Spending
Jerry Brown
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Nov. 4, 2010"I'm going to try to pare down as much as I possibly can," said Brown, speaking to reporters in his Oakland campaign headquarters. "I will engage in a process that will be exhausting, and it will be exhaustive - and it will be inclusive," he added, saying he will talk to labor, business leaders and voters.
Source: San Francisco ChronicleTags: Business, Spending, State workers, Policy or issue position, Promise
Meg Whitman
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Oct. 27, 2010Well, we talked about a lot of the same issues. And he was right. I'm right. We need more jobs here. But here's the difference between me and Governor Schwarzenegger. I am a proven job creator. I have spent 30 years creating jobs, working in the private sector. I bring the real world, common sense experience to Sacramento. Governor Schwarzenegger was an actor and investor, but that's very different from being an operating executive who's accountable for results every single day. So here's what I will do. Very important -- the appointments you make to your administration are absolutely essential. Everyone knows you're only as good as the people you work with. So I'm going to look at the top 300 people in that administration, and they're going to be the right people in the right job with the right skills on the same agenda as the governor and we're going to all march in the same direction. And then you asked about the Democratic legislature. Well, first let me say if Jerry Brown is the next governor of California, a Democratic governor with a Democratically-controlled legislature, you won't recognize California in two or three or four years. So I will provide a check to that legislature and I will also lead that legislature. Like in so many other states, and frankly, in America, the legislature's become a bill factory. Last year, the governor signed into law nearly 700 bills. Greta, some of them were things like how long cow's tails should be, regulating tattoo parlors, renaming highways for disgraced politicians. All those bills -- guess what they come with? ... Spending!
Source: Fox NewsTags: Jobs, Spending, State legislature, State workers, Policy or issue position
Meg Whitman
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Oct. 27, 2010Well, you're right, our state is in big trouble. But we can turn it around. And here's how we're going to do it. We're going to focus on doing a small number of things well. You know, when your house is on fire, you don't worry about the termites in the basement. You fix the things that need to be fixed first and foremost. And we've got to fix the business climate in California. We've got to make it easier for new jobs to be created. So we're going to cut taxes, we're going to streamline regulation and bust the bureaucracy that is strangling businesses. And then we're going to have an economic development team that's going to hang onto jobs here in California. So that will increase the revenue side of the equation. I mean, if we don't put Californians back to work, there is actually no way out of this fiscal mess. And then on the cost side of the equation, we have got to run the government more efficiently and effectively. I've talked about downsizing the government. I've talked about using technology to do more with less. And then perhaps our biggest problem is the public employee pension problem, which is not dissimilar from other states. We have given away lavish pension benefits to the public employee unions. We have to renegotiate those or we're going to run out of money in California. So it's getting Californians back to work and making sure that we have a government we can afford, which we don't right now.
Source: Fox NewsTags: Economy, Spending, State workers, Taxes, Policy or issue position
Meg Whitman
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Oct. 27, 2010Yes. So I call it tough love. The tough part is I'm going to veto things that don't make sense. And let me tell you, there's going to be a lot to veto because the legislature is just ginning things up that don't make a difference. I'm going to focus this legislature on jobs, on cutting wasteful government spending and our education system. Legislation that isn't on point to those three things -- veto. And then how do we make the legislature famous for doing the good work of the people of California? You know, after this election, we're all going to have to be Californians and we're going to have to solve our very real problems. And let me give you an example. So I'm in San Diego today, the home of biotech in California. They lost one of their big research institute's expansion to Florida. We didn't stand up and compete. Big expansion in Orlando, Florida. Governor Bush competed for that expansion, and he won. California lost. We have got to turn that around. And if we're able to hang onto these big companies, then let's make at assemblyperson and state senator famous for holding onto these big companies. I don't need the credit. You know, what I've learned in business over many years, is if you don't care who gets the credit, it's amazing what you can get done. So let's get the incentives ... right for the legislature to do what really matters.
Source: Fox NewsTags: Business, Spending, State legislature, Policy or issue position
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 20, 2010Whatever the case, Brown campaign spokesman Sterling Clifford and Attorney General spokeswoman Christine Gasparac both defended the expenditures as reasonable and conservative. Gasparac noted that in Bill Lockyer’s final full year as attorney general, 2005-06 he had 7.2 press positions and spent $719,000. And in the transition year, 2006-07, when Lockyer was AG for half the time and Brown was AG for the other half, there were 5.8 filled positions and spending was at $650,336. “By looking just at the first full fiscal year when positions were still unfilled, it’s not a fair place to start to compare the numbers,” Gasparac wrote in an email. She goes on to write that “Early in his term, AG Brown’s press office was understaffed and then brought to the current staffing level, which is now at a level deemed to be sufficient for the needs of the office. It’s important to remember that our press office handles all media relations for the entire department (approx. 5000 employees), which includes law enforcement and the Bureaus of Firearms, Gambling Control, Narcotic Enforcement and Investigations and Intelligence, and the work of the department’s 1100 attorneys, as well as the Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse. We get dozens of media inquiries every day on everything from case status to sex offender management, charity registration, gun permits, consumer issues and all types of investigations. The majority of the inquiries have nothing to do with AG Brown. “The two people who were hired in April were replacing press officers who had left the office–one had resigned in November, the other left in December.” She added that “I can affirm that any interview or appearance scheduled through this office was initiated in his official capacity as attorney general. If the topic changed (afterward), that’s beyond our control.”
