California's Gov. Gavin Newsom has inherited a steaming load of financial scandals from Jerry Brown regarding high-speed rail and the Oroville Dam. Gavin Newsom is the first Democrat California governor to follow a sitting Democrat governor in over a century.  Newsom campaigned as an ally of Gov. Jerry Brown by trumpeting how Brown eight years earlier had overcome a crisis projected by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office to included a $6.4-billion current budget deficit, a $19-billion deficit for the following year, and another five years of $20-billion-plus deficits. Newsom praised Brown for using tax increases and spending cuts to dig out of a severe budget crises.  But since his November election, the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, and Sacramento Bee have reported that the 51-year-old Newsom is distancing himself from the 80-year-old Brown's image as the voice of...(Read Full Post)