of remarks by his press secretary makes the job of wooing a couple of turn-coat Republicans more difficult...and also knows the CA voting public is beginning to see the Democrats in Sacramento as a bunch of clowns.
The SEIU employees in Sacramento (dim legislators) are freaking out and wish they had a REPUBLICAN governor right now.
No, they do not. The CA Constitution requires a 2/3 majority in both houses and the Governors signature (or a referendum/initiative with 50% +1) to raise taxes.
A spending budget only requires a majority in both houses and the governors signature.
If they had the votes taxes would have already been raised and raised again. The state would have a 50% income tax for all money above $50k.
SEIU On California’s Conservatives: ‘If we can’t get them out, we’ll breed them out.’ " One of California’s largest labor unions today advanced a plan intended to result in the election of more moderate Republicans.
By creating a Republican political action committee, Service Employees International Union California officials say they hope to help send people from right-leaning areas to Sacramento who put practical solutions in front of strict conservative thinking.
[snip]
"The union says 87,000 of its 700,000 members are registered Republicans. With redrawn legislative boundaries looming and the creation of the top-two primary system, SEIU’s new leader Dave Kieffer has said this is the perfect time to start helping candidates to extricate themselves from the grip of party extremists. SEIU is expected to launch its second ad campaign this weekend in the districts of current GOP legislators its officials believe could support Brown’s tax package.
“I feel the far right, the tea party, is hijacking my party, and it’s saddening,” said John Orr, a parking officer at California State University, Fullerton. “I hope through this PAC, this effort and the open primary that moderates can regain their voice.”
...for failing to strike an agreement.And yet, just last week:
By the spring of 1981, Gov. Jerry Brown's relationship with Democratic lawmakers had become so sour that the Senate leader ordered sergeants-at-arms to remove him from the chamber... Thirty years later, Brown is back at the Capitol, and hostilities with members of his own party are flaring again. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez said last week they were "dismayed" by Brown's historic budget veto.
I stand corrected.
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