Source: The Orange County RegisterTags: Campaigns and politics, Spending, Assertion of fact
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 20, 2010Meanwhile, Clifford, the campaign spokesman, said the communications numbers don’t capture the entire picture. “Over the last four years, Jerry Brown cut $231 million from the budget of the DOJ — its clear he’s managing the people’s money carefully,” Clifford said in an email. “To put it in perspective, if your numbers are correct, the DOJ spends .006 percent of its budget on communications. I’d guess that the Governor’s office is much higher. And Frankly, when the Whitman campaign argues that she has to spend $180 million on this race because of Jerry’s near-universal name-ID, it is (ridiculous) to then turn around and argue that he’s using state resources to boost his name ID.”
Source: The Orange County RegisterTags: Campaigns and politics, Spending, Assertion of fact
Meg Whitman
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Oct. 15, 2010On whether she would cut funding for schools, roads, prisons, or police: No. No. We have to manage it better. Let me give you an example, the Bay Bridge. We needed to do seismic repairs for the Bay Bridge. The budget was $1 billion. It came in at $5 billion. In the private sector, if that happened, you would lose your company, you’d lose your job. In Sacramento, everyone just blames the other party. So there’s lots we can do here to run this far more efficiently.
Source: The Caucus (New York Times)Tags: Budget, Spending, Assertion of fact, Policy or issue position
Meg Whitman
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Oct. 13, 2010"Public safety put their lives on the lines for us every day," she said. "Rank and file civil servants, you know, have far safer jobs that are I think very equivalent in many ways to the private sector, and virtually all the private sector now is in 401ks which makes it more affordable. I think what you’re seeing is Californians are very concerned about the very generous pension benefits that we are giving to our government workers."
Source: PolitiCal (Los Angeles Times)Tags: Crime, Spending, State workers, Policy or issue position
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 7, 2010Spending by those union groups to challenge Whitman let Brown conserve his money over the summer for his fall push. "The time to use resources is at the end of the campaign, when everyone is paying attention," Clifford said. "We started at Labor Day, so we still have $22.5 million we're able to spend in the final month."
Source: San Francisco ChronicleTags: Campaigns and politics, Labor, Spending, Assertion of fact
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 6, 2010Sterling Clifford, Brown's spokesman: "The Whitman campaign has reached a point where they've invested an unprecedented amount of money in a campaign style that turns people off, and in a message they don't believe. So it's no surprise that she's throwing things at the wall to see what sticks."
Source: Politics Blog (San Francisco Chronicle)Tags: Campaigns and politics, Spending, Candidate attack
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 5, 2010GQ: Do you think her self-funding is a problem? Brown: It's the same problem. When you're raising money, you've got to listen to a lot of people. So you see a diversity that you wouldn't otherwise see. If you have a billion dollars and just write a check, then all you have to do is make speeches. When you have to raise money, you're on the telephone, you've got to meet people, go to dinners. . .
Source: GQ MagazineTags: Campaigns and politics, Personal life, Spending, Policy or issue position
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 5, 2010GQ: So the bullshit quotient is higher? Brown: Well, the consultants and the manipulation are greater, particularly on the part of the Whitman campaign. She's a completely invented product, that is financed by the greatest sum of money ever spent in California.
Source: GQ MagazineTags: Campaigns and politics, Spending, Candidate attack
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 5, 2010GQ: Is there any way you can compete with her funding? Brown: No. Because there's no limit to what she can spend. If she fills up television, she can do radio. If she fills up radio, she can do mail. If she fills up mail, she can do newspapers. If she fills up newspapers, she can do skywriting. . .
Source: GQ MagazineTags: Campaigns and politics, Spending, Assertion of fact
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 5, 2010GQ: Do you think you should have stopped it (Prop. 13) in 1978? Brown: I should have offered more property-tax relief. But that would have cost the state money. I was too tight-fisted. I'm not a big spender.
Source: GQ MagazineTags: Leadership style, Spending, Assertion of fact
Meg Whitman
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Oct. 4, 2010She reiterated her focus on creating jobs, cutting government spending and improving education and said she would veto bills that weren’t “on point” with those goals — with some exceptions. “I call it tough love,” she said.
Source: San Diego Union-TribuneTags: Education, Jobs, Spending, Policy or issue position
