It’s the job of a governor to play adult supervisor and not give adolescent state legislators all the spending money they’d like. Otherwise, they’d break the family bank. All modern California governors have performed this role, often in different ways and frequently with relish.

Many, especially Republicans, have loved to use their “blue pencil,” striking individual spending items from the annual state budget before signing it. That’s a potent power California governors enjoy that U.S. presidents don’t even have. Gov. Ronald Reagan cherished the “line item veto” and often lamented not possessing the tool as president. Gov. Gavin Newsom, however, hardly ever picks up his blue pencil.

He barely touches a spending plan before signing what he’s sent by the Democratic-controlled Legislature. That’s because he and legislative leaders already have negotiated the final version of the budget before lawmakers pass it. Then what Newsom does to slow spending by lawmakers is to emulate his predecessor, Gov. Jerry Brown.

He vetoes lots of spending bills that legislators pass after the budget is enacted. It’s in legislators’ DNA to try to squeeze more dollars out of the state kitty after there’s already a spending plan in place for the year. “They’re always asking for more,” Brown once said. “There’s no natural limit.

There’s no predator for this species of budgetary activity except the governor.” Lawmakers — Democrats, anyway — counter that it’s their constitutional right to keep dipping into the pot. “Many of my colleagues have important issues they’re trying to tackle on behalf of their constituents and they have costs,” Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) told me. “Just as the governor has the right to veto bills, it is the Legislature’s right to send him bills as part of our democratic process.” But Newsom’s admonition to legislators — implanted in veto messages on dozens of spending bills he recently rejected — is that if they want to tap into the state vault, they’d better follow a protocol.

They need to seek approval through the annual budget process that’s supposed to end on June 30. Otherwise, spending veers out of control. This was Newsom’s basic boilerplate lecture that he tucked into spending vetoes: “We enacted a budget that closed a shortfall of more than $30 billion through balanced solutions that avoided deep program cuts… “This year, however, the Legislature sent me bills outside of this budget process that, if all enacted, would add nearly $19 billion of unaccounted costs in the budget… “With our state facing continuing economic risks and revenue uncertainty, it is important to remain disciplined.”

It was a strong message. But a little humor now and then wouldn’t have hurt. Previous governors showed some occasional wit in their bill signing or veto messages.

In inking a bill to legalize the stuffing and display of dead mountain lions, Brown wrote: “This presumably important bill earned overwhelming support by both Republicans and Democrats. If only that same energetic bipartisan spirit could be applied to creating clean energy jobs and ending tax laws that send jobs out of state.” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used a vulgar acrostic to veto a bill by an assemblyman who had heckled the Republican governor when he crashed a Democratic fundraiser.

The second line of the message began with the letter “F” and lines six through eight started with the letters “y,” “o” and “u.” Gov. Pete Wilson enjoyed vetoing a bill that called for a state study of how best to dispose of discarded fluorescent light tubes. “Question: How many new legislative bills does it take to study the disposal of light bulbs?” Wilson wrote. “Answer: One less than you think.” Newsom recently signed 890 bills and vetoed 156 — a mediocre veto rate of 15%. In 2008, Schwarzenegger vetoed a record 35% of the bills lawmakers sent him, calling it collateral damage for them being 85 days late passing a budget. That was when budgets required a two-thirds legislative vote.

In 2011, it was lowered to a simple majority. That year, tightwad Brown vetoed the entire budget. He complained it added billions of dollars in new debt to already red ink spending. It’s the only time an entire spending plan has been vetoed. Regardless of Newsom’s tough veto message — and his restriction on when spending can be approved — he’s hardly a piker.

In his less than five years as governor, state spending has jumped by 53% — more than $100 billion, from the $203-billion budget Brown left him to $311 billion currently. The governor’s office would not provide a total amount of spending that Newsom vetoed. His boilerplate language was used in 64 vetoes. Neither would his spokespeople elaborate on the governor’s veto messages.

Was it just about saving money? Or was that sometimes merely a cover for blocking policy he disliked?. “Just about every bill that is on the governor’s desk has some cost to it,” says Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Philip Ting (D-San Francisco). “Most of the time the governor has a reason other than the spending [for a veto]. Sometimes he gives the budget excuse.” One example: He vetoed a bill requiring high schools to provide free condoms for students.

Was that just because of the “unfunded mandate” he cited? Or does the father of four children also question the policy? Another: He vetoed a measure that would have provided unemployment insurance benefits for striking union members. He said the unemployment fund was already $20 billion in debt. But did he also think it was nuts to subsidize strikers who voluntarily walk off their jobs? He vetoed a lot of spending bills that amounted to pocket change. And he was right.

Once there’s an agreed-upon budget, lawmakers shouldn’t squeeze taxpayers for more money except in a dire emergency.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Like Reagan, Schwarzenegger and Brown, Newsom uses veto pen to rein in spending by California lawmakers appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The Republican Party will hold a presidential candidate debate at the Ronald Reagan library Wednesday. It’s a bad fit. The GOP’s modern idol is exactly the opposite of Reagan in personality and character. For upbeat Reagan, America was a “shining city on the hill.” For whining Donald Trump, it’s a waste bin for venom and lies.

