Unlike the online version of a new Bloomberg Business Week article on Jerry Brown?s efforts to return to the California governor?s mansion, the print version supplements its headline with the following:
To cut the deficit, Brown may need to stand up to state unions
Why might that be difficult for the man once dubbed ?Governor Moonbeam?? Look who?s working hardest to get him elected:
The state’s labor unions are worried enough about a potential [Republican Meg] Whitman victory that they’re forming independent committees to raise funds and run Whitman attack ads.
One, the California Working Families 2010 committee, is sponsored in part by the Service Employees International Union, the California Professional Firefighters, and Los Angeles investor Ron Burkle. It hopes to spend at least $30 million to portray Whitman as a heartless job slasher with Wall Street ties who’ll give tax breaks to rich friends.
Recent California political history leaves little room for optimism that public-sector unions can be thwarted.
