Journalism professor Marc Cooper wrote an in-depth Pacific Standard magazine cover story about California Governor Jerry Brown and the challenges Brown faces in his quest to balance the state budget.

The analysis was followed by a Q-and-A with Brown in which Cooper drilled the governor with complaints and questions raised by Brown's allies and political enemies.

Brown's responses ranged from the comical: "all I ask is to be greeted with howls of execration on the day of my execution" to the serious: "It’s (the voters') call — if you can give us more revenue, we won’t have to make more cuts. If you can’t give us the revenue, we’ve got to make more cuts. The moment of truth is upon us."

Cooper asked the tough questions on the minds of many California voters: "If people are frustrated by the cuts you have had to make, and the ones you still might make, how do you reconcile spending tens of billions on your big-ticket items, like the state water plan and a high-speed rail system?"

Read the full story to find out.