Gov.-elect Jerry Brown, the wrinkled old pro, had a good week in Sacramento, laying out the budget issues
and making some good appointments, says the L.A. Times' George Skelton.
"He's showing early signs of matching the expectations
of millions who concluded he just might be the seasoned
sage who can straighten out Sacramento's budget shambles. True, one transition week does not make a governorship.
And Brown, history shows, still is plenty susceptible
to screwing up — a wrong turn, a goofy idea, an alienating arrogance."
"He hasn't even made a tough decision yet. But enjoy the moment. And give credit where it's due."
Fixing the budget is a process requiring three major
steps, notes Bee columnist Dan Walters.
"The first would be cutting spending to close the current
gap and doing so in a way that convinces voters that
Brown and legislators are serious about the new reality. Stage two would be a 2011-12 budget that continues the spending cuts and asks voters for more revenues, possibly a limited
extension of the $8 billion-plus in last year's temporary tax hikes that will soon
expire..."
"Were those two steps to avert fiscal disaster and
improve voter confidence, stage three would be a massive
restructuring of public finances, including a much-discussed "realignment" of state-local responsibilities to, as Brown put it, "bring
governmental activities … closer to the people."
Back to the real world, San Francisco is thinking of levying $6 tolls on motorists who come in from the south, so
San Mateo County leaders are considering $12 tolls on SF drivers who come down from the north.
The Mercury News' Mike Rosenberg reports.
"The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, acting as
the city's transportation authority, will vote Tuesday
on whether to launch a study of the toll program that,
if later approved by city and state leaders, would
take effect in 2015."
"Under the plan, all drivers would pay $3 upon entering or exiting San Francisco from the south
via highways and major local streets from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. and another $3 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. The tolls would be collected electronically and
capped at $6 a day, with San Francisco officials controlling revenues
estimated at up to $80 million annually."
The fight over forcing California colleges to make
public how much they pay visiting speakers is back, reports the Bee's Susan Ferriss.
"As the state Senate reconvenes today, Sen. Leland
Yee, D-San Francisco, plans to reintroduce a bill that would
force more disclosure of information from private foundations
linked to public higher education."
"He said he believes Gov.-elect Jerry Brown, "unlike his predecessor," will "match his action with
his rhetoric and sign this bill into law." Yee's cause captured attention last April with a scandal: The CSU Stanislaus Foundation claimed it had no documents related to a speech Palin
was going to give as a fundraiser on that campus. Then
the foundation claimed it was private and not required,
under state law, to disclose how much it was paying
the former Republican vice presidential candidate."
The State Compensation Insurance Fund, which has been
headquartered in San Francisco since 1913, is pulling up stakes, reports the Chronicle's Matier and Ross.
"The move to cheaper climes is part of a statewide
plan aimed at saving the fund $200 million over the next three years. But the high cost of Bay Area living is only part of
the problem, Vargen said. The agency also seems to
have trouble attracting qualified workers here."
"We have to do a lot more testing to get qualified
candidates," Vargen said. For example, only half of the San Francisco applicants
passed the most recent test to become workers' compensation
claim adjusters - compared with the 90 percent pass rate in Eureka."
Brown tapped public pension funds in his first tenure
as governor, and pensions are at the top of the list again, reports CalPensions' Ed Mendel.
"In the last year of Governor-elect Jerry Brown’s previous
term as governor, 1982, he signed two bills that dipped into CalPERS reserves,
taking a total of $433 million to help balance the state budget."
"Last week the incoming governor’s finance director,
outlining a budget shortfall that could be $28 billion during the next 18
months, put pensions at the top of a mountain of long-term debt."
And finally, from our "Only in L.A." file, we see the story of the museum that commissioned
a mural -- and then immediately painted over it.
"The paint was hardly dry on the mural, which covered
the entire north-facing wall of MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary with depictions of wooden caskets
draped in dollar bills, when the museum literally whitewashed
the piece..."
"The whitewashing of the mural at the Geffen Contemporary
came a day before the museum is due to host a media
preview forSuprasensorial, a show highlighting Latin American artists working
with light and space. MOCA previews generally attract
scores of cameras and reporters..."
Art for art's sake?
