Gov. Jerry Brown visits UCSC to urge a yes vote on Proposition 30
With just over a week to go until the election, and the fate of Proposition 30 at stake, Gov. Jerry Brown stopped by UC Santa Cruz this morning, Friday, Oct. 26, to urge UCSC students to vote yes on the ballot measure. Brown’s dog, a Pembroke Welsh corgi named Sutter Brown, is meanwhile making campaign appearances elsewhere in the state.
Prop. 30 is Gov. Brown’s way of asking voters to approve temporary increases in sales tax and income taxes on top earners in order to avoid $6 billion in cuts to public education. The cuts will be automatically triggered if Prop. 30 does not pass.
UC schools would have to make $250 million in budget reductions this year and $125 million next year if the proposition doesn’t pass at the ballot box on Nov. 6. UCSC has already seen a 35 percent budget reduction over the last four years. Students, faculty and alumni—as well as many community members, including several Santa Cruz City Council candidates—crowded into the school’s Quarry Plaza to hear the governor speak. Upon taking the podium, he pointed to the towering redwoods above. “I like standing under the redwoods,” he said, “They’re soaring. They’re strong. I don’t know how the hell they keep going up, but that’s what I want for UC Santa Cruz.”
In his brief, fiery speech, he painted Prop. 30 as a simple, straightforward measure. “It’s money into our schools, or money out—it’s that simple,” he said. “When you vote for 30, you know exactly what you’re going to get.” In response to opponents’ complaint that the proposition is an unfair tax burden on Californians, he said that the sales tax increase will be small (a penny on a $4 purchase was his example), and the brunt of the impact will be felt by those “at the top of the economic pyramid.”
Santa Cruz’s assemblyman, Bill Monning, took the stage after Gov. Brown, and implored students to take Prop. 30 personally. “There is no vote you have to make that is more tied to your own self interest,” he said, adding that it will translate directly into tuition cost, quality of education, and other tangible results. “This vote is about the future of California,” he concluded.
For more on Prop. 30, read this (http://gtweekly.com/index.php/santa-cruz-news/santa-cruz-local-news/4219-whats-at-stake.html) recent GT article, and be sure to check back next week for the GT Election Issue.
PHOTOS BY KEANA PARKER.
