The anticipated speech by Gov. Jerry Brown left the pundits asking for more. His brief oral presentation lasted only 18 mins, with about 3 minutes of an introductory story about sitting at one of his dad's speeches in 1959, when he,Jerry, was a Jesuit seminarian.
His topic stayed in the main on the economy and how it has improved just over the last year. Since he will run for reelection in November, he was not offering any significant changes over the next 12 months.
His bullet points included: the recently declared Drought Emergency Declaration which affects all parts of the state; the effect of voters approving a tax increase(for the wealthiest residents); an increase in school funding with increased local control; an anticipated creation of another 1 million jobs to bring down lingering unemployment; and a promotion of good things currently happening in education-significant research at UCSF, UC San Diego, Stanford, and UC Berkeley; business- expansion of Silicon Valley and its creation of jobs and research opportunities.
Today was also the day that Neal Karkasian, former head of George Bush's TARP program, announced he will seek the Governor's office. The 40 year old is a political neophyte but has some recognition beyond his academic credentials.
Jerry Brown also mentioned climate change and its affect on the state and its citizens and how much California is ahead of the rest of the country in dealing with necessary reductions in fossil fuel use.
Thank you Mr. Brown for not mentioning all the "new' Fees imposed on taxpayers to plump up the state coffers. As an example of insidious new "fees", one must pay a lumber 'fee' when purchasing a board at the Depot; one must pay a "fee" for a paint container at the paint store; and the fire prevention "fee" to the Tax Board if your real property is outside of an incorporated jurisdiction in the state($150/ann),please.
So, the new taxes aren't just on the wealthy, sir. Thank you, very much for the nice words. Now, go home.
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