Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown is the Anti-Scott Walker

Cal Watchdog did a nifty little comparison of Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Gov. Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown of California, both of whom took office on the same day facing similar budget problems.  Let's look at the results:

Walker and Brown, who both took office on the same day, Jan. 3, 2011, faced tremendous budget deficits and squawking public employee unions demanding higher taxes. Brown obliged; Walker would not.

Faced with a $3.6 billion deficit, Walker lowered taxes — freezing property taxes and bringing down school property taxes. He also painted a realistic and honest budget picture for his constituents and pushed for painful but necessary reforms that cut collective bargaining rights for government unions and created more competition, like allowing private vendors to bid on health insurance contracts for school districts, which reduced costs.

Seventeen months later, Wisconsin is projected to have a $154 million surplus by the summer of 2013. And, the Wisconsin-based MacIver Institute reported that Walker’s reforms have saved taxpayers $1 billion.

In California, Gov. Brown, returning to the post he left in 1983, sided with unions from day one. Early on, he appointed a California Teachers Association lobbyist, Patricia Rucker, to the state Board of Education. He also presented Californians with an unrealistic budget that projected far more state revenue than what eventually came in.

Partially as a result of such budgeting gimmickry, the state’s projected $9 billion budget shortfall has ballooned to $17 billion.

Brown’s plan to close the gap is to convince voters in November to inflict higher taxes on themselves, an approach blessed by unions. Should his tax increases pass, they would raise only about $8.5 billion, a far cry from the $17 billion needed to close the budget hole. And that means California will continue on the path of dysfunctional budgeting and sidestepping meaningful reform.

I predict the voters of California will reject Brown's tax hike. We're tired of throwing more and more of our money into an increasingly dysfunctional state government run by public employee unions. The reason the tax base is deteriorating in California is because the government has done everything it can to run small business out of the state. With ridiculous environmental policies and a stupidly high regulatory burdens the business climate is so unfriendly that companies that can are leaving. Those that can't are failing. Want more tax revenue? End the war on business.

No more new taxes for California's black hole of government.

Gov. Moonbeam Opposes the Teacher's Union Proposed Millionaires Tax

As well he should:

Gov. Jerry Brown previewed his pitch for a package of five-year tax increases in a meeting with The Chronicle's editorial board Tuesday. By his own admission, it's a complicated argument and a tough sell - especially in comparison with the populist millionaires tax being pushed by the California Federation of Teachers.

"It's pretty clear. We know that if you tax 2 percent of the people to benefit 98 percent, that's a winner with the 98 percent," Brown said. "That's simple. That's third-grade arithmetic. The problem is, we have to put something together that works - the other people don't have to do that."

Brown said the teachers' proposed 3 percent tax on million-dollar incomes would do nothing to cure the state's structural deficit because its revenue would be directed to specific programs (60 percent education, 25 percent social services, 10 percent public safety, 5 percent road and bridge repair) "on top of" previously locked-in spending commitments, including for education.

He also noted that a heavily top-weighted tax would amplify the volatility of a state tax structure that already sways wildly with boom and bust cycles.

It also won't raise near as much money as project - millionaire's taxes never do. Look at New York or anywhere else they've added punitive taxes on success. Millionaires figure out how to move their money elsewhere and avoid the tax.

This is nothing more than class warfare being waged by a labor union that's unwilling to give up a dime in benefits but more than willing to take any dimes you have left. Californians should vote down ALL of the tax proposals and force the state to live within its means.

Gov. Moonbeam Realizes California Has to Cut Benefits. The Democrats...Not So Much

Dan Walters says the big challenge facing Gov. Jerry Brown with California's budget is not the Republicans demanding further cuts, but Democrats who refuse to accept the reality that the state can no longer afford the generous benefits of the past:

Last week, Controller John Chiang revealed that revenue is falling $2.6 billion short while spending is running $2.6 billion over budget. It means that this supposedly balanced budget will be somewhere between $4 billion and $5 billion in the red by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

It's about half of the $9.2 billion deficit that Brown says his new budget will cover – but only if voters agree to temporary increases in sales and income taxes next fall.

But there's more to the budget equation than taxes.

