Green Party of California attacks latest billion-dollar budget cuts to poor, and elderly; Governor's action called 'unconscionable' and lacking 'guts'
GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS RELEASE
SACRAMENTO (Mar 24, 2011) - The Green Party of California attacked Gov. Brown's slashing more than $11 billion from the state budget late Thursday, calling the actions avoidable if only the Governor and the Legislature had "guts."
Brown signed legislation approving higher community college fees, eliminating Adult Day Health Care, and cutting monies from welfare-to-work grants and First5 childhood development funds.
"The governor calls these cuts 'painful,' but he's not the one trying to take care of a young child, or a frail, aging senior, or trying to pay for an education at a community college," said Laura Wells, 2010 Green Party candidate for Governor of California. "These cuts are unconscionable."
"The governor said he 'had to do something,' so then why didn't he and lawmakers have the guts to find a way to tax the very wealthy and corporations who pay no tax in this state?" asked Wells. "There are ways to do this, but they must have the will to do so."
Wells called the budget cuts a "tax the poor scheme, and said "while prison budgets are being protected, the opportunities of the young for a better education are cut."
"Since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, California budget allocations have slighted education. This is true at the preschool and K-12 grade levels, and in the area of higher education as well. We will never have a quality educational system until we provide adequate funding," she said.
"People have a growing sense of their own power as they witness ordinary people - many of them young - take down an Egyptian dictator. They are inspired by people in Wisconsin. People are beginning to see through statements by lawmakers such as Gov. Brown who claim 'there are no alternatives,' because there are," said Wells.
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Contacts:
Laura Wells, Spokesperson, 510.504.4254,
Derek Iversen, Spokesperson, 323.481.8984,
Cres Vellucci, Press Secretary, 916.996.9170,
The Green Party of California
PO Box 2828
Sacramento, CA 95812
Phone: (916) 448-3437
Web: http://www.cagreens.org
EMail: