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"This much we know about California's windfall revenues this year: they are one-time in nature, most will go to pay for school programs, and they are fueling a looming showdown between Gov. Jerry Brown and his fellow Democrats in the Legislature.A two-house conference committee meets late this week to try and work out a consensus spending plan between the Assembly and the Senate. But that plan promises to differ from Brown's $96 billion proposal in a significant way.It would spend far more, perhaps as much as $2 billion more, on programs such as dental care and child care for the poor, vocational education, and middle class relief for university expenses. There is pent-up demand for the state to restore spending, especially for health and human services programs, after years of budget cuts.There are merits to some of these proposals. The Democrats are basing their proposal on rosier revenue projections from the Legislative Analyst, who predicts $3.2 billion more in collections than Brown is counting on.In the Assembly, leaders are pushing for a larger rainy day fund in case those projections fall short.That takes us back to Gov. Brown, who has portrayed himself as the man who is trying to save the Democrats from themselves by vowing to veto any plan that includes spending increases.With a two-thirds supermajority in the Legislature, the Democrats could stage the ultimate defiance by pursuing an override of the governor's veto.But that would take the confrontation to a new level, would do the Democrats more harm than good, and is very unlikely. That view is shared by former Gov. Pete Wilson.During a conversation in his downtown Los Angeles office, I asked Wilson to assess whether the Democrats would attempt an override vote.\"I think the chances of their even attempting a veto override are slim. Almost slim to none,\" Wilson said. \"I think that it's highly unlikely that they will try, because it is really nuclear war. And I don't think the public would be on their side, and I think they're probably smart enough to know that.\"Not that Jerry Brown doesn't have first-hand experience with an override. He does. In fact, the last time it happened, Brown was governor in his first go-around.Democrats, irked with Brown, overrode his vetoes of a state worker pay bill and an insurance bill in 1979 -- 34 years ago. That's how rare it is.Wilson defeated Brown in a 1982 U.S. Senate race, and they've had their differences over the years.But Wilson gives Brown credit for being a one-man party of \"No.\"\"He's got good political judgment, I think, in knowing that there has to be a limit. I've said in jest that if Tea Party demons came and seized the governor in the middle of the night and infused him with an irresistible desire to cut spending, he couldn't get it through the Legislature because they are, as he has said, 'a spending machine,'\" Wilson told me.The Democrats are hoping for some targeted restoration of past cuts. But mounting a veto override? It's a political loser.Author Kevin Riggs is an Emmy-winning former political reporter for KCRA-TV. He is now the station's political analyst and Senior Vice President at Randle Communications. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.kcra.com/article/the-riggs-report-nuclear-war-at-the-capitol/6405069>