Theme for '80

Jerry Brown opposes red ink

The roller coaster of inflation followed by recession is out of control. The time has finally come to balance what we spend with what we produce."

With that declaration, reminiscent of conservative Republican affirmation since the time of Herbert Hoover, California's Democratic Governor Jerry Brown last week sounded a theme for his presidential campaign and joined a growing national movement to balance the federal budget by outlawing deficit spending.

Said Brown in his second-term inaugural address: "It is time to get off the treadmill, to challenge the assumption that more government spending automatically leads to better living." His solution: amend the U.S. Constitution to prohibit the government from spending more each year than its revenues.

Twenty-two state legislatures have already passed resolutions asking Congress to call a Constitutional Convention, the first since the basic law of the land was framed in 1787, to consider the no-deficit amendment. At least twelve states are expected to join the bandwagon by late spring, easily meeting the constitutional requirement that petitions be approved by 34 states. Said Oregon State Senator Jason Boe, president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, which has led the convention campaign: "It's going to come on like a freight train."

The prospect alarms many constitutional experts, who fear that a convention could not be limited to a single issue, thereby creating a sort of open season for tampering with the Constitution. In addition, many experts also oppose writing a flat prohibition on deficits into the Constitution. One reason is that it would holster an important weapon in coping with recession. Moreover, many doubt that a no-deficit amendment is practical. Robert Bork, Yale's conservative law professor and former U.S. Solicitor General in the Nixon Administration, attempted for several months to draft a constitutional amendment that would limit federal spending. He is finally giving up. Said he: "The more I tried, the more I became dubious it would work." If federal revenues fell short of estimates because of economic conditions, he notes, a deficit could occur no matter what the law says. "Who would sue?" asks Bork. "Whom would they sue?"

In any event. Brown seems determined to get out in front of the voters on the issue of deficits, and not repeat his mistake of last year, when Proposition 13 was approved despite his opposition. He also wants to boost his chances for the 1980 Democratic nomination by staking out a conservative economic position from which to attack Jimmy Carter.

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