Even were the new taxes approved, Brown's new budget would continue the rapid shrinkage of health and welfare services to the poor that he first proposed last year. And Democrats are beginning to balk.

They've stiffed Brown on the mid-year cuts he seeks to shrink the year-end deficit, and the initial legislative responses to the budget are highly critical of "safety net" reductions. The Assembly staged one hearing last week to focus on their effects on poor women.

The pushback may reflect a realization that Brown doesn't see shrinking health and welfare services, including a much tighter limit for welfare payments, as a temporary response to budget woes, but rather, as he said a year ago, "a retrenchment" of the state's historically generous benefits.

"They (the cuts) look permanent to me," he told reporters in January 2011. "The money isn't there."

A year later, his intent is sinking in, and one of his most difficult chores will be to persuade a Legislature dominated by liberal Democrats to do to social services what conservative Republicans have only dreamed of doing.

Good luck with that, governor. It has to be done. For decades when things were going great in California the Dem legislatures, often aided by GOP governors, piled on benefit after benefit. The good days are over for the foreseeable future and things have to change.

Small Government Quote of the Day

What's even more remarkable is that it comes from a guy who is not a proponent of small government, CA Gov. Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown. This is part of a veto statement on a bill that would have mandated helmets for child skiers:

"While I appreciate the value of wearing a ski helmet, I am concerned about the continuing and seemingly inexorable transfer of authority from parents to the state. Not every human problem deserves a law."

Brown also referred to the law as "nanny government".

And yet he had no problem signing the bill that required the teaching of gay history in elementary classrooms. I guess we can't trust parents to get that right.

He also vetoed a bill raising the fines for texting while driving.  I thought that one would have sailed through.  I wonder of the governor is alright?

This is What the California Democrat Legislators Do Instead of Fixing the State's Problems

They create new problems:

Under AB 889, household “employers” (aka “parents”) who hire a babysitter on a Friday night will be legally obligated to pay at least minimum wage to any sitter over the age of 18 (unless it is a family member), provide a substitute caregiver every two hours to cover rest and meal breaks, in addition to workers' compensation coverage, overtime pay, and a meticulously calculated timecard/paycheck.

Failure to abide by any of these provisions may result in a legal cause of action against the employer including cumulative penalties, attorneys' fees, legal costs and expenses associated with hiring expert witnesses, an unprecedented measure of legal recourse provided no other class of workers – from agricultural laborers to garment manufacturers. (On the bright side, language requiring an hour of paid vacation time for every 30 hours worked was amended out of the bill in the Senate.)

Unfortunately, the unreasonable costs and risks contained in this bill will discourage folks from hiring housekeepers, nannies and babysitters and increase the use of institutionalized care rather than allowing children, the sick or elderly to be cared for in their homes. I can't help but wonder if that is the goal of AB 889 – a terrible bill that needs to be stopped.

The bill is sailing through the legislature with " blanket support from the Democrat members that control both houses of the Legislature – and without the support of a single Republican member". Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown is sure to sign it.

This bill doesn't just make hiring a babysitter a risky move, it will make it almost impossible for someone to hire in-home health care workers for elderly or disabled people.  It's a disaster in the making.

Political Quote of the Day

Best description of taxes yet:

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday accused some state lawmakers of adhering to “the notion that taxes are like some kind of sexually transmitted disease.”

If only.  I say practice safe budgeting - no new taxes.

Jerry Brown: Supreme Court Ruling on Prisons Means We Need More Taxes

Imagine my surprise:

A week after increased revenue estimates looked to frustrate Gov. Jerry Brown's case for higher taxes, a Supreme Court ruling requiring California to reduce its prison population may help.

Brown said in a prepared statement that shifting certain offenders from state prisons to county facilities, as Brown proposes in his budget, is "key" to implementing the court's order today that California reduce its prison population by more than 30,000 inmates.

"We must now secure full and constitutionally guaranteed funding to put into effect all the realignment provisions," he said, a reference to his bid for a ballot measure extending higher taxes.

He must be getting some serious heat from the prison guard's union who fear that releasing prisoners will cost some of their members their jobs. I'm sure Brown's concern has nothing to do with public safety. As a general rule Democrats don't care much for keeping people in jail except for the benefits it provides the unions.

Poll Proves Majority of My Fellow Californians Are Complete Idiots

From Top of the Ticket:

If the conventional mantra about California being on the forefront of the nation's political trends holds true, it's really bad news for America's taxpayers.

According to a new L.A. Times / USC Dornsife poll, a majority of Californians -- 52% to 38% -- are just fine with Democrat Jerry Brown's plan to fill the state's chronic budget deficit with $14 billion in new or renewed taxes along with cuts, as long as they get to vote on it.

This despite the recent history of waste, corruption and spending abuses in the most populous state's vast government.

This despite the state's continuing 12% unemployment rate, second-highest in the country.

This despite the weak 44% job approval rating for Gov. Brown.

This despite 41% of Californians believing that wasteful, unwise spending by ....

... state officials is responsible for the deficit.

This despite 67% of Californians believing the state's coughing economy is not yet improving and possibly worsening.

This despite 66% of Californians believing the country is on the wrong track under the Obama administration.

This despite 70% believing California is on the wrong track under -- oh, look! -- it's Jerry Brown again.

Brown's idea is to erase the $26-billion deficit in an $85-billion budget with a claimed $12 billion in cuts and $14 billion in new or extended taxes, because who doesn't believe more government would help any situation?

Geez.

There is only one answer to California's massive overspending problem: Stop spending. The tax and regulatory burden on California business is already driving companies and jobs out-of-state, and increasing taxes will do absolutely nothing to fix the underlying problem. It may forestall some pain...briefly...but the pain will return bigger and more devastating.

Now before I completely write the state off, there is a glimmer of hope in another poll:

California voters want government employees to give up some retirement benefits to help ease the state's financial problems, favoring a cap on pensions and a later age for collecting them, according to a new poll.

Voter support for rolling back benefits available to few outside the public sector comes as Gov. Jerry Brown and Republicans in the Legislature haggle over changes to the pension system as part of state budget negotiations. Such benefits have been a flashpoint of national debate this year, and the poll shows that Californians are among those who perceive public retirement plans to be too costly.

Voters appear ready to embrace changes not just for future hires but also for current employees who have been promised the benefits under contract.

Seventy percent of respondents said they supported a cap on pensions for current and future public employees. Nearly as many, 68%, approved of raising the amount of money government workers should be required to contribute to their retirement. Increasing the age at which government employees may collect pensions was favored by 52%.

This comes just as word gets out that Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown gave the state prison guards another sweetheart contract which now allows them to accumulate an unlimited amount of unused vacation time that must be cashed out when they retire, thus created yet another unfunded liability for the state.

California's Solar Silliness

California's descent into madness continues apace:

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed legislation requiring California utilities to get one-third of their power from renewable sources, giving the state the most aggressive alternative energy mandate in the U.S.

California utilities and other electricity providers have until the end of 2020 to draw 33 percent of their power from solar panels, windmills and other renewable sources.

Brown signed the bill at a solar panel manufacturing plant near San Jose.

"There are people who think we can drill our way to happiness and prosperity," the Democratic governor told hundreds of plant workers and other supporters gathered to witness the signing.

"Instead of just taking oil from thousands of miles away, we're taking the sun and converting it."

Hey, Moonbeam, here's an idea - how about taking oil from right off our own coast! Yes, there are millions of barrels of oil just sitting there waiting for us to go and get it. We don't have to go thousands of miles.

In fact, there's so much that it seeps out of the ocean floor and fouls the beaches. Perhaps we should just go get it and then we wouldn't have to waste money on unicorn and rainbow power.

Moonbeam May Not Get His Vote

Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown wants the voters to make the tough decisions on the state budget, but he needs a certain number of Republican votes to agree to put the measure on the June ballot.  It doesn't look like he's going to get those votes (from the Daily Caller):

Jerry Brown will miss his deadline for saving California from ruin -- "Gov. Jerry Brown said Monday he does not have enough Republican votes to pass his plan to address California's $26.6 billion budget deficit, just days before the deadline he set for the state Legislature to call a special election and place a tax measure before voters in June," reports the AP. "Brown needs those GOP votes to ask voters to extend temporary sales, income and vehicle tax hikes for another five years, which would be accompanied by $12 billion in spending cuts." Yes, that's right: Brown needs the GOP to vote for something so that he can then ask voters to vote for it. Meanwhile, Republicans want Brown to do something about the high salaries at the Department of Transportation and other agencies as a means of closing a $26 billion deficit. California is complicated. And possibly doomed. 

