Gov. Jerry Brown's face-the-music, roll-the-dice, feet-to-the-fire state budget blueprint has been unveiled, and there's something there for everyone to hate. Education
K-12 education skates, for now, but just about everyone
else gets
whacked -- but good.
From the Chronicle's Marisa Lagos: "Calling for a "vast and historic" reworking of state
government finances, Gov. Jerry Brown Monday said he would release a $127.4 billion state budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year that includes dramatic spending cuts of
$12.5 billion - including as much as a 10 percent cut in take-home pay for some state employees."
"Brown also is counting on voters to approve an extension
of taxes that are set to expire this year to prevent
even deeper cuts. He said that even though voters rejected
taxes in 2009, he believes it's time for voters to reconsider the
issue. "It's a divisive issue," he said. "I think there is
a significant number of people who have an open mind
and it will be up to the Legislature and myself and
the business community and citizen groups and parent
teacher associations to make the case."
Breakdowns of the budget from the LA Times, the Bee and the AP.
There are a lot of moving pieces in Brown's budget,
and the failure of one could mean the failure of all.
Greg Lucas takes a look.
"Not the least of the unknowns Brown’s spending plan is
premised on is whether Californians in June will agree
to keeping $9.2 billion
in temporary taxes on the books for five more years,
a central feature of the
Democratic governor’s spending plan. And, even before voters get a chance to decide, enough
Republican lawmakers have to vote to place it on the
ballot – a two-thirds vote
is required."
"Nor is it a slam dunk that the fractious Legislature,
particularly members of Brown’s party, will embrace $12.5 billion in spending
reductions including nearly $3.2 billion of which fall on welfare and Medi-Cal,
the state’s health care program for the poor."
Business interests will feel the pain, too, as they confront the loss of financial incentives and
a new tax break, reports the LAT's Marc Lifsher.
"Major business lobbies
appeared to be cautiously supportive of Brown's call
for deep spending cuts in
health, welfare and higher education programs. At the
same time, they said they
were open to discussing a plan to ask voters in June
to extend for five years a
series of temporary taxes on income, sales and motor
vehicles."
"Bill Hauck, president of the California Business
Roundtable, said his members "generally would be supportive
of the theme
that the governor is taking, which is to stop living
in a state of denial and
get real." Big business, he said, wants California to
"get back to a level of financial stability that would
encourage new
business investment here."
Jerry Brown is making a big gamble, not only on the state's finances but on his own governorship.
From the Bee's Dan Walters: "Brown is, in effect, wagering his new governorship
on persuading a polarized, risk-averse Legislature to bite the bullet on spending and
taxes, and then persuading voters to endorse a Solomon-like split."
"It is, however, a wager worth making, because, as
Brown says, continuing to do what's been done recently
– overspending revenue and masking the deficits with
gimmicks and loans – is corrosive. California already has become an international laughingstock
for failing to close a budget deficit that's scarcely
1 percent of its economic output, driving its credit
rating into the basement and alienating voters."
Environmental issues didn't emerge unscathed, either: Cuts loom for state parks and firefighters, reports
the Mercury News' Paul Rogers.
"Brown has asked State Parks Director Ruth Coleman
to
submit a list by early February of the parks that will
have reduced hours, or
will be closed completely, said H.D. Palmer, a state
finance department
spokesman."
"Although parks that have relatively low attendance,
like
Henry Coe State Park in Morgan Hill, or Castle Rock,
near Saratoga, could face
closure, Palmer said that other factors also will be
considered, such as
whether local agencies or non-profits might help run them, or whether it would
be prohibitively expensive to close large areas."
Enough of the budget -- let's turn to our "Monarch of the Glen" file to learn about contractor Ewan White and the
millionaire laird of a Scottish country home who begged
him for sex, then sacked him when she found out he
had a girlfriend. Ay, laddie...
"Mr White, who described the
landowner as "brassy", said she had pestered him for
sex while his
company was working on Melville House at Monimail in
Fife. He lodged a claim
for more than £30,000 compensation."
"He said he spent weeks turning down Mrs Harvey as
she "begged" him for sex and claimed she ended the
contract when she
discovered he had a girlfriend. In papers lodged at the court, Mr White said that
the mansion owner "frequently" asked him to have sex
and sent him
e-mails and text messages."
The moral of this story: Never put anything in an email....
