Mar 29 2011
Republicans Deliver Ransom Note to Gov. Brown Over Budget
The path to the June 7th special election in California proposed by Governor Jerry Brown has become less clear following a list of 53 Republican policy demands delivered to the Democratic controlled State Legislature. Included in the Republican demands were limiting teacher tenure and reconfiguring the current public employee pension system in order to place more of the financial risk on the recipients through a traditional 401(k) system. Gov. Brown was hoping for Republican support for his plan to allow Californians to vote on a $9.3 billion tax referendum in the form of extensions to sales, income, and vehicle-tax increases set to expire at the end of June. The five-year extension is an essential aspect to the governor’s plan for closing the $15 billion budget gap; without the extension he has warned of more extensive cuts to services including education and public safety. Summing up the Democrats’ disappointment, a Brown spokesman said, “You can’t expect to ram through a complete agenda as a minority party when all the governor is doing is asking to give the people the right to vote. Any reasonable person knows you can’t get 53 things for the price of one.” According to Bloomberg.com county clerks have indicated that the governor is running out of time. And most say that a period of 88 days is needed to prepare a special election in compliance with state law, which would work out to an end-of-June election only if a deal was struck immediately. Alternative options for the special election include collecting signatures for a November election or moving ahead in June without the Republican minority.
GUEST: Brian Leubitz, Founder and Editor of Calitics.com and an political consultant
Visit www.calitics.com to read Leubitz’s writings.
One Response to “Republicans Deliver Ransom Note to Gov. Brown Over Budget”
There is very little difference between Brown’s budget and previous budgets, because Brown’s budget is master-minded by Corporate America and Big Oil. There is no provision for closing corporate and commercial tax loopholes, no oil extraction tax and no oil corporation, windfall-profits tax. The UK has just introduced an oil company, windfall-profits tax. Californians pay the highest price for gasoline in the nation. Brown’s budget is the same, because again, it picks on the most vulnerable. Jerry is blackmailing Californians into voting for his tax extensions. These budget cuts will prolong the recession.