Risk Professional: changes in California as Arnie folds his tent

It may well turn out to be a sign: on the day Jerry Brown took office and told Californians that yet more cuts in services and increases in taxes and other charges will be necessary, in the north of the state, heavy snow rendered highways impassible and side roads impossible.

Brown is no media-shy office bod. He has worked the media relentlessly as he has brought more and more cases to a conclusion - negotiated or through the courts - even after his win in the elections.

Brown has had this job before - almost 30 years ago. In the meantime, four others including Gray (not a spelling mistake) Davis and Arnie have filled the job, these two with varying degrees of hope being abandoned by all who enter the state. Or so it is portrayed. Davis' term ended in ignomy as he was "recalled" (impeached) as the Californian economy fell apart and the state couldn't afford to pay its electricity bills. That was just a year after he had won his second term, albeit by the slimmest of margins. He was succeeded by fellow Democrat Schwarzenegger who, by March this year, had become just as unpopular.

Things were made worse by the seemingly endless revelations that Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver, was photographed or filmed committing some kind of minor (and sometimes not so minor) traffic offences. But when you are married to The Terminator and related to the nearest thing the USA has to royalty (The Kennedy family: she is JFK's niece) then parking on a fire hydrant marking or phoning while driving is not something the authorities are likely to take action over.

There is a co-incidence in Brown's return to the Governor's seat: when he took it last time, it was from former actor Ronald Reagan. And it is also a homecoming for another reason: Brown's father, Pat (they actually share the same names: Edmund Gerald Brown), was governor from 1959 to 1967. Interestingly, both Browns have presided over periods of relative peace and prosperity in the state.

That is what the people of California hope for. Already one of the highest taxed regimes in the world (when federal taxes are added to local taxes), Californians simply cannot understand where the tax collected goes. It is a huge economy: if California were a country, it would be in the world's top 20. And yet it has huge social problems, high unemployment, a far-above-average crime rate and state debt that has, for a decade, threatened to sink it.

Brown is surprisingly old: in action he is energetic and forthright and shows no sign of slowing down - but he's 73 years old that the job is much tougher than being attorney general was. Whether he has more than one term in office remains to be seen but there is little doubt that a single term is not going to turn California around.

Brown is cautious with the state's money: he eschews much of the trappings that showman Arnie revelled in. That modesty is part of the reason, it is said, that his presidential bid against Dubya Bush came to an early end. It is also said to be in part because his campaign did not raise the money for large scale advertising, leading Brown to a much lower profile campaign relying on public access TV and the like.

But in his battle for the governorship of California late last year, that parsimony appears to have paid off. Meg Whitman who has made shed loads of loot in tech. companies tossed much of it into her attempt to beat Brown. Some said that she wanted to job to boost her standing for a head-to-head battle with Sara Palin for the presidential election after next. But while Brown spent not much, his supporters paid plenty with some sources adding up the various contributions to a little under USD32 million.

This morning, as the threat of service cuts and increased taxes sinks in, Californians must be wishing that the candidates had simply put that money into the state budget instead of spending in on getting a job that's not even very well paid.

According to ballotpedia.com the current salary is USD212,179 per annum. Arnie did not claim his salary but whether Brown is paid (in recognition that he uses much less State resources and therefore runs a much cheaper administration) remains to be seen. Arnie's position gave him some credibility when he tried to reduce the pay of many state workers to minimum pay and also cut hours to try to stave of total fiscal collapse.