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California Contrasts: A Warmer Jerry Brown, Cool Meg Whitman

1 year ago
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Melinda Henneberger
Melinda Henneberger
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The last time many non-Californians saw Jerry Brown in action, he was wearing a black turtleneck and lecturing his fellow 1992 presidential aspirants most uncharmingly.

So some of us weren't expecting the scrappy, self-mocking guy who showed up for last night's first gubernatorial debate with his Republican opponent, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Brown repeatedly brought up his age -- at 72, he's a year younger than Ronald Reagan was when he famously teased Walter Mondale during an '84 presidential debate that "I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I'm not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience."

When Brown, the state's AG and a former two-term governor, who holds a slight edge in the latest polling, was asked why Californians should believe he doesn't have one eye on the White House even now, he laughed and said, "Age! You know if I was younger, I'd run again.'' As a mature man and domestic late-bloomer, he added, "Now I have a wife, so I'm home at night and don't try to close the bars in Sacramento.'' Then, in the moment that was both his most appealing and the closest he came to fumbling, he paused for several seconds, apparently struggling to choose between whatever thoughts were competing to leap first from brain to mouth. Bending his knees, he ran his hand over the top of his smooth head before finally going with, "So -- don't worry about that. I'm in this . . . I'll spend the rest of my life in and die in this state.'' (Now that's commitment.)

Jerry Brown, Meg WhitmanWhitman, in contrast, was cool to chilly, and considerably more polished than your average political novice as she stuck to a low-risk, low-yield strategy of repeating campaign slogans: "streamline red tape . . . do more with less . . . attack welfare.''

She did seem genuinely chagrined when asked whether her failure to vote for much of her adult life had left her with any notable gaps in her grasp of public policy, though she did not exactly answer the question: "First of all, I'm not proud of my voting record. It was not the right thing to do. If I could change history, I would.'' There was no "second of all." To a question about Factcheck.org rating a number of her campaign ads as "misleading or even worse," she responded, "I don't agree with the premise of your question.''

In Walter Shapiro's recent Politics Daily piece on the 50th anniversary of the first Kennedy-Nixon debate, he asked, "[H]ave debates really elevated . . . campaigns to a higher intellectual plane than was possible back in primitive times when candidates gave serious speeches sitting behind a desk on radio and early television?'' But flawed and cheesy as these entertainments are, they are still one of the few chances we get to try and assess for ourselves who these candidates are. Especially now that candidates are not necessarily expected to grant interviews, when else do voters have even an hour to check out whether candidates can string together an unscripted sentence, or get beyond talking points?

This first matchup focused mostly on the economy-- the top issue across the country and in California, which has a $19.1 billion deficit, the nation's third-highest jobless rate, and a state government so deadlocked that it still has not approved a budget due on July 1. Throughout the hour-long debate at UC Davis, Whitman's policy prescriptions were far less specific than Brown's. She spoke of doing for California what Rick Perry had done for Texas by offering tax breaks and hanging a big sign on the state advertising that it was "open for business," while Brown threw around numbers and said he would start by slicing 15 to 20 percent from the budget of the governor's office, then telling the state legislature, "You're next.''

In a question about whether death penalty appeals in the state dragged on too long, Whitman offered no solution beyond promising to be a "tough-on-crime governor, no doubt about it," and accusing Brown of having "a long, 40-year record of being quite liberal on crime.'' Brown's answer was detailed but unenlightening; he said the appeals process would be a lot shorter if the state legislature were willing to pony up for the "first-class" capital-case defense attorneys guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. This was an odd claim to make in a state spending $250 million annually on its capital punishment apparatus, which includes tens of million of dollars in legal fees for inmates on Death Row.

Neither candidate was shy about showing frank disdain for the other; Brown at one point said acidly that he wouldn't even "try to respond to that TV commercial that I've heard ad nauseam,'' and suggested that Whitman's key economic plan, eliminating the capital gains tax, would doubtless delight her fellow swells at the country club.

One of the few times Whitman cracked what seemed like a real smile was when she said that unlike her opponent, "I come from the real world, where you actually have to get things done.''

She returned again and again to the theme that Brown couldn't reduce the state's deficit because he was too cozy with the state employee's union. Putting him in charge of negotiating with labor leaders, she said, would be like "putting Count Dracula in charge of the blood bank.''

