California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s presidential ambitions couldn’t be more obvious. Faced with a multi-year structural state budget deficit and a litany of pressing public policy issues, the governor has been busy inserting himself into presidential matters while asserting he isn’t.
Newsom
“I think the governor has been focused on wanting another job, so he’s not doing the job that he currently has,” one state Democratic lawmaker reportedly told Politico last week.
Hence, Californians have seen the governor play shell games with the state budget that will come back to bite taxpayers.
As Sen. Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, told Fox News of the budget, “It relies on budget gimmicks, draws down our savings, and saddles future generations with debt.”
And as Sen. Brian Jones of San Diego described it, “They shifted, swept and shuffled money around, stealing it from disabled kids and taking money from a host of necessary services to fund unneeded social experiments and pet projects.”
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That’s by design, because it gives Newsom time to punt the hard questions for now.