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California’s Year in Review: Missing Jerry Brown Already; With Gavin Newsom, The State is on a Collision Course With Reality
The American Spectator ^ | 01/03/2020 | Steven Greenhut

Posted on 01/03/2020 9:27:13 AM PST by SeekAndFind

When Jerry Brown became governor yet again in 2011, I warned my conservative friends not to be too upset at the prospect. “It’s not going to get any better than this,” I’d say. Indeed, Brown’s final eight years in office were mostly smooth sailing, and the dwindling number of Capitol Republicans rarely criticized his administration too harshly.

There was plenty to moan about — the record-setting budgets, a major tax increase, the overheated climate-change rhetoric, the failure to rein in unfunded liabilities — but a lot to commend, as well. He got a red-ink-soaked budget on track, passed modest pension reform, dealt successfully with a court-driven prison-overcrowding crisis, killed off the state’s ham-fisted redevelopment agencies, and generally behaved as the Last Adult in Sacramento.

Brown didn’t really live up to his ballyhooed Canoe Theory of Politics. Instead of paddling a little to the Left and little to the Right, he paddled a lot more to the Left than the Right. But he kept the lid on new programs and vetoed most (but not all) of the wackiest bills. Brown always kept spendthrift lawmakers aware of the looming fear of recession.

My main beef is he never used his treasure trove of political capital to achieve lasting reform. He could have revamped the pension systems, for instance, or addressed the state’s infrastructure crisis (rather than spending wildly on a bullet-train boondoggle). It’s all relative, so this is good enough for California, at least by modern standards. If he were 10 years younger, Brown might be on the Democratic presidential debate stage.

Basically, the Brown era signaled the last years of traditional liberal governance. The new governor, former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, comes out of the party’s progressive wing.

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; commiefornia; gavinnewsom; jerrybrown
Newsom was stuck dealing with raging wildfires and a bankrupt public utility that began shutting down parts of the electrical grid to prevent even more fires. This brought back shades of Gray Davis, who in 2003 was recalled by voters (and replaced by nominally Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger) in the midst of rolling blackouts caused by a failed electricity deregulation plan. That’s not just because of the obvious electricity parallels, but because Newsom’s tepid response was reminiscent of the deer-in-the-headlights Davis.

The wildfire/electricity mess is related to liability rules, an overly bureaucratic regulatory climate, and an environmental approach to forest lands that limited brush clearance. None of these matters could quickly be fixed by any governor — even one who had a clue what to do about it. But the real trouble signs in 2019 have come from the governor’s decision to sign measures that likely would have sent his predecessor reaching for the veto pen.

1 posted on 01/03/2020 9:27:13 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Some of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “Accomplishments” ( Note the quotes ):

* Assembly Bill 5, which banned many companies from using contractors as their workforce. It epitomizes the new, more aggressive strain of progressivism that isn’t content creating new programs and raising taxes — but is willing to destroy large segments of the private economy. The goal seems to be punishing “evil” businesses. If people’s lives are destroyed in the process, so be it.

* Targetting Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and other ride-sharing and delivery companies whose business model is based on using independent contractors as drivers. The union-backed legislation is designed to force these companies (lawmakers exempted most other businesses from its rules, including attorneys, physicians, real-estate agents, and insurance sales people) to hire their drivers as permanent employees and pay them benefits. Instead, we’re seeing predictable results. Freelance writers, photographers, and artists were not exempted from the measure — and the layoff notices have been coming to these workers as the year’s end approaches.

* A bill imposing statewide rent control, even though it’s an unquestionable fact that rent control depresses housing supply. Even California officials are starting to realize that the state’s sky-high housing prices are the result of regulations that squelch housing construction.

* A package of laws that will slowly strangle the charter-school industry (even though both sides depicted it as a compromise), which is the state’s main educational bright spot.

* Quite obviously, the next target for their destruction is healthcare. Look out for coming plans for single payer.

* Refusal to deal with problems (homelessness, soaring pension liabilities, tax rates that are driving businesses out of state)


2 posted on 01/03/2020 9:31:49 AM PST by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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To: SeekAndFind

The author is correct. Scary as it is, Brown was their least-worst option amongst those who could actually get elected there.


3 posted on 01/03/2020 9:38:32 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer)
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To: SeekAndFind

Plastic straws=climate apocalypse.
Poop on sidewalk=Progressive utopia.

Vote Newsome another term at your own risk. No wonder Kimberly left him.


4 posted on 01/03/2020 9:50:03 AM PST by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
Brown didn’t really live up to his ballyhooed Canoe Theory of Politics. Instead of paddling a little to the Left and little to the Right, he paddled a lot more to the Left than the Right. But he kept the lid on new programs and vetoed most (but not all) of the wackiest bills. Brown always kept spendthrift lawmakers aware of the looming fear of recession. My main beef is he never used his treasure trove of political capital to achieve lasting reform. He could have revamped the pension systems, for instance, or addressed the state’s infrastructure crisis (rather than spending wildly on a bullet-train boondoggle). It’s all relative, so this is good enough for California, at least by modern standards. If he were 10 years younger, Brown might be on the Democratic presidential debate stage. Basically, the Brown era signaled the last years of traditional liberal governance. The new governor, former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, comes out of the party’s progressive wing.
WTH. Even in this context, an apologia for Jerry Brown is dopey -- unless it's just 'part of the plan' we're supposed to trust, eh?

5 posted on 01/03/2020 9:53:22 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Buckeye McFrog
The author is correct. Scary as it is, Brown was their least-worst option amongst those who could actually get elected there.

As the author points out, Brown had the surprisingly good sense to veto some of the truly craziest bills that came out of Sacramento's one party rule.

6 posted on 01/03/2020 9:56:56 AM PST by Drew68
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To: SeekAndFind
Freelance writers, photographers, and artists were not exempted from the measure — and the layoff notices have been coming to these workers as the year’s end approaches. The newly unemployed shouldn’t worry, though

Can't they just learn to code? Joe Biden says anyone can program.

Hard to believe that I agree, can we get Moonbeam back??
7 posted on 01/03/2020 11:07:37 AM PST by eyeamok
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