Brown offers sobering message in short inaugural address

The new governor says the budget he'll present next week will be painful but honest. "The plan represents my best understanding of our real dilemmas and possibilities," Brown said this morning. "It is a tough budget for tough times." From the LAT:

"The year ahead will demand courage and sacrifice," the governor said, in a speech that lasted 18 minutes. "The budget I propose will assume that each of us elected to do the people's business will rise above ideology. ... There is no other way forward. We need to learn to work together as Californians first, members of political party second." He vowed that the spending plan he was to unveil next week would have "no more smoke and mirrors" and "no more empty promises." He also repeated his promise that any taxes proposed would have to be approved by voters.

Photo: AP