Dan Walters | Will Newsom’s Stunt Politics Backfire?

Dan Walters | Will Newsom’s Stunt Politics Backfire?

During his first governorship a half-century ago, Jerry Brown acquired a reputation for making abrupt changes of position, sometimes contradicting himself. The starkest example occurred in 1978 when Proposition 13, a landmark tax limit measure, was on the ballot. Brown denounced the measure as a “ripoff” before the election, but soon after its overwhelming approval, declared himself a “born-again tax cutter” and sponsored a state income tax cut.…