<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Dear Greens Friends, <br>
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Interesting "Blowback" article posted on the Los Angeles Times Web Site today charging Democratic Governor Jerry Brown with being partly to blame for California's property tax mess. Brown, the "New Democrat" Democrat of his day, was an opportunist exploiting the post-Watergate "anti-Gummint" mood to help whip up the "No New Taxes" mob when California had budget surpluses in the 1970s. It shows what kind of crazy political world we are living in that none other than, of all people, Republican Gov. Ronald Reagan, beat back that reckless mob in 1972. <br>
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I knew much of this story, but was unfamiliar with the nuances about Jerry Brown. This is *MORE DAMNING EVIDENCE* that the Great California Crackup is a *BI-PARTISAN* disaster. Today, it's not "politically correct" for any "serious" candidate for public office in California to criticize even the most obvious flaws in Prop 13. <br>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><i><b>From
the Los Angeles Times</b></i></font></font></div>
<h4 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><b>Blowback</b></font></font></h4>
<h1 class="western" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 16pt;" size="4"><b>Don't
Give Jerry Brown a Third Term</b></font></font></h1>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><b>His
failure to stop Prop. 13 from passing plunged California into the
economic chaos that still afflicts the state.</b></font></font></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><b>By
Jackson K. Putnam</b></font></font><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><br>
<br>
</font></font><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><b>February
9, 2009</b></font></font><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><br>
<br>
California
Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's candidacy for governor -- detailed in the
Feb. 2 Times article "<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-brown2-2009feb02%2C0%2C4860907.story?track=ntothtml">35
years later, Jerry Brown runs for governor again</a>" -- should
give voters the following alert: If you like the fiscal straight
jacket and economic chaos that have afflicted California since 1978
when the Proposition 13 era began, then vote for Brown in 2010. After
all, he was singly the most responsible for the passage of the
anti-property-tax law responsible for the state's never-ending budget
malaise.<br>
<br>
When Gov. Ronald Reagan was confronted with nearly
identical anti-tax efforts in 1968 and 1972 (the so-called Watson
amendments), he allied with Democratic Assembly speakers Jesse M.
Unruh and Bob Moretti to defeat the measures. By noting that the
massive loss to the state of property-tax revenues would force
equally massive increases in sales and income taxes to balance the
state budget, they induced voters to snow the measures under both
times.</font></font></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2">Read More at: <br>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-putnam9-2009feb09,0,2148954.story"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font style="font-size: 11pt;" size="2"><b>http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-putnam9-2009feb09,0,2148954.story</b></font></font></a></div>
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