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. Its not going to get any better than this, Id say. Indeed, Browns 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 states ham-fisted redevelopment agencies, and generally behaved as the Last Adult in Sacramento.
Brown didnt 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 states infrastructure crisis (rather than spending wildly on a bullet-train boondoggle). Its 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 partys progressive wing.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
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 governors decision to sign measures that likely would have sent his predecessor reaching for the veto pen.
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 isnt 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 peoples 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, were 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 years end approaches.
* A bill imposing statewide rent control, even though its an unquestionable fact that rent control depresses housing supply. Even California officials are starting to realize that the states 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 states 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)
The author is correct. Scary as it is, Brown was their least-worst option amongst those who could actually get elected there.
Plastic straws=climate apocalypse.
Poop on sidewalk=Progressive utopia.
Vote Newsome another term at your own risk. No wonder Kimberly left him.
Brown didnt 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 states infrastructure crisis (rather than spending wildly on a bullet-train boondoggle). Its 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 partys 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?
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.
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