Wilson Vetoes Measure Saving Brown’s State Finance Panel
In a move that will silence the only independent critique of his Administration’s state tax revenue projections, Gov. Pete Wilson on Friday vetoed legislation that would have extended the life of the bipartisan Commission on State Finance.
Wilson earlier this year used his line-item veto to eliminate most of the $710,000 budget of the commission, which is chaired by state Treasurer Kathleen Brown, a Democrat who is expected to try to challenge the Republican governor in next year’s election.
In response, Brown sponsored legislation that would have kept the commission alive by giving it the authority to charge her office and private entities for the research and reports that it prepares. Brown suggested that Wilson was trying to kill the five-member panel because it sometimes disputes his Finance Department’s budget and revenue projections.
Brown issued a statement Friday calling Wilson’s veto “cynical, shortsighted and irresponsible.”
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