Jerry Brown ends talks on bipartisan budget deal

The governor, who needs four GOP votes to place a tax extension on the June ballot, says Republicans are unwilling to back tax extensions and are asking for an 'ever-changing list of collateral demands.'

By Shane Goldmacher and Anthony York,
Los Angeles Times
March 30, 2011

Reporting from Sacramento -- Gov. Jerry Brown has abandoned his effort to negotiate a bipartisan budget, charging that Republicans were unwilling to support his plan unless he yielded to "an ever-changing list of collateral demands."

The governor's announcement that he is walking away from the negotiating table, made in a late-afternoon news release Tuesday, further roils the state's finances and marks the biggest setback yet for the 72-year-old Brown. He returned to Sacramento this year for his third term as governor promising that he had the political skills and policy expertise to resolve the state's chronic financial mess.

Earlier in the day, key GOP lawmakers who had been negotiating with the governor declared the talks fruitless.

"We gave it our best. We're very disappointed. It's done," said Sen. Bill Emmerson (R-Hemet).

(More here.)