News Copy, New York

The Return Of Jerry Brown: California's Comeback Kid Arrives In Time For Tea

California Governor Jerry Brown again?

He is announcing a statewide run sometime today.

Jerry Brown's liberalism used to nauseate Republicans so much that his pop politics and granola-crunching approach to the universe always seemed to be a joke.

Not anymore.

Then again, this is a different Jerry Brown ... well, maybe.

After tackling the city of Oakland as its mayor and re-ascending as State Attorney General, there is something about Jerry Brown at 71 that comes across as conventional.

CNN reported that Brown will announce a run for governor of California today.

This is a much different Jerry Brown who ran for President, U.S. Senate and served as governor until 1983.

After two terms as mayor of Oakland and now as Attorney General, Brown's political pedigree is varied enough to make this comeback believeable.

Also, Brown always was a populist -- and become a more defined populist over the past ten years.  His choice to return to the other city by the bay lent a more practical and, at times, even conservative face to the liberal who departed from establishment politics in disgust in the 1980s.

Already ahead in the polls, having amassed a war chest of $12 million and looking comfortable in his skin as a 71 year old.  Not bad for a fellow who first won a California gubernatorial race in 1974 at the age of 36.

This run for elected office is bound to fascinate and intrigue both the media and voters, especially if he can connect with tea party members.

Can anyone imagine Jerry Brown not relating to tea party activists?

CNN reported a recent poll from the Public Policy Institute showing the former governor leading his most formidable GOP rival Meg Whitman by about five points, while an more recent Rasmussen poll showed them tied with 43 percent of the vote each. 

New York State Government In Denial: Looking To California For The Next Episode

The Orange County Register provided this editorial about California entitled, State Of Government In Denial.

It could be mistaken for New York.

Do we learn from California's mistakes and fiscal misery -- or do New York State lawmakers secretly have a sado-masochistic edge about fiscal chaos?

New York is about to get worse than California.

"We're watching to see what the size of the deficit will be this spring," Democratic Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said. "Once we know what the number is, we can make more informed choices about how to fill that hole by doing the least amount of harm possible."

Keep in mind that such rhetoric is coming from California's State legislature, not New York.

It also came  after California had alreayd been slammed with a projected $19.8 billion budget shortfall, after a year of fiscal problems and a belief that their state's economy will get better.

New York's fiscal woes haven't started.

New York is already hosting a projected $20 billion plus deficit (not including off-budget public authorities), a year of warnings about pension shortfalls and no sign of the state's economy getting any better.

Want to trade state budgets?

As if New York's budget debacle could get anymore surreal, Democrats are already lobbying to push the state's fiscal year from April 1 to June -- as if that's going to make things better?

Don't forget that Governor Paterson is already articulating that New Yorkers perhaps shouldn't get their tax refunds right away ...

... The Legislative Gazette noted that a lot of special interests will be expecting their money from the next State budget, and rationalizing for all kinds of new taxes.

Ron Deutsch, executive director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, says the budget could be less damaging to the economy if the governor considered the alternatives offered by the better choice campaign.
 
"We need to remember the economic argument. By making these cuts, you're driving up the numbers of those losing jobs and hurting the services those people need," said Deutsch.

In California, there have been a lot of fiscal rainy days this past year.

"Of course, a more prudent way to approach this would be to make necessary cuts today so those relying on the money have time to adjust for tomorrow. If conditions improve, funding could be restored, or bonded debt paid down or even a rainy day reserve added for the next crisis."

Call it California's year of saying "no" but it still doesn't compare to New York's budgetary tsunami.

New York's fiscally tropical climate has been with us for nearly 50 years.  The argument could be made that New York does a slicker job of hiding its off-budget debt.  New York's lawmakers also have no shame about raising taxes.

Does the following sound like California or New York?

"The governor's proposed budget once again is based on accounting gimmicks and hoped-for billions from Washington unlikely to materialize. Meanwhile, the Legislature's unwillingness to make necessary spending cuts and political obstacles to ramming through substantial new taxes will bring lawmakers to a familiar place as summer nears. They are likely to face another multi-billion deficit and miss another constitutional deadline on June 30 for adopting a balanced budget."

Should the Legislative Correspondents Association (LCA) just hold the Orange County Register's editorial for next year's round of budget stories?

The argument for "new" taxes, such as the Metro-North Payroll Tax, for example, has mobilized small business owners and employers throughout lower New York State.

There is only a willingness on the part of most Democrats in Albany to ram through substantial new taxes this year, next year, the year after that and the years after that ...

...  New York in denial?  How about New York in delusion?