PolitiCal Roundup: Fatter pensions, Jerry Brown’s birthday, Brown vs. Cuomo

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Local governments in California continued to fatten pension benefits for employees even as the economy faltered, a report says. It’s contributed to a serious problem. Barring miraculous circumstances, ‘no government entity ... will be able to absorb the blow without severe cuts to services,’ the researchers conclude.

An L.A. Times editorial notes the similarities between budget battles at the federal level and those being waged in Sacramento.

‘Both Democrats are the sons of legendary former governors. Both were their state’s attorney general and came to office this year vowing to get persistent budget deficits under control.’ That’s Businessweek’s take on Jerry Brown and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who offer many points of comparison. But Cuomo has something Brown doesn’t: Lots of executive power.

Not all government news these days is about retreat. Closing the vast gap in health between whites and minorities in this country becomes a new stated goal of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.

Gov. Jerry Brown turned 73 this week. He will soon be the state’s oldest governor after Frank Merriam, who left office in 1939. Brown had a chocolate cake and proclaimed himself ‘not that old.’

-- Jill Leovy