CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR FACE OFF IN DEBATE: BROWN VS. WHITMAN TUESDAY AT 6 P.M.

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September 27, 2010 (San Diego) – The first of three televised debates between California gubernatorial candidates Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman will be aired Tuesday night at 6 p.m. on Channel 7/39 KNSD locally.

 

Whitman, former CEO of E-Bay, has spent over $119 million of her own money, breaking the nation’s record for most funds poured into a race by any candidate. Brown, California's former Governor and current Attorney General, has relied on grassroots support but has been outspent by his wealthy opponent.

 

Now voters will have an opportunity to hear directly from both candidates—without the filtering of political advisors or scripted TV ads. The Sacramento Bee has provided a pre-debate analysis of each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses.

 

Brown, a veteran debater, has in-depth knowledge of state government. Whitman lacks government experience but is a skilled public speaker. Whitman “must show she is gubernatorial—something more than a billionaire, self-funded candidate” while Brown needs to “demonstrate he is modern, his ideas relevant today,” according to the Bee’s analysis.
 

 

The debate will be held at the University of California, Davis.


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Comments

"grassroot support"

I have different understanding of grassroot that A.G Brown reffers to his campain donations and supporters.
His largest donations comming from almighty UNIONS that have spent millions of dollars for Brown in ads. The trial lawyers with some of sum of six figures.
It is extremely difficult to picture that J.Brown has any meaningful grassroot connections.
How could that be possible!? He grow up in a governer mansion from his father.
Never held a Private Job to see how difficult it is to survive.
He was born and grew up in government and NEVER EXPLORED OUTSIDE OF GOVERNMENT TO SEE HOW IS THE OUTSIDE WORLD?
FOR GOD SAKE IS THERE ANYONE CAN EXPLAINE WHY IS HE RUNNING AGAINE AFTER 41 YEARS OF POLITICS. HE CLAIMS HE LIVES IN AN APARTMENT IS THIS TRUE?
HAS HE DONATED TO HIS CAMPAIGNE MULTI MILLIONS OF DOLLARS? DOES HE LIVE IN MULTI STORY HOUSE IN OAKLAND HILLS?
HOW MANY GOV.EMPLOYEES ARE MAKING MORE THAN 100,000 OR 200,000.00 DOLLARS IN OAKLANDS WHERE HE WAS MAYOR.
DO YOU KNOW HIS LARGEST DONATIONS CAME FROM OAKLANDS?
HAVE YOU HEARD THE U-TUBE CLIPS WHAT PRESIDENT SAID ABOUT MR.BROWN?
DO YOU KNOW MR.BROWN INDULGED HIMSELF INTO GLAMOROUSE LIFE BEING SINGLE TILL AGE 68 AND BEING WITH THOSE CELB. ACTRESS..DOES CHARACTER COUNTS?
DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES HE RAN FOR PRESIDENCY AND SENATE? ARE AWARE OF THE RESULT OF IT?
DO YOU KNOW WHY HE STILL CONTINUE TO RUN FROM ONE GOV. OFFICE TO OTHERS?
DO YOU KNOW HIS WIFE IS 20 YEARS YOUNGER THAN HIM?
PLEASE REPLY IF YOU WISH MORE FACTS ABOUT HIM.
I DO NOT SEE A GRASSROOT PERSON IN MR. BROWN. I AM CONFIDENT THERE ARE LOTS OF SPECIAL INTERETS SURRONDING HIM, PARTICULARLY UNOINS THAT JUST THIS YEAR 3.9 BILLIONS OF DOLLARS NEEDS TO FUNDED FOR THEIR PENSION AND 42 BILLIONS IS UNDERFUNDED.
DO YOU THINK HE IS GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT?
DO YOU THINK CA WILL SURVIVE WITH BROWN BEING GOVERNER?
IT IS NOT THAT HARD TO REACH THE CONCLUSION.
HIS OPPONENT IN MANY AREA JUST OPPOSITE.

WHITMAN IS ONE OF the 8 MOST SUCCESSFUL WOMEN IN THE WORLD SO FAR.HER HUSBAND IS A NEUROSURGEON AT STANDFORD WITH TWO GREAT CHILDREN THEY RAISED.
YES CHARACTER COUNTS.
PRESIDENT CLINTON CALLED MR.BROWN ON ONE OF THOSE DEBATE" YOU ARE NOT ON THE SAME PLATFORM AS MY WIFE." WHEN HE ACCUSED HER..
PRESIDENT CLINTON DID NOT SUPPORT HIM IN HIS PREVIOUS RUNS FOR GOV. OFFICE AND AT THE BEGGING WAS SUPPORTING GALVIN NEWSOME THE S.F MAYOR WHO WAS RUNNING AGAINST BROWN.

