Brown's Countdown, Day 69: Opposition is slap of reality for governor
Published: Saturday, Mar. 19, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
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As the Legislature took up the budget Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown planted himself in a room off the Assembly floor, working over lawmakers one by one.
It was "just the process," he said, announcing on his way in that he had "just picked up another vote."
For a governor who has been in private budget talks for weeks, it was hardly out of character. But it also wasn't how Brown had hoped it might be when he talked about budget negotiations last year.
There was to be a "civic dialogue," he said after his election, a bipartisan effort to achieve more than "what the governor can muscle (lawmakers) into doing by a vote or two."
That Brown is now doing precisely that – so far with little success – suggests reality is setting in. Less than three months into his third term, budget talks are unfolding privately and Brown is counting votes.
"There's what you hope for and then there's what you settle for," said Jack Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. "I think he had a hope that he would give it a shot. But you don't get to be that old and that experienced and expect that the world works that way."
Brown has said he did not underestimate Republican resistance to extending tax increases on income, vehicles and sales, a central part of his budget proposal.
Confronting a $26.6 billion budget deficit, the third-term governor thought last year that he could "forge a consensus" on a spending plan.
But by now he has been so totally rebuffed by GOP lawmakers he will consider it a victory if he can pick off just two Republican votes in each house, the minimum required to move his tax measure forward.
Brown lacks even that support. Moreover, when the Senate and Assembly passed the state's main budget bill Thursday – putting off Brown's proposals to eliminate redevelopment agencies and to extend taxes – Brown managed not one Republican vote.
"Even Jerry Brown, with all that experience, still didn't comprehend how fiercely partisan that Legislature is," said Allan Hoffenblum, a former GOP strategist who tracks elections.
Brown failed to broker a compromise by his self-imposed deadline, March 10, and if he is unable to reach a deal soon he may miss his opportunity to put taxes on a June ballot.
His frustration began to show this week: In increasingly severe remarks about Republicans, Brown criticized "the more extreme elements of the Republican Party," and after budget votes Wednesday said, "There's some plan that the more things they derail, the better."
He always said a budget resolution would be difficult, but it didn't seem so wearisome the way Brown pictured it last year.
"If I could, I'd put up one of these boards in the Assembly and the Senate chamber and I'd say, 'OK, Mr. Republican, you want to get rid of welfare. OK, maybe that will save you $1.3 billion,' " he said. "You go to the Democrats, you want an oil severance (tax), that will be about $1.3 billion. Well now, do we have any more suggestions? Maybe you get 50 of them. Now what's realistic, how are we going to get it, how do we get there?"
Brown held public budget forums before he took office, met with lawmakers and testified before a legislative budget committee, likely the first time a sitting governor has done so since at least the 1960s.
His engagement in the process, more than was exhibited by his predecessor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, approaches the "civic dialogue" Brown promised, said Jeff Cummins, a political science professor at California State University, Fresno.
But regarding negotiations on specific proposals, including taxes, and on any counter-proposals he is making to Republicans, including about pension changes, Brown is unwilling even to say with whom he is meeting.
"These are confidential communications," he said, "and people want to talk to me in confidence."
One of the lawmakers with whom Brown talked on Wednesday was Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge. Portantino initially opposed Brown's redevelopment proposal, and he argued with Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, D-Los Angeles, on the Assembly floor.
Portantino voted for the bill after meeting with Brown.
"The governor's rolled up his sleeves," Portantino said the next day. He said Brown is "broadening the conversation," involving rank-and-file lawmakers in negotiations that previously were done almost exclusively by the governor and legislative leaders.
"Here's a governor who desperately wants a bipartisan solution to the state's budget," Portantino said.
Brown was in the Bay Area on Friday but planned to be in Sacramento this weekend.
His office said budget talks are continuing.
As the Legislature took up the budget Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown planted himself in a room off the Assembly floor, working over lawmakers one by one.
It was "just the process," he said, announcing on his way in that he had "just picked up another vote."
For a governor who has been in private budget talks for weeks, it was hardly out of character. But it also wasn't how Brown had hoped it might be when he talked about budget negotiations last year.
There was to be a "civic dialogue," he said after his election, a bipartisan effort to achieve more than "what the governor can muscle (lawmakers) into doing by a vote or two."
That Brown is now doing precisely that – so far with little success – suggests reality is setting in. Less than three months into his third term, budget talks are unfolding privately and Brown is counting votes.
"There's what you hope for and then there's what you settle for," said Jack Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. "I think he had a hope that he would give it a shot. But you don't get to be that old and that experienced and expect that the world works that way."
Brown has said he did not underestimate Republican resistance to extending tax increases on income, vehicles and sales, a central part of his budget proposal.
Confronting a $26.6 billion budget deficit, the third-term governor thought last year that he could "forge a consensus" on a spending plan.
But by now he has been so totally rebuffed by GOP lawmakers he will consider it a victory if he can pick off just two Republican votes in each house, the minimum required to move his tax measure forward.
Brown lacks even that support. Moreover, when the Senate and Assembly passed the state's main budget bill Thursday – putting off Brown's proposals to eliminate redevelopment agencies and to extend taxes – Brown managed not one Republican vote.
"Even Jerry Brown, with all that experience, still didn't comprehend how fiercely partisan that Legislature is," said Allan Hoffenblum, a former GOP strategist who tracks elections.
Brown failed to broker a compromise by his self-imposed deadline, March 10, and if he is unable to reach a deal soon he may miss his opportunity to put taxes on a June ballot.
His frustration began to show this week: In increasingly severe remarks about Republicans, Brown criticized "the more extreme elements of the Republican Party," and after budget votes Wednesday said, "There's some plan that the more things they derail, the better."
He always said a budget resolution would be difficult, but it didn't seem so wearisome the way Brown pictured it last year.
"If I could, I'd put up one of these boards in the Assembly and the Senate chamber and I'd say, 'OK, Mr. Republican, you want to get rid of welfare. OK, maybe that will save you $1.3 billion,' " he said. "You go to the Democrats, you want an oil severance (tax), that will be about $1.3 billion. Well now, do we have any more suggestions? Maybe you get 50 of them. Now what's realistic, how are we going to get it, how do we get there?"
Brown held public budget forums before he took office, met with lawmakers and testified before a legislative budget committee, likely the first time a sitting governor has done so since at least the 1960s.
His engagement in the process, more than was exhibited by his predecessor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, approaches the "civic dialogue" Brown promised, said Jeff Cummins, a political science professor at California State University, Fresno.
But regarding negotiations on specific proposals, including taxes, and on any counter-proposals he is making to Republicans, including about pension changes, Brown is unwilling even to say with whom he is meeting.
"These are confidential communications," he said, "and people want to talk to me in confidence."
One of the lawmakers with whom Brown talked on Wednesday was Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge. Portantino initially opposed Brown's redevelopment proposal, and he argued with Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, D-Los Angeles, on the Assembly floor.
Portantino voted for the bill after meeting with Brown.
"The governor's rolled up his sleeves," Portantino said the next day. He said Brown is "broadening the conversation," involving rank-and-file lawmakers in negotiations that previously were done almost exclusively by the governor and legislative leaders.
"Here's a governor who desperately wants a bipartisan solution to the state's budget," Portantino said.
Brown was in the Bay Area on Friday but planned to be in Sacramento this weekend.
His office said budget talks are continuing.
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