Experts Expound

“Jerry Brown seems to have won Round 1 in the PR fight over the budget: He directly challenged Republicans to come up with their own plan – and they refused. What do you think?”

Checkmate. The GOP’s only option would be a budget that slashes school aid.

Republicans have an opportunity to show some statesmanship and develop concrete ideas to address the budget, but they haven’t had a constructive idea in years, so why start now?  They will never have a better time to negotiate for pension and regulatory reform, but that would take leadership which, sadly, they don’t have.

Breathe of fresh air.  Jerry brown tells it like it is, no gimmicks, no fake promises, nothing to hide behind.  Now the Republicans have got to do the same.

Smart of the Republicans. Every time in the past they’ve offered a plan and the Democrats hammered them on it.  

Republicans are suffering no harm in their gerrymandered districts where anti-tax populism rules, even in so-called “moderate” Republican seats.  Maybe insider newspapers care about the sniping back-and-forth, but most voters think that state government wastes money and should not be given more to burn.

No surprise here. Republicans have always believed it is in their self-interest to have the government fail. So they are always against all solutions and never offer any.

The Republicans never come up with their own budget plan, despite all their blather – at least not one that can’t be laughed out of town. But Brown still needs five GOP votes to get his special election, so it’s not really about PR, it’s about arm twisting and horse trading. We’ll see if he has it in him to get it done.

He is taking all of the right steps so far but they have all been ceremonial – reducing his staff and state cell phones and cars but no one has gotten into the real budget fight of how do you pass this proposal and if it is not passed by the Legislature or later by the voters – what is plan b?

I think he has clearly won the early battle.  Now what will he have to bargain away to get the votes? My bet is pension reform and regulatory relief.  Part of the problem will be making sure that his appointees to various commissions follow through.  His first two appointments to the CPUC and Energy Commission are not promising on that front.

There’s finally a shark in the guppy tank…er, an experienced governor facing this room full of term limits era amateurs.

Jerry Brown is on a roll. He managed to paint the Republicans as opposed to the people having a say on the budget while planting the seeds for political cover if there’s no vote followed by a budget-cutting bloodbath.

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