Sacramento, CA – California Gov. Jerry Brown employed all the tricks he’s accumulated over a lifetime in politics to pass one of the largest state tax increases in recent memory in one frenzied week.
Using a mix of public pressure, private arm-twisting, a late-night meeting at the governor’s mansion and nearly $1 billion of pork, Brown showed the political acumen that’s made him California’s longest-serving chief executive.
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Brown typically prefers to politics in private, but he was a very public campaigner for the deal he negotiated with fellow Democratic leaders. He ventured to Concord and Riverside to pressure undecided legislators from those areas, and he appealed directly to two legislative committees.
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A group of contractors and construction unions flooded the airwaves and social media queues with pleas for support.
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