|
 It is a policy tussle that could ultimately benefit both sides, as
Brown, criticized as too liberal during a 1970s-era stint as
governor, burnishes his image as a moderate and legislative leaders
play to their progressive base.
In recent weeks, progressive Democrats have won an expansion of
subsidized healthcare for low-income undocumented immigrant
children, eliminated religious exemptions for school vaccinations,
and persuaded Brown to spend nearly a billion dollars more on higher
education and social programs than he had intended.
But they have also had to back down from efforts to restore services
to the disabled, legalize assisted suicide, and, perhaps most
significantly, get Brown to more broadly expand state spending.
"It hasn't necessarily been easy," said Assembly Speaker Toni
Atkins, a Democrat from San Diego. "We need to be pragmatic about
what we are able to do."
Democrats dominate electoral politics in California, holding large
majorities in both houses of the legislature and all statewide
offices.
But the party's progressive wing has been frustrated in recent years
as economic and political trends, along with Brown's strong will and
veto pen, pushed the state more toward the center.
 The 2008 recession and ensuing economic meltdown hit California
hard, and when Brown took office in 2011 the state faced an 18-month
budget gap of $25 billion. He righted state finances through a
combination of new temporary taxes and fiscal caution, including
support for a ballot initiative enshrining a rainy-day fund in the
state constitution.
Additionally, a new method for selecting candidates led to the
election of moderate Democrats in some relatively conservative
Assembly districts, leading that body farther to the right.
By late last year, frustration among many in the party's liberal
base had begun to boil over.
Activists demanded that the state restore funding cut during the
recession for the disabled, the mentally ill and the poor. Gun
control advocates railed at Brown's 2013 and 2014 vetoes of several
firearms bills.
Frustrated, then-Senate leader Darrell Steinberg pushed for prison
reform, mental health services, universal preschool and gun control,
winning modest battles as Brown continued to hold the line on
spending.
SPENDING SHOWDOWN
The governor similarly demanded restraint in spending this year,
saying state finances were cyclical and could soon change for the
worse. But last month, lawmakers defied him, passing a budget that
called for $2 billion more in spending than Brown supported.
They soon backed down, but Brown did shift some spending priorities,
directing about $780 million more than originally planned to higher
education, childcare and other programs championed by Atkins and
Senate leader Kevin de Leon, who succeeded Steinberg last October.
[to top of second column] |
Buoyed in part by the state's resurgent economy, Atkins and de Leon
also lobbied Brown for a new tax credit for low-income Californians,
which the governor included in his mid-year budget proposal in May.
"The issue is not what set of leaders are more progressive than the
other," said de Leon, who represents Los Angeles. "Circumstances
like having the budget in the black provide the opportunity for
leadership to be more aggressive in support of these really critical
issues to support the human condition."
Among causes he has championed this year are fighting climate change
and expanding rights for unauthorized immigrants, both issues also
supported by Brown.
Meanwhile, Atkins has successfully pushed for affordable housing
programs, and lobbied the governor on their importance.
The price of some of that progress has been willingness to go along
with Brown's more conservative views on other matters. Issues like a
moratorium on hydraulic fracturing or tighter gun control laws
aren't on the table this year, said Pete Woiwode, an organizer with
the anti-poverty coalition California Partnership.
"The governor is toeing a more conservative line than the people of
California elected him to do, and the legislature has not found
their footing to trust what California really needs and put an
agenda on his desk," Woiwode said.
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst with the University of
Southern California, said that winning a few and losing a few works
well for legislative leaders and the governor, all of whom are
playing to their political bases.
"They can say, 'We tried, but gee that governor is tough,'" Bebitch
Jeffe said, referring to Atkins and de Leon. "And Jerry Brown comes
out looking like the skinflint he loves to look like."
"It's a win-win situation for both."
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Andrew Hay)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
