Deukmejian says budget problems should never have happened

The former California governor is retired down in Long Beach, but he's still willing to speak his mind. As he tells Press-Telegram columnist Doug Krikorian:

"The politicians in this state have been unable to say no to the pressure applied by all the special interests groups. That's all they had to do, but wouldn't do it and caved in too often. It's really simple. If you don't live within your means, you're going to go into debt. The same thing applies to the state. If you don't have the money, then funds shouldn't be appropriated. I use a motor vehicle as an example. It has to have a brake to go with the accelerator, or the car won't stop. And, if that happens, there's a serious problem. Well, the same goes with state spending. If there's no brake to stop its acceleration, they'll be a serious problem. Like I said, this all didn't have to happen. All we had to do is live within our means. But we chose not to."

Deukmejian succeeded Jerry Brown as governor in 1983. At the time, the budget deficit was $1.5 billion, nothing like the $25.5 billion that Brown was faced with when he took office. Of course, the entire budget was only $22 billion; now it's more than $85 billion.