Celebrating Prop. 30 win, Jerry Brown vows to hold line on spending

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After scoring a major victory with the passage of Proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Brown said Wednesday he would temper impulses at the state Capitol to ramp up spending with billions of dollars more coming into California’s coffers.

‘Now we have more revenue, but that revenue will be used prudently and judiciously,’ he said. ‘And I don’t underestimate the struggle over the next several years to keep on a very calm, clear and sustainable glide path.’

Speaking to reporters in Sacramento, the governor said Tuesday’s election result was not a mandate for profligate spending.

RESULTS: California election | National election

‘I think the real lesson here is that voters have trusted the elected representatives, maybe even trusted me to some extent, and now we’ve got to meet that trust. But we’ve got to make sure over the next few years that we pay our bills, we invest in the right programs, but we don’t go on any spending binges like we did in the days when we had the dot-com boom.’

When asked how he would maintain that discipline, Brown cited a mantra he recited every night before bed while studying at a Zen monastery in Japan in the 1980s.

‘Desires are endless,’ he said. ‘I vow to cut them down.’

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-- Anthony York in Sacramento

Photo: Gov. Jerry Brown walks off the stage after a news conference at the Capitol in Sacramento on Wednesday. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times