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Sacramento Bee (California)

January 23, 2014 Thursday

LENGTH: 780 words

HEADLINE: Jerry Brown heralds California 'comeback,' urges caution in State ofthe State speech

BYLINE: David Siders; dsiders@sacbee.com

BODY:

Positioning himself in his State of the State address for a likelyre-election bid this year, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday heralded a California"comeback" marked by budget surpluses and an improving economy.

Yet Brown urged caution in the face of long-term financial challenges, urginglawmakers to "pay down our debts and remember the lessons of history."

"Fiscal discipline is not the enemy of our democracy but its fundamentalpredicate," he told a joint session of the Legislature. "To avoid the mistakesof the past we must spend with great prudence and we must also establish a solidrainy-day fund, locked into the constitution."

Brown, governor before from 1975 to 1983, has not yet said if he will seekre-election, but he is raising millions of dollars for the effort and is widelyexpected to run. His election-year speech was one of the least expansive of histhird term, adhering closely to a message of financial discipline he hascultivated since taking office in 2011.

The speech comes after Brown this month proposed a $154.9 billion spendingplan that includes modest increases for social services and schools, but alsobillions of dollars to address long-term debt.

"This year, Californians have a lot to be proud of," Brown said. "For adecade, budget instability was the order of the day. But three years later,here we are - with state spending and revenues solidly balanced, and more tocome."

More pedestrian in his rhetoric than in other years, Brown produced a playingcard with a chart of past budget deficits on one side and a photograph of hisPembroke Welsh corgi, Sutter, on the other.

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It said, "Bark if you hate deficits!"

The reaction from the Democratic-controlled Legislature was predictablypositive. Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez said "there's great unanimity in thenotion of fiscal responsibility," and when asked if there were any surprises inBrown's speech, he said, "No."

But Brown has been criticized by some Democrats and social service advocateseager for more spending after years of budget cuts in the recession. Sen. EdHernandez, D-West Covina, suggested the potential for tension during budgettalks this year.

"My sense is he's going to take his fiduciary responsibilities very, veryseriously and not expand very many programs," Hernandez said. "I agree that weneed to put money aside, but we also have to look at restoring some servicesthat were cut very heavily in the bad times."

In a speech lasting about 17 minutes, Brown acknowledged the risks of climatechange and a drought emergency he declared last week, as well as billions ofdollars in retiree health care liabilities, infrastructure expenses and future"uncertain costs" of the federal health care overhaul.

Brown gave only passing mention to the public works agenda he has made apriority of his administration, including a $25 billion water plan and $68billion high-speed rail project - both flashpoints for controversy.

Instead Brown recounted legislative accomplishments of his term, including asturdier budget, prison realignment, in which the state shifted responsibilityfor certain offenders to counties, and an education funding overhaul enactedlast year.

The effect was a speech bereft of lyricism that has characterized some ofBrown's previous addresses, in its place a "workmanlike, good job," politicalanalyst Barbara O'Connor said.

"I think his speech was exactly the right tone, acknowledging that he isreally the turnaround king but not making him sound like a cheerleader," shesaid. "You can claim success and take credit without being lofty, and that'skind of what he did."

Two Republicans bidding to unseat Brown immediately criticized the governorfor failing to mention California's nation-high poverty rate in the address.Brown mentioned "struggling families," but only briefly.

"Governor Brown may claim a California comeback, but the truth is that he hasforgotten the millions of California families who are struggling," NeelKashkari, who announced his candidacy Tuesday, said in a prepared statement.

The only other Republican actively campaigning against Brown, Assemblyman TimDonnelly, R-Twin Peaks, said in a prepared statement that Brown "has repeatedlyfailed to address how he intends to get the state back to work and returnprosperity to California."

Republicans have heightened criticism of Brown on the economy since the U.S.Census Bureau reported a California poverty rate of 23.8 percent under acalculation that includes the cost of living.

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Call David Siders, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 321-1215. Follow him on Twitter@davidsiders . Jeremy B. White and Laurel Rosenhall of The Bee Capitol Bureaucontributed to this report.

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Page 3Jerry Brown heralds California 'comeback,' urges caution in State of the State

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