Bingo jts!! Hundreds(?) of pages of talking head crap I've read and you just provided the correct, workable interpretation, which I haven't seen anywhere else.

(But then religion was the second poorly chosen word.)

( . . . maybe he can't use your phrasing because it (the second sentence, second paragraph) would be translated in the press as "higher taxes." or maybe he wasn't going to highlight that aspect in Marin County.)