Governor Moonbeam

[realFedUp]

I like Jerry Brown and his dad was a good governor...put higher education in a good place...Jerry wasn't as good, but he brought in more diversity.
But what the heck is he doing all over the talk shows like he really knows something...they let him ramble on incoherently. Give him the hook, let him concentrate on running Oakland. Pete Wilson is sounding a bit vague also...
Get someone on who is actually in the know in Sacramento these days.
What is refreshing is that the national news is actually being broadcast from California these days instead of studios on the East Coast.

[Clete]

1. Didn't he say he was going to run for Atty General in the

next election, I guess 2006, is what he said?

[Rowdyboy]

3. That was my understanding...

Surprised me, too, but I think he'd probably do an excellent job as AG.

[realFedUp]

4. Attorney General is a law enforcement job...

Unless he wants to really reform the prison guard union
and the way prisons are set up, I don't see his experience
as a lawyer working here...

but if he promises to reform the prison system I would
take a second look. Good luck getting any backing from
the union.

[David__77]

5. I don't trust him.

I'd rather see someone like Antonio Villaraigosa in there. Brown has waffled too much on critical issues, whether Prop 13 or abortion rights. He is not well-liked by Oakland progressives.

[mitchtv]

2. Jerry knows more than you

I'd say. He has done an excellent job upgrading Oakland, BTW

[JackSwift]

6. Jerry is a bum

His father was a Great governor. Jerry is just an opportunist. While he is very intelligent, he is not much in the way of an effective politician. His actions have done more damage to Democrats in California than any Republican. He appointed truly crummy judges when he could have appointed liberal legal giants. He let Prop 13 happen, he has attacked the Democratic party, and he is lazy. He may technically have a law license, but he cannot have practiced law very long. Has he ever tried a case? Argued an appeal? He delegates everything and is extraordinarily lazy. I live close enough to Oakland to smell him.

[jiacinto]

7. Isn't he no longer a Democrat too?

Didn'the leave the party?

[JackSwift]

9. He definitely left the party

sometime back, after 98, but before 01 (please read as "aught-one" so I sound grizzeled today). But there was some talk that he re-registered as a Dem. I was at a California State Democratic Party Convention when the news of him leaving the party was read to the delegates, which is how I know the time frame. A huge cheer went up on that news, he'd been bashing us for years.

[jiacinto]

10. Ok

So he would not have a straight shot at the nomination, then?

[Oracle]

8. Jerry Brown was an excellent Governor...

After following the nazi idiot asshole Reagan as Governor...the dominant right-wing press in California never let up on Jerry Brown's ass...only people who believed the bullshit, like Gov Moonbeam shit...will think he was a bad Governor.

Brown had the most liberal State Supreme Court in any state in history...until the Republicans did their lying media recall blitz, saying vote against the liberal Supreme Court because they were agaisnt the death penalty. (in reality, the liberal court allowed all lawsuits against corporations by the average worker and the Republicans hated that. And lied about the real reasons.)

Brown was the most progressive politician ever in favor of comsumer rights, education, the environment, programs for poor school children, as well as support for farm workers to form unions and Brown was completely pro union...

Get out of here with the lies Brown was a bad Governor...more right-wing media slop people lick up without doing their own research!

[JackSwift]

11. Not lies

but rather the views of a California Democrat. Let's take, for example, your comment that he put liberals on the courts. Indeed he did. But not very qualified ones. Rose Bird, while a nice lady with her heart in the right place and a good liberal, was a Santa Clara County Dep Public Defender and Jerry's limo driver before being elevated. She had never been a judge, and pretty much treated it as a legislative post, simply voting the way she wanted to. There were bona fide great liberal jurists, like Tobriner and Traynor, that could have been appointed that would have written great opinions that would have advanced our cause. Reynoso and Grodin weren't as unqualifed, but Bird's incompetence was a disaster for us. I'm not saying that Brown did nothing good, nor that he was as bad as Reagan. I am saying that he squandered a once in a lifetime opportunity to run California well because he has the attention span and work ethic of a gnat. And I am very close to a number of his past and current staffers (his allies) to know what his failings are. The guy was a shitty governor, and the only reason he is not a complete failure as a mayor is because he delegates all of the work to the city manager except public appearances.

And do remember that he said that the entire Democratic party was corrupt, and that was his reason for leaving. That accusation included us as activists.

[Oracle]

12. The entire Democratic party is corrupt...They ALL take corporate

money...you name me a Democratic politician that's not? I voted Democrat in every election since I turnned eighteen and voted for McGovern.

I'm well aware of the the corruption in the Democratic party...except for Democratic ideology as opposed to Republican...I'd either never vote or find some very progressive liberal party like the Greens to vote for instead.

I find myself forced to vote Democrat every election...besides Jerry Brown, Gore Vidal, Dennis Kucinich, and a few others...I always find myself voting against the lesser of two evils.

[Oracle]

14. Edit..

See response below...

[MurrayDelph]

13. I lived through it, and we are still paying for some of it

During Jerry Brown's tenure, the highway system in California went to hell, as his head of Caltrans, Adrianna Gianturco (sp?) deliberately decided to makes roads as unpleasant as possible, figuring that it would force people to "give up their love of cars" and be forced into mass transportation (without having a viable mass transportation alternative). The result: more gridlock, reducing productivity, and taking longer for truckers and civilians to get anywhere (with the result that it now takes over an ninety minutes to get from the San Fernando Valley to the L.A. airport 25 miles away).

Once it has passed, to show his solidarity with Prop 13 (Which Doonesbury started referring to as "The Jarvis-BROWN" amendment) that he had campaigned against, he unilaterally rolled back the cost of living raises for state employees that were not governor (That description included the young woman who would later become my wife).

[Oracle]

16. Again, he did some things you or I didn't like.

What politician does exactly as you want them to do on every single issue?

However, as I stated above...Brown was the most progressive politician ever in favor of consumer rights, education, the environment, programs for poor school children, women's rights, minority and gay rights, as well as support for farm workers to form unions and Brown was completely pro union...

[bicentennial_baby]

15. California Uber Alles

Great Dead Kennedys song circa 1980:

"I am Governor Jerry Brown
My aura smiles
And never frowns
Soon I will be president

Carter power will soon go away
I will be Fuhrer one day
I will command all of you
Your kids will meditate in school

California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California

Zen fascists will control you
100% natural
You will jog for the master race
And always wear the happy face

Close your eyes, can't happen here
Big Bro' on white horse is near
The hippies won't come back you say
Mellow out or you will pay

California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California

Now it is 1984
Knock knock at your front door
It's the suede/denim secret police
They have come for your uncool neice

Come quitely to the camp
You'd look nice as a drawstring lamp
Don't you worry, it's only a shower
For your clothes here's a pretty flower

Die on organic poison gas
Serpent's egg's already hatched
You will crack, you little clown
When you mess with President Brown

California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California"

[Qutzupalotl]

17. My main beef with him as Oakland Mayor

is he refused to fight against forfeiture laws, saying they were needed to fight drug crime. The trouble is, they are unevenly applied...you can lose your car even if you're not convicted of anything. You have no legal recourse.