Brownosaurus Rex and California's Ugly Election (Corrected Font)

[Bennet Kelley]

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Brownosaurus Rex and California's Ugly Election

by Bennet Kelley

While it is premature to declare any winners in the June 8th California primary races, one loser is already evident - the citizens of California. If the election of President Obama was the embodiment of hope, this election is the embodiment of all that is wrong with the state's political process. Instead of "Change You Can Believe In," we face "Continued Decline You Can Count On".

California is the mirror image of Toyota - struggling with uncontrolled deceleration. The once prosperous Golden State that was the envy of the nation for its infrastructure and education system has the third worst unemployment rate in the country; it ranks 40th in overall infrastructure spending while its bridges and dams fall into disrepair and its education system is now compared to Mississippi. Even worse, budget cuts have taken their toll on the jewel in the crown - the state universities that have produced 57 Nobel Prizes and fueled the state's economic growth. Not only is the UC system losing some of its luster as rankings decline, but its intellectual capital as well as top professors look elsewhere.

In years past, especially during hard times such as these, the race to replace a termed out Governor has yielded a spirited primary fight. This year, however, Jerry Brown is virtually unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Term limits now make it difficult for a state Senator or Assemblyman to build up a record of accomplishment and/or name recognition needed to run for Governor. What is even worse is that there is little opportunity for the party's rising stars to build name recognition through lower statewide offices since these have become pre-retirement homes for termed-out members of the old guard such as Brown.

There may have been a time when Jerry Brown was seen as a force for change - but that was 35 years ago when he first took office. The one immediate bright side of the party's restoration of Brownosaurus Rex is that it creates a vacancy and Chris Kelly (no relation), a former Clinton aide and Facebook executive with great promise is coming on strong in the primary for the seat.

On the Republican side, Meg Whitman is adhering to the proven formula of e=mc²(election=mendacity x cash²) by spending nearly $60 million of her own fortune and peddling what George Skelton (the Los Angeles Times Sacramento correspondent) called "blatant baloney". If anyone doubts that California voters could be fooled by such a cynical campaign, I have two words for you - "girlie man".

Far worse are the efforts of Anthem Blue Cross, AIG, BP and Philip Morris working through the "Civil Justice Association" along with other industry PACs to use the same formula to take out the front runner in an open Assembly seat for LAX and nearby beach communities. California Assembly races already are the most expensive in the country as a winner on average must raise nearly $800,000 (more than the average for the bottom 26 states combined), yet industry groups have already spent more than half that amount in the primary alone to smear a single candidate.

The target is Betsy Butler, a Clinton administration alum who has worked tirelessly for environmental and consumer groups and whose endorsement list is the equivalent of who's who in Southern California politics. I know Betsy and she is bright, committed and a force of nature who will get things done in Sacramento -- which is exactly why she is being targeted. It is the John Connor strategy - kill the leader before she becomes one. Welcome to the post McConnell v. FEC world where money talks loudly.

If things are this ugly before the primary, imagine what the fall will be like? As bad as things are, there is still hope.

Maybe a Governor Brownosaurus, seeing how we have allowed his father's legacy to crumble, will motivate Californians to fix our broken political system and tackle these problems. It would be fitting that the final chapter for this political chameleon, who spent much of his career struggling with his father's legacy, would be as its savior.

Maybe this election will serve as a wakeup call and spur efforts towards political reform efforts such as "Calfornia Forward". The reality is, however, is that we can start that reform now by simply rejecting corporate smear campaigns and false promises and choosing principled candidates who can get things done. Until we do, you do not have to be a political Einstein to realize we will continue to be governed by e=mc².

 

[izquierdista]

1. Brown knows what it was like

Before Reagan and Howard Jarvis set California on the road to ruin.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Denigrating Brown is no way to win points for Butler

Jerry Brown is the Democratic candidate. He is the best chance your State has left. Last time your sort decided Jerry was too serious, you let Dukemajian get elected. So go for it, I don't have to live there.

[Bennet Kelley]

6. Response to Brown Worshiping

I am responding here to your comments on the large font version of this article re Brown and Prop 13 and political opportunism. I most likely will vote for Brown in November, but am not enthusiastic about it.

You say that those who did not like Brown paved the way for Gov. Duke, but shouldn't that same logic apply to Brown's failed 1980 race for President since had he not run Kennedy might have pulled off the challenge and Reagan may never had been elected.


