Gov. Brown Pushes For Special Election To Address Budget Deficit

SACRAMENTO (CBS/AP) -- Gov. Jerry Brown kept up his push for a special election on the state budget Saturday in a quick tour through the territory of Republican lawmakers, who have repeatedly rebuffed him on the method he has chosen to close California's remaining $15.4 billion budget deficit.

Brown spoke for less than two minutes to youths from the California Cadet Corps on its 100th anniversary at the Joint Forces Training Base in Orange County but still managed to bring in budget talk amid his praise for the kids' leadership and sacrifice.

"We're facing a challenge, we had a $26 billion state deficit, we got half of it covered," Brown told hundreds of cadets as they stood at attention on a sunny afternoon. "We're not going to solve the problem, unless people are willing to make the sacrifice. It's not about 'we' and 'me,' but about us, about we the people. That's what the California Cadet Corps stands for, and I salute you."

Brown ended talks with Republicans late last month over the special election that would let voters renew tax hikes, which is essential to his plans to bridge the budget gap. When the talks broke off, he vowed to bring public pressure on GOP lawmakers by selling the election directly to voters, and the Saturday stop followed a similar appearance at a school in Republican Riverside a day earlier.

After his public remarks, Brown addressed Friday night's near-shutdown of the federal government, comparing the circumstances in Sacramento and Washington, and calling the 11th-hour wrangling that brought a deal "pathetic."

"You're not the superpower of the world if you have to stay up half the night trying to make a few decisions over a fraction of your budget," Brown said.

He said President Barack Obama faced "the same problem I do, only worse," with the need for supermajorities to overcome U.S. Senate filibusters level and to raise taxes in California. He said his special election was the way around the problem.

"That is not a very functional way to proceed," he said. "So I'm going to do what I can to enlist the majority of voters in making these tough decisions, about spending and cuts."

Brown is now trying to bring public pressure on GOP lawmakers to call a special election.

Despite repeated resistance, Brown said he will not stop asking for the election and said some Republicans have told him "we want to get there."

"I do think at some point there's going to be some Republican legislators who want to vote on giving the people the right to vote for taxes," the governor said. But he added that he felt many others were hopeless. "Getting some of these Republicans to let the people vote for taxes or cuts is like asking the pope to let Catholics vote on abortion. Highly unlikely."

Messages seeking comment from representatives of Republican leaders were not immediately returned.

The nonpartisan legislative analyst's office has said closing a deficit somewhat smaller than the remaining $15.4 billion shortfall would require cutting nearly $5 billion from K-12 schools, $585 million from community colleges, $1.1 billion from universities and $1.2 billion from health and social services.

Republican state lawmakers have said they want to see cuts to public employee pensions and state spending to help ease California's budget woes. Brown said pensions need to be addressed, but the deficit requires a more immediate solution.

Brown said he envisioned a "federalist-style" civic debate before a referendum on extending tax increases. He said Saturday he would make several more stops to push the plan, but he did not have specifics yet.

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