(AUDIO) Jerry Brown's bankrupt Calif. cities catch up with him

◼ In February of 2012, California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, declared to me at a National Governors Association meeting in Washington that California was not having bankruptcy problems and that he had not ceded too much to the California teachers’ unions. - Kerry Picket/Washington Times ◼ Follow @kerrypicket

Similarly employing President Obama’s 'blame the last guy in office' technique, Brown pointed to former Republican Governor Arnold Shwarzenegger for the fiscal crisis California finds itself in, but he made no mention of the state's Democratic led legislature. Both chambers have been in Democratic hands since 1970, except during the 1995-1996 year, when the Assembly was led by Republicans.

“I reduced the deficit that was left to me by a Republican governor from 26 billion to 9 billion. I have a plan to reduce it to zero. I’m working on it,” said Brown.

When I asked if California was having bankruptcy issues he said, “No, that’s not true. We’re going far. We’re doing quite well.”

Brown’s spokesman Gil Duran interrupted asking, “How about asking a question that’s based on truth?”

Six months later, California became the home of three cities: San Bernadino, Mammoth Lakes, and Stockton that are filing for bankruptcy. The S&P cautioned that it could very well reverse the positive rating it gave to California in February if the budget that Brown recently signed is not solid in the eyes of Standard and Poors. It should be noted even after that upgrade in February, California still has the lowest S&P credit rating of all 50 states.

In fact, the Sacramento Bee reported that a Pew study found that California has had the worse credit rating record in the entire country for past 11 years and highest rating California achieved during that period was amid Shwarzenegger's administration. The lowest rating occurred in 2003 during the state's budget crisis and Gov. Gray Davis's term... Audio and More at the link.