Not once but twice she quoted Albert Einstein as saying that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result -- a nice line, to be sure, but one that only sounds vaguely like Einstein. (Rita Mae Brown, however, did write that line, in a 1983 novel called "Sudden Death.") At the same time, Whitman's pitch to Californians closely echoed that of the state's current Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who as a candidate also promised that his personal wealth would keep him from being beholden to special interests.

Yet as the Los Angeles Times reported recently, Whitman's coffers aren't free of special interest money: "There are corporate donations from News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch and Amazon's Jeff Bezos, as well as from American Express, Herbalife and Anheuser-Busch," the paper said. "The major law and accounting firms are well represented, as are financial-services and private-equity concerns and property management companies and developers, including Tejon Ranch Co. ($10,000). Auto dealers and their trade associations have been particularly generous, as has the Sycuan Indian tribe of El Cajon."

Here's Arnold when he ran: 'I don't have to take money from anybody. I have plenty of money myself.'

And here was Whitman last night, when asked about the record-breaking $119 million she's spent on her campaign: "I've invested my own money, so I have the independence to go to Sacramento and break glass.''

What was that she said about the definition of insanity?
Tagged: 2010 Elections, 2010 Governor Elections, 2010 Governors Elections, 2010 Governors Races, California Elections, California Governors Race, Meg Whitman
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35 Comments

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dc walker

I bet if someone runs for governor of California stating they would introduce a state ID card tied to their birth certificates they would win hands down.

September 30 2010 at 10:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
philboxer

Just wait, California- The BIG illegal alien rush has not yet begun! By 2020, you are going to see ANOTHER 3 to 5 MILLION illegals entering your state.Anyone who wants to govern that mess is truly nuts.

September 30 2010 at 3:48 PM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
Darryl

WOW this was nothing more than a glowing endorsement of Jerry Brown.

September 30 2010 at 3:47 PM Report abuse +4 rate up rate down Reply
CHABSENTIA

I am a Native son of California and got out long ago ,however, as an investor I still follow current affairs.Fifty percent of its Revenue goes to support the Public Sector. The California State Constitution requires that all Budgets must be approved by two thirds of the State Legslature. The Majority of the State Legislature are Democrats. The Democrats are beholden to the Unions and while there has been some concessions by a few the largest refuse to give up some of their obscene benefits. Look at Bell and Vernon Californis. Los Angeles county has refused to release the salaries of their Public officials for fear of a backlash.Where has this Attorney General been all this time? The San Francisco Chronicle for the first time in History has refused to endorse Barbara Boxer and her uneventful time in Congress. Businesses are leaving in droves because Cities such as Los Angeles has re-classified them in order to get more taxes and California has the second highest State Income tax in then Nation and the second highest unemployment rate.

September 30 2010 at 10:23 AM Report abuse +5 rate up rate down Reply
hustin2

I am a member of a State employee's union and I am sick and tired of being the scapegoat for the State's troubles. Employees contribute in large amounts to their benefits and do not make higher salaries than the public. Do your own research and see for yourself where the State spends its money. The unions do NOT run the State - that is an outright lie.

September 30 2010 at 12:15 AM Report abuse -5 rate up rate down Reply
betty

funny how obama talks about fox being biased....ha! look at this article! Go Whitman! when I heard old man jerry put in chief justice rose bird (years ago...), and is soft on crime, i said, there are two more great reasons to vote for whitman.

September 29 2010 at 11:33 PM Report abuse +5 rate up rate down Reply
snrar

I forgot to mention that in Jerry Brown you have a true Democrat who only has one solution for California , And thats raise Taxes ! That will be his solution to dig us out of the hole we are in . It will not work because we are over taxed as it is in this state .

September 29 2010 at 11:29 PM Report abuse +6 rate up rate down Reply
snrar

I will be voting for Whitman not because I think she will be great for California , But because I know another term for Brown will not be just another dumb move for California's already failing economy . Having Jerry Brown again in the top seat is a step backwards and is not change at all .

September 29 2010 at 11:23 PM Report abuse +4 rate up rate down Reply
catalogsplus

Brown is a smooth talker just liek Obama. No more slicksters.

September 29 2010 at 10:37 PM Report abuse +4 rate up rate down Reply
George & Nancy

I liked what she said about the Governor of Texas going hunting in the state of California. He was not talking about shooting 4 legged deer. He was talking about wooing away companies who were tired of the tax code. There is no state income tax in Texas and the climate is better for companies. Ms Whitman would like companies to stay in her state, and would look for a solution to keep jobs and create them. Wow, isn't this a refreshing idea?

September 29 2010 at 9:59 PM Report abuse +7 rate up rate down Reply

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