The New, Older Jerry Brown 

 

The Younger Jerry Brown

On January 06, 1975, Jerry Brown was sworn in as Governor of the State of California for the first time.  He was 36 years old, the sixth youngest person to serve as Governor in California, succeeding the popular two-term governor, Ronald Reagan. 

 

History of California Water Project

http://www.water.ca.gov/swp/history.cfm

Pat Brown

http://www.patbrowninstitute.org/

 

On election day, Edmund G. ‘Jerry’ Brown defeated his opponent, Republican candidate Houston Flournoy, 50 to 47 percent. The remaining 3 percent of votes were cast for the Peace and Freedom Party, and the American Independent Party. 

 

Jerry Brown’s education was varied. He graduated from Catholic high school and attended Santa Clara University. He spent some time in Jesuit Seminary studying to become a priest, but had a different calling.  He left the seminary to enroll UC Berkeley. Brown then completed his formal education at Yale law school.

 

After graduating from Yale Law School in 1964, Brown returned to California and passed the bar.  In 1969, after practicing law for several years, he began his career in politics running for the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees.  In 1970, after serving for a year on the board, he ran for and was elected California’s Secretary of State.

 

Brown has served in a number of State and Local political offices - his career in politics includes the aforementioned time as Secretary of State of California, then election as Governor of California (two terms), Mayor of Oakland (two terms) and Attorney General.  His current third term as Governor began last month.

 

 

Public Offices Held by Jerry Brown

Office	Years Served	Served From	Served Until	Next Office
Board Member of LA CC District	2 Years	1969	1971	Sec of State
Secretary of State of California	4 Years	1971	1975	Governor
Governor of State of California	8 Years	1975	1983 (2 terms)	Out of Public Office
Mayor of City of Oakland, CA	8 Years	1999	2007 (2 terms)	Attorney General
Attorney General of California	4 Years	2007	2011	Governor
Governor of California	4 Year term	2011	?	?

 

 

 

Pop Celebrity and National Ambitions

Upon election to the governorship in 1974, Jerry Brown eschewed the trappings of the high office, foregoing the mansion and chauffeured limo for a rented apartment and a Plymouth Satellite.  He became nationally famous in a uniquely California way by dating and being seen with Hollywood celebrities (he was a boyfriend of Linda Ronstadt), and he even had the moniker, ‘Governor Moonbeam’, bestowed upon him by the national press. 

 

Social and Cultural changes have swept through society, and fads have come and gone during the years Jerry Brown served in office.  In the eight years Brown was Governor, America and the world experienced Hippies, War Protests, Disco, Marshmallow Shoes, Puka Shells, Psychoactive Drugs, Bruce Springsteen, Squeaky Fromme, The American Bicentennial, The Ramones, Sun Myung Moon, Ted Bundy, Democracy in Spain, The Ayatollah, Ronald Reagan, Dim Sum, Hippies becoming Yuppies, and on and on and on.  

 

Link to Newsweek article of 4/23/79

http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/newsweek79.htm

 

In 1976 and again in 1980, Brown entered the presidential primaries.  In 1976 he finished third at the nominating convention behind Jimmy Carter and Morris Udall. In 1980, he finished with the support of only a single state, Michigan.  He ran for US Senate in 1982, but was defeated by then Mayor of San Diego, Pete Wilson.

 

 

Jerry Brown Runs for National Office

Office	Year Run	Opponent(s)	Result	Winner
President	1976 (primary)	Jimmy Carter Morris Udall George Wallace Henry Jackson Frank Church	Carried 5 States	Jimmy Carter nominated
President	1980 (primary)	Jimmy Carter Ted Kennedy	Carried 1 State	Jimmy Carter nominated
Senate	1982	Pete Wilson	Lost	Wilson 51.5% Brown 44.8%
President	1990	Bill Clinton Paul Tsongas Bob Kerrey Tom Harkin	Carried 3 States	Bill Clinton nominated

 

The Elder Statesman

Now, at 72, and as the oldest sitting governor in the country, Jerry Brown must use all his experience and guile to deal with California’s gaping budget deficit of 25.4 billion dollars.  California’s economic machine is huge, estimated to be 1.8 trillion dollars.  France’s 2.16 trillion dollar economy is ranked ninth in the world, while California’s economy, by comparison, would be 10th in size, larger than the next two countries of Italy and Mexico, estimated to have 1.78 and 1.56 trillion dollar economies, respectively. 

 

California’s Economy is World Class

Country	Size of Economy (rounded trillion)	Rank 2010
United States	14.72	1
China	9.85	2
Japan	4.34	3
India	4.05	4
Germany	2.95	5
Russian	2.23	6
Brazil	2.19	7
United Kingdom	2.19	8
France	2.16	9
California  (2009)	1.89
Italy	1.78	10
Mexico	1.56	11

 

California’s budget deficit exceeds the entire GDP of 91 countries on listings of estimated GDP by country.

 

California’s Deficit is as Large as the Economies of Small Countries

Country	Size of Economy (rounded billion)	Rank 2010
Equatorial Guinea	24.7	110
Estonia	24.5	111
California’s Deficit	(25.4)
Albania	23.9	112
Jamaica	23.9	113

 

CAState Economy

http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/FS_DATA/HistoryCAEconomy/index.htm

http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/FS_DATA/LatestEconData/documents/BBRANK.XLS

International Monetary Fund

http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm

CiA Factbook

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

 

 

 

To offset the budget’s revenue shortfall, Brown has proposed a combination of tax increases and spending cuts.  His years of experience will be called upon to lead seemingly disparate groups of legislators to some sort of compromise on the issue.  Unpopular cuts in Education, Welfare and Healthcare spending are included in the proposed budget, along with equally unpopular increases in Income, Sales and Vehicle taxes and the ending of Enterprise Zones in depressed urban areas. 

 

California Budget website

http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/

 

Whether the legislature responds and passes the proposed budget is the big question, and there will certainly be heated debates in Sacramento over the next few months.  The Helping Hand Liberals, the Teacher’s Unions and Education Community, the Social Engineers, the Small Government Libertarians and the anti-tax Tea Party all have dogs in the fight.  None may want to compromise, but all must – for the good of the state.

 

Belt Tightening

In the short run, the Citizens of California will receive less of big government in the form of fewer and limited services, higher tuitions, and higher taxes.  Living in California is already expensive and will be more so in the future.  A general downward pressure on wages and increases in the costs of state services combined with higher taxes will pressure the middle classes like never before.          

 

Brown faces an enormous challenge in getting all involved to recognize the severity of the budget shortfall.  He will be forced to collect his political favors, schmooze like he’s never done before and if necessary, play a game of political smash-mouth to get the members of the legislature’s right and left, and the state’s citizenry on the same page.     

 

Which Legacy?

With a balanced budget, California will be on track to recover, grow and thrive over time, leading the country into a hopeful future, and Jerry Brown will be able to move into his next incarnation, political or other, being remembered as the guy who helped deliver the goods. 

 

Without a greatly reduced deficit, near balanced budget and other structural changes, California will continue to stand on the brink of bankruptcy, a drag on the rest of the country, and Jerry Brown could be left with a legacy best remembered by his younger days of pop celebrity and quirkiness.

 

END