I appreciate the SacBee's Dan Walters. He really tries to present the facts and an balanced viewpoint. But sometimes he just lets the Capital vortex off too lightly. This week's example is his piece titled "Even in times of surplus, Brown facing challenges". Forget the headline, Walters probably had no input on that, but when he writes
Brown inherited a whopping budget deficit from predecessor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had inherited one from Gray Davis after the latter was recalled….
Brown recounted fiscal history, indirectly criticizing Davis and Schwarzenegger, as he unveiled a revised 2014-15 budget that raises spending a bit, mostly to cover bigger health and welfare caseloads….
But where is the real fault in the last decade's deficits and spending? Well, who has been in charge? As Walters notes, Brown is "throwing cold water on Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's push for universal prekindergarten". That is like throwing a ladle of water on a bonfire. The Senate and Assembly have been a one-party system for a couple of decades or more and have spent us into the poor house. And Jerry hasn't thrown in the towel on his "crazy train" yet. If we are going to talk about who inherited what, let's at least be accurate about who held the purse strings the whole time.
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