Jerry Brown delivers his final State of the State address this Thursday, January 25, 2018.
There was a time when I vowed never to vote for Jerry Brown again and I didn’t for several years. I was tired of his chameleon behavior, constantly running for this political position and that and frequently morphing into an entirely different leader with sometimes completely opposite policies in each new position.
But I did vote for him the last two times he ran for Governor and he has served the State of California well as Governor, bringing a common sense, prudent approach to government spending and often reining in a liberal legislature too eager to spend vast sums of money without revising an unstable tax structure.
But Jerry Brown’s bullet train, arguably his effort to match his father’s legacy in building California’s infrastructure, has been a far too ambitious undertaking which may end up being a failure that taints Brown’s record. As well, I wish he had pushed for property tax reform, a sensitive subject as he was on the losing side decades ago when voters adopted Proposition 13. Then, too, he should have been more aggressive in addressing pension reform, another delicate matter that won’t solve itself.
Nonetheless, Jerry Brown made me a supporter and I wish him well going forward.
