RSS Feed
Add a Comment
Stay Connected
What's Hot
Angry veterans demand end to disability claims backlog
Oakland may have to spend millions on new police computer system
Suspect Arrested in Connection with Sierra LaMar's Disappearance
Read Mayor Lee's Letter to the Warriors
Rocker with troubled past reaches out to addicts
Brown Slashes Education Secretary, Office of First Lady
Jerry Brown
Staggering under a spiraling budget deficit, Gov. Jerry Brown today eliminated several top administrative posts, including the Office of the First Lady and the Office of the Secretary of Education.
Brown will also forgo several other cabinet positions, namely a cabinet secretary and deputy cabinet secretaries, the Sacramento Bee reports.
The moves are viewed as largely symbolic — they will save the just $13.4 million in the face of a $25 billion budget shortfall. But Brown has said he is doing his part ahead of a budget proposal Monday that is expected to slash spending for education and other core services.
"California is facing a huge deficit and it is necessary to find savings throughout all of government," Brown said in a written statement. "We all have to make cuts and I'm starting with my own office."
Jennifer Gollan covers regional politics and government oversight for The Bay Citizen. She joined the organization from the South Florida Sun Sentinel, where she produced watchdog stories involving 35 local governments and Broward County schools. ...
View Profile
About Us
Reporting Staff
Stay In Touch
- About Us
- Events
- Support Us
- Careers
- Corrections
- Letters to the Editor
- Privacy Policy By accessing this site, you accept our Terms of Use. Please read them.
© The Bay Citizen, 2012
- Katharine MieszkowskiEnvironment and Health
- Reyhan HarmanciArts, culture, nonprofits
- Zusha ElinsonTransportation
- Shoshana WalterCrime and punishment
- Jennifer GollanRegional government
- Aaron GlantzHousing, real estate, development
- Trey BundyEducation
- Matt SmithSF politics and government
- Andy WrightNews and engagement specialist
- Marie McIntoshPublic engagement manager
- Adithya SambamurthyVideo and Photography
Gordon
I Imagine there are many, many excessive administrative positions that need to be eliminated...
Claire Felong
$13.4 million seems more than symbolic for a first week on the job. He shows that he is willing to take the hits where it will make things more difficult for him, as well, setting an example for all to follow. Kudos Governor.
Dr Robert Fettgather
Slashing Pretense
Governor Brown is off to a good start and understand better than most, the power of symbol or metaphor. The Office of the First Lady was reduced to Propoganda Journalism under Maria Shriver-no where more egregious than her Kennedy-esque Nods to California citizens with developmental disabilities, and public and accolades bows with State Council of Developmental Disabilities (SCDD) Director Bittner. After photo ops and ribbon cutting, they slammed the door on many meaningful agenda for CA most vulnerable population. Shriver and The SCDD with tax paid pretense, slammed the door in the face of many grassroots advocates like myself while their Governor slashed the Service Delivery System while creating a Department of Developmental Services that is a tribute to Theater: all money to performing bureaucrats with table scraps to consumers. May Governor Brown and Senator Steinberg give CA citizens with DD a second chance.
The horrendous Decine in the once prestigious CA Education System: k-12; community college; state universities; and the UC system that has crippled an economy that once thrived (see Jerry Brown round 1) disgraces the State and dumbs down the it's citizens. Superintetendent of Public Instruction O Donnell was another mastervif smokevand mirror as his smiling face adorned the CA Gov Website that was a tribute to unprecedented waste in pet projects that were not evidence based. He too, slammed the door in the face (including my own) of academics and advocates who challenged his reign. Good riddance!
And the symbolic slash by Governor Brown to the "Office" of the Secretary of Education is a step forward, I believe to the Governors lifelong commitment to substance over pretense.
Thank you, Honorable Governor Jerry Brown
Robert Fettgather, Ph.D.
Clinical psychologist
Member California Psychological Association, Division on Diversity and Social Justice
Professor, Human Growth and Development