How about some appreciation for the man as he rides off into the sunset

That man is Jerry Brown.
His 8 years as Governor of California (for a second time) has seen California rise from the disaster that was thirty years of pseudo-Republikkanism. He was able to persuade the voters to support sidelining prop-13, to raise taxes to fund badly needed improvements and to keeping voters from repealing the gas tax. California now has a budget surplus, that the republikkans have promised, if they got in control, to eliminate -- kind of like Georgia Bush II did in 2001 with the national surplus. California is now the 5th largest economy on the planet.

His time as Governor has not been perfect. But given he took over a state that was considered a basket case and ungovernable in 2010, he accomplished quite a lot in 8 years. He was aided by the super-majorities in the state legislature, of that there is no doubt; unlike Gov. Arnold's lack of assistance from the Nordquistan wing of the republikkan party when he was governor; remember when Arnold explained, with visuals, that California could not just keep cutting everything to get out of the budget crisis and the republiks still wouldn't vote for raising any state revenue?

Jerry will leave the state on much better footing than when he took office. The state has a lot to do to get people into affordable housing, protecting its most vulnerable, etc and here's hoping Govelect Newsom has as much success as the man he replaces.

Gov. Brown deserves a lot of respect from people. And if you want proof of his success -- faux spews almost never, never ever mentions anything about him because he has shown that taxes and protections (regulations) are NOT a hindrance to growth