By Khalida Sarwari
Speaking before a crowd in Mountain View this morning, Attorney General Jerry Brown said he would rely on wisdom and insight rather than excessive spending in his bid as California’s next democratic governor.
Brown announced his decision to formally enter the governor’s race last month. He is expected to square off in the general election against the winner of the Republican primary, likely either former eBay CEO Meg Whitman or State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.
At a gathering at Google this morning, Brown said his plan to win will involve a deliberate, well-paced campaign focusing on a marginal group of undecided voters who he said will ultimately decide who the next governor is.
“I’ve been hard at work at this, work at the fundraising, work at developing a campaign team, holding down expenses,” Brown said. “Certainly the way one runs a campaign might be an indication how one would run government.”
Brown addressed issues including education, taxes, renewable energy and prison reform, in a nearly hour-long talk with Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Brown spoke at length about California’s prisons, which he said now consume 10 percent of the state’s budget, a 7 percent increase since he was governor in the 70s and early 80s. He said the problem is that for every 10,000 people that leave prison every month, another 10,000 walk in due to a lack of rehabilitation and experience of work while they’re in prison.
As governor, he said he would focus on restructuring the prison system and saving money by improving public safety and increasing productivity especially in low-income neighborhoods that face drug and gang problems.
“I believe that work in prison, more education, more drug treatment, re-entry, I think we can restructure the way the criminal justice and crime control and prison and incarceration and sanctioned system work,” Brown said.
To steer education in the right track, Brown said hiring math and science teachers, holding students accountable and strengthening teacher and student bonds is essential.
He said the development of children in low-income neighborhoods is impeded when their families are facing unstable incomes. Citing the Oakland School for the Arts and the Oakland Military School, two schools he helped found, Brown proposed setting a theme for schools, based on art, the hospitality industry, math and science to motivate students.
He said standardized testing has to be balanced with a more open and varied school curriculum to allow critical thinking and the development of skills beyond basic reading, math and science.
Brown said he is just as concerned about the protection of the ecosystem, efficiency and renewable energy now as he was in his previous stint as governor.
“If anything, the issues that were more inchoate and embryonic in 1975 to 1982 are now in full force in their urgency and their importance,” he said.
Brown reiterated his original stance on taxes, saying that there will be no new taxes unless the people themselves want them and vote for them.
“I think the first line of attack here is to make the most efficient government, not to try to do it all in one year,” Brown said. “I think we have to take time, take two or three years, or maybe longer, to work, to finance a workout where we bring revenue and spending into line.”
Brown said he will rely on his previous training and preparation to address challenges he will face as governor.
Despite a deepening polarization between the two parties, he said the problems involving spending, water, education, criminal law, and labor relations, are the same facing both groups.
He said holding a constitutional convention at some point could be key in addressing such issues.
“I don’t think they can all be resolved in the Legislature alone,” Brown said. “At some point, the people are going to have to weigh in on what kind of a California future do they want and what role do they see the government playing in that.”