Columnist: Watch How Jerry Brown Spends, Not What He Says

Columnist George Skelton of the Los Angeles Times makes an interesting observation about California Governor Jerry Brown and his new budget: while the governor talks “like a skinflint, a penny-pinching scold,” his spending priorities are liberal, and even radical.

The introduction to Governor Brown’s budget, Skelton quips, “could have been written by Bernie Sanders, if not Depression-era Socialist Upton Sinclair, the losing 1934 Democratic candidate for governor who ran on the slogan ‘End Poverty in California.'”

Skelton adds:

There are only a handful of states where a governor could get away with boasting on Page 1 of the budget that he was spending tax dollars for healthcare of immigrants living here illegally, even if they are children. Not that it isn’t a good idea — beats paying for expensive emergency room care when they get sick — but it would draw howls most places.

He also notes that Brown has increased funding for public education — without indicating whether past spending has been effective in any way. And he adds that Brown has funded the state’s lawsuits against the Trump administration, among other left-wing priorities.

Brown’s vaunted fiscal conservatism is only credible, Skelton implies, because he is more responsible relative to other Democrats. His message of belt-tightening unravels when it comes to the California High-speed Rail Authority, hist pet project, which is over budget and behind schedule (not to mention of dubious economic and environmental value).

Still, Brown was once again “playing the role of wise adult as he stood before reporters unveiling a revised budget proposal for next fiscal year,” warning of the consequences of future recessions on California’s fiscus.

Skelton concludes: “he does keep a thumb on spending in this lefty state.”

Whether that will prove to have been enough to save California from its massive debts and liabilities, with taxation near its limits, only time will tell.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.