SACRAMENTO, June 16  (Digital Press International) — Gov. Jerry Brown today vetoed a state budget passed by the California legislature, saying it didn’t go far enough in fixing the state’s yawning structural financial problems.

And in reader-reply newsrooms everywhere, including NYTimes.com, the 73-year-old Brown was feted as a kind of folk hero, facing up what are widely viewed as California’s self-serving political parties. “Way to go Jerry!” wrote one reportedly originating in San Francisco, and echoing a widely held sentiment. “Stick to your guns.”

Added another: “A Democrat complaining about papering over a deficit, using questionable accounting techniques, and adding billions in spending? Wonders will never cease. Surely a sign of the apocalypse…”

Many comments suggested that President Obama could learn “a thing or two” from Brown’s veto, widely seen as not only as a repudiation of GOP legislators, who have refused to raise taxes, but fellow Democrats who’ve been largely unwilling to address long-term public-sector obligations, now projected in the hundreds of billions in California alone.

Another reader, reportedly originating from Palo Alto, CA: “Good for Jerry Brown. He didn’t let the Democrats or the Republicans off the hook. Now maybe the legislators will be forced to deal with the structural problems in California’s budget, instead of kicking the can down the road as they have for the last several years.”

Of course, some readers saw a double-standard in all the sudden accolades for Brown:  “If a Republican campaigns or does this he / she is a horrible monster who wants to starve granny and junior.
If a Democrat does this he is brave. Go figure.”

( Digital Press International )