Brown moves to regain his groove

17 June 2010 |permalink | email article

The Los Angeles Times, in a striking editorial after the primary election, made the point that Californians must demand more of their candidates for statewide office than simply sloganeering and checklist platforms – real problems, real answers.

Take for example two-term former Democratic governor Jerry Brown who seeks a third term and believes that he had the state on the right track and in the 1970 and 1980s, where the state went wrong after he left office and what he would do to fix it now.

Times columnist George Skelton hit Brown hard the day after the primary, demanding specifics about what he would do to pull California government back from the abyss. His point was direct: put some meat on the bones or get blown away by Republican billionaire Meg Whitman.

A week later Brown struck first, responding to Proposition 14, the open primary measure voters approved last week which is strongly opposed by California’s Republican and Democratic parties. Before the election he had declined to take a position, which permits voters, regardless of party affiliation, to choose any candidate in the primary, with the top two voter-getters advancing to the general election.

Tacking more to the center Brown told the Sacramento Bee that the anti-gridlock measure “may hold some promise so that people can converge in a more moderate prospective.” In 1978, Brown as governor opposed Proposition 13, the voter-approved landmark measure, which limited the growth of property taxes, but quickly turned into a supporter after the election.

During his terms as governor Brown famously supported a canoe theory of politics: row a little to the left, a little to the right and then straight ahead. After an absence of 28 years as governor the wily former state chief executive has reopened his old political tool kit.

Brown also unveiled a plan for clean-energy jobs in the Silicon Valley by building a “California solar energy highway” and placing gleaming solar panels along banks of freeways which would create nearly a half-million jobs.

Brown drew fire from Whitman who is on the opposite side of AB 32, the state’s landmark global-warming law. She has called for a one-year moratorium to allow officials to decide whether it is a threat to job creation. The Mercury News reported that most Silicon Valley leaders have sided with Brown. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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