Here's a chart of Brown donations:

He has taken donations from close to 4,000 different individual donors, including many small donations, as well as larger donations from unions (as you noted); True, unions can be considered special interests, though they are representing many individual workers.  Whitman by contrast got money from less than a thousand individual donors, mostly wealthy folks giving high levels, including many corporate executives. Scroll down at this link tee chart:  http://www.neontommy.com/news/2010/09/majority-brown-donations-came-his-hometown

 

It's not true that Brown had only public sector jobs, though he has spent most of his life in government positions.  Brown didwork in some private sector jobs.  He was a lawyer in L.A. with Tuttle & Taylor. Also in the late 1960s, he organized migrant workers.  In 1969, he ran for the newly created Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees, his first public position. He went on to become Governor, Attorney General and Mayor of Oakland, among other positions.

 

It's true that he was the son of former Gov. Pat Brown and was raised in comfort, if not luxury. However when Jerry Brown was governor, he opted to save taxpayers money by living frugallly in an apartment instead of the governor's mansion, walking to work and packing a sack lunch. I worked in Sacramento at that time and often saw him walking through the capitol park to work.  In another famous story, he tried to save the state money by refusing to sit for an official portrait, believing such things a waste of money.  An artist donated an abstract portrait of Brown and submitted it without his approval, according to a Capitol Tour guide; and it hangs in Sacramento to this day as one of the more controversial reminders of his eccentric streak. If elected, it will be interested to see if he'll allow a more conventional portrait to be done!

He has also experienceddeprivation/poverty to some extent having spent time in a Jesuit monastary where at one time he studied to be a priest.

It's true that he dated singer Linda Rondstadt and perhaps other well-known women in his single days, and married late in life. Of course if we rule out public officials who dated celebrities, then Ronald Reagan, who married actress Jane Wyman, would never have been elected Governor or President!

Although his views on environmental issues earned him a reputation as a liberal in those areas and the derisive nickname "Governor Moonbeam"; some might say Brown was 30 years ahead of his time, since goals he called for back then are what even many moderates and Republicans today consider common sense solutions ie more solar energy, less dependendence on foreign oil, and limiting offshore drilling due to the danger of oil spills such as Santa Barbara had experienced then and New Orleans more recently.

He was actually considered a fiscal conservative by many. The American Conservative noted he was "much more of a fiscal conservative than Governor Reagan."His fiscal restraint resulted in one of the biggest budget surpluses in state history He drew ire from some Democrats for refusing to campaign against Prop 13, which passed during his time as Governor. In this election, he has stated repeatedly that he will not support any new taxes, unless the people vote for them by ballot initiative.  

When I worked in the Capitol, Brown has a reputation as an intelligent person who would carefully weigh both sides of an issue before making his decision, a factor that sometimes caused consternation among both supporters and opponents in both parties.  While working in the capitol I have personally met him and sat in on some meetings between Brown and key legislators, and can personally attest that he seemed quite thoughtful and deliberative, listening to their ideas and suggestions, if not always following them.  

On area where he's become more conservative through the years is on law and order issues; he took a lot of heat as Governor for his appointment of Rose Byrd as Supreme Court Justice. As Mayor of Oakland he represented a liberal urban city and succeeded in reducing the crime rate. By the time he became CA Attorney General, he took quite a few far-from-liberal stances, most recently opposing Prop 19, the marijuana initiative. He supported common sense reform such as Chelsea's Law.  

He was known as a very strong supporter of education, the arts, and working people.  Under his reign, California developed its strong system of public colleges and universities that were then affordable to all--and primary schools that tested among the best in the entire nation.

I am not certain on the pension issue, would have to research that, but I think you're right on the pensions being implemented on his watch, but if so he has apparently come to the conclusion that they are unsustainable. He is now calling for pension reforms: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/23/local/la-me-brown-pensions-20100723.  Specifically he wants employees to contribute more to their pensions and raise retirement age for new hires.

He did run for President, and did not fare particularly well as he was tagged with the "Governor moonbeam" nickname and was up against opponents who were better known at the national level.

As for character, Brown has never been accused of infidelity that I know of, unlike Newsom who reportedly had an affair with his wife's friend. I'm not sure that I'd put much stock in Clinton endorsing Newsom in a primary; there was some bad blood because of Brown not supporting Hilary in a presidential primary, as I recall.  Clinton has now endorsed Brown, however, and they are traveling the state together campaigning--though whether that's a benefit or not remains to be seen, as Clinton remains popular with some and criticized by others including for his own improprieties.