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Monday, June 20, 2011

Eyes Rolling into the Back o My Head


Despite my interest in politics, issues and philosophy, state politics make my eyes roll into the back of my head.  Maybe it is because the California democrats are like automatons behaving as a predictable Dickens bad guy.  

However, as I find myself in the capital today, I found this timely "where we are in Sacramento" article in the Wall Street Journal current and interesting.

As Sacramento Turns June 20, 2011
California Governor Jerry Brown's latest budget soap opera.

'All My Children" may be off the air, but the soap opera is still running in Sacramento. In the latest installment, Governor Jerry Brown divorced his fellow Democrats by vetoing their budget. Democrats and unions are furious and plotting revenge, while both sides blame the evil Republicans for refusing to sanction a referendum that would give voters a chance to endorse a tax increase.

Where's Susan Lucci when you need her?

Mr. Brown deserves credit for vetoing the Democratic budget that reverted to Sacramento form to close a $9.6 billion deficit, deferring several billion dollars of bills into the future, borrowing from special funds, and raising the state's sales tax and vehicle registration fee without the constitutionally required supermajority vote. Even the Democratic treasurer warned that the state couldn't finance its short-term debt with such a risky plan, and Mr. Brown cashiered it.

Democrats are now blasting him for suggesting that an "all cuts" budget is the only alternative if Republicans won't agree to allow a vote on a five-year extension of what was supposed to be a temporary income tax surcharge, among other tax hikes. Democrats are frustrated because they expected Republicans to cave months ago. But Republicans have shown laudable discipline, and they know that their relevance in state politics hinges on extracting concessions from employee unions that will reduce the future cost of government.

Mr. Brown needs at least two GOP votes in each chamber to put the tax increases on the ballot. And Republican lawmakers have said for months that they're willing to do so in return formodest pension and regulatory reforms and a hard spending cap.

For instance, they want to cap annual pension benefits at $106,000 per employee. Yup, state workers could still earn a six-figure annual pension from retirement to death. Republicans also want new state workers—not current employees—to have the option of a hybrid pension that includes a less generous defined benefit portion as well as an employer-matched defined contribution plan. That proposal is scaled back from the recommendation of the state independent oversight commission to freeze benefits for current workers and to move everyone into hybrid plans.

Republican lawmakers tell us that Democrats won't agree to a deal unless the government-worker unions give their blessing. But the unions now don't want a special election since recent polls show public support for the tax extensions waning, particularly in light of the state's recent discovery of $6.6 billion in additional revenue as the economy recovers. The unions would rather conserve their resources for the 2012 legislative races in which they hope to elect a Democratic supermajority. Their plan is to postpone dealing with California's budget problems until Democrats can raise taxes without making concessions.
Two other liberal hothouses, New York and New Jersey, are at least trying to clean up their fiscal messes, but the unions that dominate Sacramento think taxpayers will finance their soap opera forever. 

If Mr. Brown wants his return as Governor to be more than a bad last act, he'll abandon his tax increase hopes and do the hard work he promised to shape up state government.

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