Brown Taps Deep Political Skills To Sell Budget
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Gov. Jerry Brown promised plenty of pain in his budget plan for California.
Beyond $12 billion in spending cuts, he wants to ask voters in a special election to extend increases in the sales, income and vehicle taxes.
Republicans and anti-tax groups already are dismissing his plan to extend the tax hikes for five years.
But the Democratic governor is unlikely to cede his proposal to the hyper partisanship that permeates the Capitol. Brown will marshal the skills he's amassed over a lifetime in politics to sell the plan.
He's already launched the kind of sales pitch unseen during seven years of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- meeting with the GOP and Democratic caucuses in each house.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