Republicans are telling Brown they're not going to accept a continuance of the tax increases he asked for because higher taxes will not get the state moving again. The massive waste and overspending has to stop first.

Gov. Brown: It's the Taxes or the Cuts

He's right, you know.

California Governor Jerry Brown pledged to cut $25 billion from an $85 billion spending plan to close the state’s budget gap if lawmakers block a special election to allow voters to extend temporary tax increases.

If lawmakers don’t approve the special election, Brown said he’d hold up the budget for as long as it takes to eliminate the $25 billion deficit through spending cuts.

“It’s very fundamental, whether you vote the taxes or you vote the cuts,” said Brown, a 72-year-old Democrat who was governor from 1975 to 1983. He spoke today at a joint legislative budget conference committee hearing in Sacramento.

Brown has pledged to fix the financial strains that have left California with the biggest deficit of all U.S. states, and the lowest credit rating. With an economy bigger than Russia’s, California has coped with $100 billion of budget gaps in the past three years amid the global recession.

I'm no fan of Moonbeam, but to his credit he's trying to fix the mess. The choice really does come down to extending some taxes or making massive cuts.  At least he's not talking about huge tax increases.  That's a plus.

Gov. Moonbeam Uses Egypt to Justify Maintaining Tax Hikes

Democrats will use pretty much any excuse to justify tax increases:

Citing the pro-democracy unrest in Egypt and Tunisia, Gov. Jerry Brown called it “unconscionable” that GOP legislators are vowing to block his attempt to ask voters to extend tax hikes to balance the budget.

“When democratic ideals and calls for the right to vote are stirring the imagination of young people in Egypt and Tunisia and other parts of the world, we in California can’t say now is the time to block a vote of the people,” Brown said in his first State of the State address in nearly 30 years.

He said the budget has tough choices but that the people “have a right to vote” on the package.

I'm not sure Moonbeam wants that vote as much as he think. The voters demonstrated in the last election (at least in most of the country) that they were not enthused about high taxes. Perhaps the vote would be a little closer in California, but I don't think the voters will approve a package of high taxes that they already rejected when Gov. Schwarzenegger asked them to do it.

Graffiti Threatening Gov. Moonbeam Shows Up in Santa Ana

This is curious:

Graffiti threatening Gov. Jerry Brown’s life was found in two places in Santa Ana Thursday, according to police.

Santa Ana police were called at 7 a.m. about threatening graffiti on Greenville Street north of Alton Avenue, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

The graffiti read, “We gonna kill Gov. Brown 2 14 11,” Bertagna said.

Between 2:15 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., a Santa Ana police officer saw more threatening graffiti at 1700 W. Segerstrom Ave., Bertagna said.

The vandal spray-painted in red, “27 more days 4 Brown” and included a swastika, Bertagna said, adding someone later painted over the red “7″ with a black “6″ as if it were a countdown.

“We don’t know if they’re related or not,” Bertagna said.

Santa Ana police alerted the California Highway Patrol, which protects the governor, Bertagna said. CHP investigators will take the lead in the investigation, he added.

Santa Ana seems an odd place for this to appear. The heavily Hispanic city probably voted overwhelmingly for the new/old governor. The other mystery is the Valentine's Day date on the threats. Nobody can seem to figure out how that day would factor into this threat. I think we can safely say that when Feb. 14th comes around the CHP will ensure that Brown will be nowhere near Santa Ana.

Moonbeam Stiffs Orange County Union Members

Following the inauguration of Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown in Sacramento yesterday Orange County union members threw a hot dog bash for the new governor, but things didn't go as they had planned.  First read this, and then I'll tell you what the article doesn't mention:

Jerry Brown didn’t win Orange County in November’s gubernatorial election, but that didn’t stop OC officials from joining in his inaugural festivities today.

