California's Competing Tax-Hike Measures Face Trouble

Voters have reason to doubt that officials are trustworthy custodians of ... anything

First came a competing save-our-schools ballot initiative, backed by a wealthy lawyer who proved more persistent than Gov. Jerry Brown had hoped. Then came a summer of minor financial embarrassments that handed Mr. Brown's opponents a narrative to use against him.

Now comes a nagging question: Against that backdrop, is Mr. Brown's $8-billion-a-year proposed tax increase in trouble?