Reagan’s soaring rhetoric made people feel good about themselves. There was “always a bright dawn ahead” — “Morning in America.” Yes, maybe that was a tad naive and corny, but it brought a collective smile — and won over many Democrats. Trump spews hate — hate of immigrants and of Democrats. He demonizes his critics. He incites riots and insurrection.

Reagan truly liked people. Trump merely uses them. But there’s a large hardcore of Republican voters who worship the guy, even if GOP leaders fear he’ll again drag the party down to defeat next year. He’s polling far ahead of his closest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. As Times Washington reporter David Lauter recently wrote, “barring some sudden, dramatic event, the die is pretty much cast” for former President Trump to win his third straight GOP nomination and face President Biden in next year’s election. Having covered Reagan up close for 20 years as a candidate, California governor and 40th president, I can’t believe he would support Trump even if he were the GOP standard bearer. Oh, he conceivably might whisper something about supporting the party ticket. But I very much doubt that in private he’d vote for Trump.

Reagan had no respect for blowhards and egomanics, regardless of party. He would have shuddered at Trump’s caustic rhetoric. The Gipper used tough words — “Tear down this wall,” “Evil empire” — but was always dignified and gracious, especially in public. Trump comes off as a childish bully who needs anger management. “Ronald Reagan could throw a political punch, but he did it with courtesy, with humor,” former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger once told a gathering at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. One example was when he gently jabbed President Carter in 1980: “Anyone who says he likes cold showers will lie about other things too.” “Reagan would have never called people stupid even if he thought they were,” George Steffes, his legislative lobbyist in Sacramento, once told me.

Unlike Trump, Reagan also would never have questioned whether the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was a war hero after being captured by the North Vietnamese and held prisoner for more than five years. Reagan idolized McCain’s military service. Reagan was a true believer in conservative principles. Trump’s a con man. But Reagan was no knee-jerk ideologue.

He often governed as a moderate, especially in Sacramento — sometimes compromising with Democrats to achieve half a loaf, other times because that’s what he believed. On the environment, Reagan was practically a liberal as governor.

He once led a pack train into the High Sierra to declare the spectacular John Muir Trail and Minaret Summit, south of Yosemite, off-limits to federal highway builders. Although hostile to intrusive, centralized government, Reagan helped create a bi-state agency with Nevada to control growth at pristine Lake Tahoe. To preserve a Native American burial site and protect wild trout, respectively, he blocked dam building on the Eel and Feather rivers. And he signed legislation creating the California Air Resources Board, leading to the nation’s first tailpipe emissions standards. On taxes, Reagan raised and lowered them to fit the government’s revenue needs — both as governor and president.

As president, he signed legislation granting amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants. Could Reagan have won the Republican presidential nomination in today’s polarized, ultraconservative, uncompromising GOP? Many think not.

Too suspiciously centrist. He’d be considered a dreaded RINO — Republican in name only. I disagree. Reagan could win in any era with his personality, optimism, character, authenticity and rhetorical skills. He was a rarity. “Obviously the training he had as an actor gave him an advantage. And he had that velvet radio voice that melted people,” says Ken Khachigian, Reagan’s main speech writer on many occasions. “If he got in trouble, he’d start telling stories about Ginger Rogers or Bob Hope to take the edge off things.

Other candidates have no way to match that skill.” Reagan didn’t skip candidate debates. Trump’s about to duck his second in a row. “He always liked to debate,” recalls his career-long political guru, Stu Spencer. He usually rose to the occasion, delivering precision remarks remembered to this day: “There you go again.” “I am paying for this microphone.” “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” His one shellacking was by Democratic nominee Walter Mondale in the first debate of the 1984 campaign.

Reagan sounded too old and out of it. But Reagan recovered with a legendary age quip in the second debate that pretty much sealed his reelection: “I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Even Mondale laughed. Can anyone recall much of what the current GOP candidates said in their first debate? “There’s nobody in the field Reagan would be wild about,” Spencer told me.

With the exception of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the GOP candidates are afraid of being honest about Trump for fear of alienating his loyal voter base — and him. Reagan called on his party to offer voters “a cause to believe in — raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors.” He symbolized bold colors. This Republican candidate group paints itself in pastels.

These presidential aspirants should tour the Reagan library while they’re there. They might learn something about courage and boldness.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various author’s articles on this Opinion piece or elsewhere online or in the newspaper where we have articles with the header “COLUMN/EDITORIAL & OPINION” do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or official policies of the Publisher, Editor, Reporters or anybody else in the Staff of the Hemet and San Jacinto Chronicle Newspaper.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

The post Column: Reagan gave Americans hope. Trump offers venom and lies appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.