Immediately following Brown’s inaugural ceremony this morning, the Orange County Employees Association and Orange County State Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, sponsored “The People’s Inauguration Party 2011″ on north steps of the State Capitol, where they provided live mariachi music and handed out free hot dogs from the OCEA’s “legendary” hot dog cart to anyone who wanted to celebrate Brown’s swearing in.

“This is about setting the tone that this about the people — front and center are the constituents of the state of California,” Correa said. [...]

A smiling Dan Jacobson, chairman of the Democratic Foundation of Orange County, surveyed the scene at the State Capitol and declared it a victory for Orange County

What the article doesn't tell you is that Brown only showed up for five minutes, took a bite or two from a hot dog, and then took off without speaking to the crowd that had gathered in front of the podium expecting some sort of speech. Instead, according to the video I saw on the news yesterday, union members were roundly booed by the gathered masses when they had to sheepishly announce that Brown had left and wouldn't be speaking. All-in-all it was a pretty embarrassing time for the unions regardless of the media spin.

Moonbeam Takes Command

Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown has been sworn into office, thus accelerating California's slide into oblivion.

Just to put today's return of Moonbeam in perspective, I'm 54 years old.  When he took office as California governor the first time I was 18.

The Reign of Moonbeam II

California's latest mistake takes office this morning:

As Jerry Brown takes the oath of office Monday for his third term as California governor, he will begin a 100-day sprint that could determine the future success of his administration.

The first 100 days for a governor — often described as the honeymoon period — can set the tone for his entire tenure. It will be particularly true for Brown, who has been clear that he wants to leverage the political capital he has as a relatively new governor — he first served from 1975 to 1983 — into decisive action on the state's fiscal crisis. [...]

Brown plans to pass a budget through the Legislature within two months, instead of the usual seven or eight. Those involved in budget discussions with him say he then plans to ask voters to extend temporary increases to the state sales, income and vehicle taxes that lawmakers and the governor enacted in 2009. Voters have already rejected an extension of those taxes as part of a 2009 special election, and Republican leaders have indicated there is no GOP support for putting the issue back before voters.

Brown's main charge will be to keep voters on his side, even as he introduces a series of spending cuts and potential tax increases that are bound to be unpopular.

Already, Brown is promising shared pain and fiscal austerity. Monday's inaugural festivities will be subdued affairs, with Brown set to take the oath of office at Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium at 11 a.m. In the afternoon, he is scheduled to appear at a gathering outside the Capitol where free hot dogs will be served, before hosting guests at an afternoon reception at the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento.

Any Republican who supports Brown's tax hikes deserves to have his head on a pike. Although the giant red November wave stopped before it got to California (and Nevada), there are still plenty of Tea Party-type Republicans in California who are able to toss incumbents out of office in the primaries if they insist on playing bipartisan games with Brown, games that always end up with the GOP caving to Democrat demands.

Just say "NO!" to Moonbeam's tax hikes.

U.S. Extends Tax Cuts, California Extends Tax Hikes

California decided to go the suicidal route when it returned Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown and Barbara "Dumb-as-a-Box-of-Rocks" Boxer to power, and when it voted to make it easier for the legislature to sneak tax hikes into budget bills.  It was foolish and we're all going to pay for it.

Moonbeam is proposing a budget balancing "solution" that will simply keep most of the problem spending in place and strangle the very people with the best chance to grow the economy:

Gov.-elect Jerry Brown is laying the groundwork for a budget plan that would couple deep cuts to state services, including university systems and welfare programs, with a request that voters extend temporary tax hikes on vehicles, income and sales that are set to expire next year.

The blueprint Brown will unveil when he takes office early next month also is expected to take aim at several tax breaks and subsidies that have been fiercely guarded by the business lobby in Sacramento, according to people involved in budget discussions with the incoming administration.

Among the breaks are multibillion-dollar incentives for redevelopment projects and hundreds of millions of dollars of "enterprise zone" credits meant to encourage investment in blighted neighborhoods. Also targeted is a recent change to state business tax formulas that has saved corporate California roughly $1 billion.