"Brown, in the midst of running for re-election, called himself a "born-again tax cutter" and immediately reinvented himself as Prop. 13's champion. (He maintains now that he had to support 13 after its victory because of his oath to defend the state constitution.) Brown went so far as to befriend the legislation's co-sponsor, the anti-tax crusader Howard Jarvis. "It seemed like he went over to Jarvis' house frequently," says Joel Fox, who would later serve as an aide to Jarvis. "Mrs. Jarvis would tell stories about serving lunch to the governor with Howard in his pajamas. Howard voted for him for re-election because Jerry convinced him he would implement Prop. 13 in the right spirit."
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=see_jerry_run_again


Like a good Jesuit, Brown certainly can be flexible. Back in 1978, for example, he worked against Howard Jarvis' Proposition 13, which capped real estate taxes. But once the measure was passed, Brown embraced it as his own. Indeed, he was so enthusiastic about the tax-cutting measure that Jarvis actually voted for Brown's re-election late that same year. A month after the vote a Los Angeles Times poll revealed most Californians thought Brown actually supported 13.
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/08/jerry-brown-governor-california-opinions-columnists-joel-kotkin.html

Jerry was the mirror of the society in the mid-1970s,” Mr. Lorenz wrote. “He was giving us, the voters, what he thought we wanted. And he was usually correct in his estimates. Even in November 1976, almost two years after he had succeeded to the governorship, he was scoring a 78 percent approval rating in the California Poll, a level of popularity unprecedented in California history. If we didn’t like what we saw, we had only ourselves to hold accountable. We were looking at our own reflection in the mirror. If we wanted Jerry to cut out the reliance on symbols, he would oblige. If we wanted him to pay more attention to black people, he would do so. He had no commitment one way or another. He didn’t care. The sole concern he had was expressing the popular will successfully enough to be re-elected govern
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-02-26/article/32354?headline=Undercurrents-Here-Comes-Jerry-Brown-to-Push-California-Over-the-Brink

QUOTES ABOUT BROWN (MANY BY FORMER ALLIES)
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jerry_Brown

* That man is like 500 pounds of Jello.
o Willie Brown, former Speaker of the California State Assembly, former Mayor of San Francisco
o The San Francisco Chronicle, unspecified article/page, 6 July 1976

* is the most self-serving, inept politician that I have ever met in my 35 years in politics.
o John Burton, former President Pro Tem of the California State Senate
o Los Angeles Times, unspecified article/page, 17 November 1990

* He is by an order of magnitude the most self-absorbed politician I have ever dealt with.
o John Emerson, Brown counsel in 1982 U.S. Senate race
o New York Times, unspecified article/page, 2 April 1992

* I do not believe he believes what he is saying.
o John Emerson, New York Times, unspecified article/page, 2 April 1992

* Jerry has given hypocrisy a bad name.
o Mickey Kantor, manager of Brown's 1976 Presidential and 1982 U.S. Senate campaigns
o Los Angeles Times, unspecified article/page, 17 March 1992

* Jerry has no political or ideological anchor.
o Mickey Kantor
o New York Times, unspecified article/page, 30 March 1992

* Oftentimes Jerry will run for an office and not want to do the things that are part of that office.
o Richard Katz, former State Assemblyman
o New York Times, unspecified article/page, 2 April 1992

* He's totally into power.
o Richard Maullin, Brown's campaign finance director for 1974 Gubernatorial campaign
o The San Francisco Chronicle, unspecified article/page, 24 March 1992

* The governor is the worst administrator ever to come down the pike.
o Lou Papan, former State Assemblyman
o The Sacramento Union, unspecified article/page, 26 December 1982

* He's very ambitious and will do anything to be in power.
o Stanley Sheinbaum, former Brown appointee to the University of California Regents
o New York Times 2 April 1992

* I don't know who Jerry Brown is anymore. There's been so many evolvements.
o Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party
o The Sacramento Bee, unspecified article/page, 28 March 1998

* I don't like to talk about Jerry Brown. I don't like him.
o Carmen Warshaw, former Democratic National Committee member
o New York Times, unspecified article/page, 2 April 1992

* I don't think Jerry Brown is committed to anything but Jerry Brown.
o Shirley Wechsler, former Vice President of Americans for Democratic Action
o Penthouse, unspecified article/page, October 1979

[msongs]

3. California elections and propositions are 100% owned by criminal corporations nt

[Ozymanithrax]

4. Short of revoking prop 13, or having another California Constitutional Convention...

there is no way off the road to ruin.

Brown will be a better adminstrator on that road than the alternative.

[pscot]

5. What makes the governorship worth

$50-million to somebody like Whitman?