In a brief exchange with Capital Public Radio after he taped a pair of interviews for the public radio show Marketplace, the governor stopped short of saying he'd veto a budget that contains gimmicks instead of spending cuts.

Brown: "I want to use my - choose my words carefully."

But Brown says he didn't run for governor "to continue the same evasions and gimmickry" as in the past - and with a $16 billion deficit, he says he doesn't want to "kick the can down the road."

Brown: "This budget is going to have to embody some very serious and drastic cuts that many people don't want to make.  But as governor, I'm gonna be signing a budget that contains those cuts."

Afterwards, he implied the pressure is on legislative Democrats.  He held up a pen and pointed out that any California budget needs his signature.

You can hear more from Brown on Thursday's Marketplace Morning Report and the afternoon Marketplace.