Harman Slams Brown on Reform, Taxes

As the back-and-forth between Gov. Jerry Brown and California legislators over spending cuts and tax hikes grows increasingly testy, State Sen. Tom Harman issued a statement last week accusing Brown of abandoning previous negotiations.

"The governor abruptly walked away from all negotiations in March and declared them over," said Harman, whose district includes Fountain Valley. "For him to say there was any possibility at that time for meaningful reform would make him a revisionist. Public employee labor unions stood firmly opposed to any pension reform or spending cap and the Governor declared negotiations over."

Senate Repubicans held a press conference last week to address Brown's claims that the people's right to vote on proposed tax extensions. Republicans have consistently touted regulatory and pension reform as a better solution to the state's budget deficit, and Brown issued a statement after the press conference claiming that such reform could have been attained in March.

"Those aren’t their reforms," said Gil Duran, Brown's press secretary, in a radio interview Thursday. "They aren’t smart enough to write reforms. They don’t know the first thing about the details of reforms. We have to do the work. Those are our reforms"

Harman was part of a small group of GOP legislators involved in previous negotiations with Brown and conceded that Brown was willing to agree to spending cuts, but that his overall approach wasn't acceptable.

"Yes, the governor has been consistent with his view of solving the budget deficit—roughly $10 billion in spending cuts and more than $50 billion (over five years) in new taxes," Harman said. "Hardly a balanced approach to those of us opposed to increasing taxes on hard-working Californians. Republicans have also been consistent with what is needed to address the state’s budget problems: a spending cap, pension reform and regulatory reform that would bring much-needed jobs back to our state."

As Brown continues to hammer the state's Republicans for their refusal to put tax extensions on the ballot, some GOP lawmakers, including Harman, are doing their best to turn the tables, suggesting that their proposed reforms but put on the ballot instead.

"California is in a crisis, and the governor is unable to convince legislative Democrats to support these necessary reforms," Harman said. "Rather than pointing fingers and revising history, the governor should acknowledge his party’s refusal to let the people of California have their voices heard on a package of reforms. Unfortunately, this institution is so deeply flawed that special interests continue to undermine good public policy. The people of California are being ignored, and I firmly believe that they should have a voice in their own state government. It seems to me the Democrats are afraid of what the public will say.”