The combination of austere spending and extended tax hikes is designed to confront both parties and their allied interest groups with painful choices that Brown says are necessary to truly resolve the state's massive budget problems. He intends to take swift action, using the political capital of a new governor to confront a deficit that could easily subsume his governorship.

In a symbolic gesture to garner the trust of a skeptical public, Brown has already pledged to cut his own office budget by 25%.

So, while Congress is doing the right thing and extending the Bush tax cuts, Brown is asking voters to extend various tax hikes which were hiked in previous years to "fix" the problems that are still going on. They clearly didn't work then, and won't work now.

You have to understand that in California there's no such thing as a "temporary tax hike".  They're marketed to the voters as temporary to make them more palatable, but the Democrats who propose them are counting on voters becoming complacent after paying the temporary tax for a couple of years.  After they become used to the extra taxes they're less likely to object to an extension of those taxes.

Just say no to Moonbeam and his tax hikes.

Governator Calls Special Session, Dems Laugh

The Governator is planning to go out swinging, but it won't make much difference:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a fiscal emergency and is asking lawmakers to meet in a special session to save the state $9.9 billion over the next two years.

Schwarzenegger on Monday unveiled a plan that relies largely on cuts to health care and social services for the poor.

The Dems aren't going to help him make cuts because they've got Gov. Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown coming into office on January 3. Thanks to having crazies in control of our entire state government, and the voters stupidly approving ballot measures that will make it easier to raise taxes, the Dems will simply wait Arnold out and then let Brown raise taxes on everything that moves.

Political Cartoon of the Day

How appropriate - from Michael Ramirez:

I Tried to Stop You, California, But You Just Had to Go and Be Morons Anyway

You didn't pay attention, California, and now you're gonna pay.  While much of the rest of the country was voting to restore some degree of sanity to government, California decided to continue its game of economic Russian Roulette by loading the empty chambers of the gun.  The next time you spin the cylinder and pull the trigger there's going to be a big bang.

Reelecting Barbara "Dumb-as-a-Box-of-Rocks" Boxer will probably end up being fairly harmless.  The GOP wasn't going to win the Senate anyway, and in a closely divided Senate with a very Republican House there's not much damage Boxer can do anymore.  She can propose all the crazy she wants - it won't go anywhere.  And frankly, keeping her 3,000 miles away will probably be a benefit.

On the other hand, you really screwed the pooch when you elected Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, rejected Prop 23 and approved Prop 25.  By rejecting Prop 23 you've pretty much guaranteed that AB 32, the global warming law that won't stop global warming or even make a dent in it if it's happening, will go into full force causing energy prices to skyrocket and driving hundreds of thousands of jobs out of state.  You fell for the ads which said that rejecting Prop 23 would punish the evil oil companies and "save the planet".

Do you know what the difference is between a Democrat politician and an evil oil company?  Oil companies create jobs, wealth and provide energy for America.  Way to go, dummies.

And Prop 25?  Once again you allowed highly misleading ads convince you that by approving 25 you could punish those lazy legislators who don't pass a budget on time.  And in doing that, you just stripped away the protections which have kept the legislature from raising your taxes at will.  They will now be able to pass budgets loaded with new taxes and fees with simple majority votes and we will no longer be able to count on a Republican governor to veto them.  Jerry Brown now has the keys to your house, your job, and your future should you stay in California.  Way to go, morons.

Remember Prop 13, the 1978 measure opposed by then Gov. Jerry Brown that saved Californians from crushing property tax increases?  Brown will be going after it armed with the new powers granted by Prop 25.  You think the housing market has bottomed out?  Just wait.

Jerry Brown is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the unions and if you think he's going to make tough decisions on spending cuts, you're delusional.  He's going to come after more taxes, more fees, and more job-killing regulation.  There's no amount of crazy the legislature can approve that he won't sign.

Until last night the liberal legislature thought it had a lifeline in Washington.  No matter how badly they screwed things up they knew they had Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bully her members to approve a bailout for her home state.  Not anymore.  Pelosi's influence in the House just disappeared and if you think a GOP-led House is going to approve billions to bailout California, you're smoking something (and yes, it's still illegal thanks to the defeat of Prop 19, the only thing California did right last night).

So go ahead, California, spin the cylinder and pull the trigger.  It'll be a mercy killing.