Budget battles spin out of control in Wisconsin and other statehouses, while professional conservatives from Washington, D.C., demand adherence to their vision of anti-tax purity.

Republican legislators pledge never to vote for anything that smacks of a tax, and Southern California radio windbags bully politicians who hesitate to pile into the anti-tax bandwagon.

In this coarsening partisan scene, California's septuagenarian governor took the extraordinary step of entering the legislators' lair the other day, and engaging in a civil conversation about this state's never-ending budget crisis.

"When you folks say, 'No, no vote, no plan, no,' that is not America," Jerry Brown told legislators. "It is not acceptable, and it is not loyalty to California."

Brown, once derided as a guy who beamed down from the moon, has become one of the few adults left standing on the public stage.

He arrived in the legislative hearing room without a script, as is his wont. But he knew what he wanted to accomplish.

Fellow Democrats need to make deeper cuts to close the $26.6 billion deficit, he told them, and Republicans must vote to place before voters his proposal to extend $9 billion in taxes that will expire later this year.

If the tax plan fails, Brown warned, he will answer with an all-cuts budget that will erase the deficit. Every state service would face reductions. Not that we should suspend skepticism, but Brown certainly seems serious.

"I don't want to be here for four years, and play games," Brown told the joint Assembly-Senate budget conference committee. "We've got to meet the moment of truth now. I would ask that all of you help me in that process."

Some lawmakers will help. Many won't.

With the mid-March deadline approaching to place the tax-extension measure on the June ballot, 30 Republican legislators cemented their refusal to budge on taxes by announcing last week that they had formed a "taxpayers' caucus."

Two Southern California shock jocks, as part of their anti-politician and anti-tax shtick, railed against pols who failed to join the "taxpayers' caucus," and oh-so-cleverly posted on their website photos of noncompliant Republican legislators' heads on stakes.

California Republican Party vice chairman Jon Fleischman played the story prominently on his website, FlashReport, and promised to use his well-read blog to whack the dozen Republicans who didn't join.

Most Republican lawmakers already have signed no-tax pledges pushed by Grover Norquist, founder of the anti-tax Americans for Tax Reform, a tax-exempt corporation in Washington, D.C.

Norquist, who uses Fleischman as his California enforcer, decrees that Republicans would be breaching the pledge by voting to place Brown's tax package before voters.

Norquist didn't deign to return my call, understandable given that I write for a mere California newspaper. But he did talk to the New York Times' Adam Nagourney for a story last week, saying:

"I think it's extremely unlikely and I'd be very disappointed – my feelings will be hurt – if these people break their word to the people of California. The people of California will crush them if they break their promise."

Yes, we all should feel crushed if poor Grover's feelings are hurt.

Former presidential candidate Brown understands ambition. Sure, legislators take risks by taking stands. But maybe they should grow some spine, as Brown urged:

"America is facing a real challenge, the trillions of deficits, over-extension all over the world. Where is the leadership? All they do is fight over who is going to be the next congressmen, the next president, the next senator.

"I have played the games you all play. I'm telling you time is running out for California and this country if politicians just keep squabbling all the time. You've got to get out of your comfort zone."

Brown needs Republican support to place the tax package measure on the ballot and directed most of his comments at the legislative hearing to Republicans.

When Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, complained that Democratic legislators weren't cutting enough, Brown urged: "If you can find some better (cuts), then come on down. I'll be glad to talk about it."

When Assemblywoman Diane Harkey of Orange County asked for "some pension reform, some regulatory relief," Brown urged horse-trading, a quaint concept.

"This is your chance to make (Democrats) do something they don't to do. You have to step up and do something you don't want to do," Brown said.

"We can't go there," Harkey said, keeping true to her anti-tax pledge.

Brown's appearance did leave an impression with one Republican, Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, who like Brown is an adult.

Nielsen won legislative office first in 1978, when Brown was in his second term as governor. Nielsen and Brown don't agree on many policy issues. But Nielsen remembers a time before pledges and shock jocks.

"Many who come to positions of leadership in this building," Nielsen told Brown, "tend to become very imperial and imperious, and get caught up in the trappings of power. You clearly, by your example, have not done that. …

"It is a gesture of working together and comity that is all too rare in society. I take this example that you have set as a challenge for all of us."

Some Capitol denizens dismissed Brown's appearance as a stunt. Some saw it as a sign of desperation. They were right. But given the situation, there's nothing wrong with feeling a little bit desperate about the state of California.

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