Jerry Brown Faces Difficult Choices in New Era

That's the theme at LAT, "Brown Sworn in as California's 39th Governor." And as promised, this is my chance to blast California Über Alles again:

Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. was sworn in as California's 39th governor Monday — 36 years after first taking the same oath — warning of shared sacrifice and hard choices ahead to help the state out of its financial crisis.

Striking a serious tone but with a strong undercurrent of optimism, Brown read, uncharacteristically, from prepared remarks. In a 17-minute address, the Democrat spoke of the coming austerity and of overcoming adversity. But he also said he hoped to restore people's faith in government.

The new governor said the spending plan he is scheduled to unveil next week would include painful cuts.

"The budget I propose will assume that each of us elected to do the people's business will rise above ideology.... It is a tough budget for tough times," he said. "Choices have to be made and difficult decisions taken. At this stage of my life, I have not come here to embrace delay or denial."

He vowed that his spending plan would have "no more smoke and mirrors" and "no more empty promises" — one of three principles Brown said would guide his administration. Reiterating campaign promises, Brown also said he would work to return power to cities and counties and enact "no new taxes unless the people vote for them."

What's not mentioned is California's pension crisis, discussed at the 3:00 minute mark by Matt Welch at the clip below. And of course, the public employees' unions lavished on a big inaugural party to celebrate, although Brown may have tipped his hand a bit, "Jerry Brown's cameos at union fetes may be signal":

Perhaps never in California history has the political symbolism of a hot-dog feed been so closely analyzed.

Two hours after Gov. Jerry Brown was inaugurated Monday, hot dogs became another chapter in his relationship with public employee unions whose support was instrumental to his return to the governor's office - and whose cooperation will be critical to his success dealing with California's $28 billion budget deficit.

The 18,000-member Orange County Employees Association, the county's largest union, threw a free hot-dog party on the Capitol grounds after Brown's swearing-in. Organizers expected Brown to speak briefly at what they dubbed the "People's Inauguration Party."

But Brown and his wife, Anne Gust Brown, bypassed the microphone set up inside the massive tent and instead grabbed dogs and greeted a few of the dozens of people waiting in line for a free sandwich.

Within minutes, the Browns left. There was no speech.

While event organizers tried to put a positive spin on it, some of the people waiting for Brown to speak booed, thinking he blew off the speech to make a point.

See also, "Brown spins through labor reception."

I'm not convinced that Brown's cold shoulder was for nothing more than media consumption. If those hard choices he spoke about during his inauguration speech mean anything then frankly a lion's share of the shared sacrificies will have to be borne by public unions. See Steven Malanga, "The Beholden State."