Jerry Brown Announces for Gov Race (Oakland: appointed, attorneys, house)

[jbunniii]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Remind me not to even visit CA again if he gets elected..

Isn't that rather over the top? He certainly can't do a worse job than Arnie has done.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by jbunniii

Isn't that rather over the top? He certainly can't do a worse job than Arnie has done.

Really? At least Arnie occasionally shoots down the craziest of the crazy ideas the extreme left can come up with. Can you say the same about moonbeam?

[Uptown Oakland]

If he's able to correct some of CA's budget problems then great, but to just be negative right off the bat makes no sense. Any change may be good at this point.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Uptown Oakland

If he's able to correct some of CA's budget problems then great, but to just be negative right off the bat makes no sense. Any change may be good at this point.

Or not! The last several certainly haven't been.

[jbunniii]

I was only a kid when he was governor so don't know a lot of the specifics of his previous tenure, but my general recollection is that the state was prosperous during that era. Also, unlike the current governor, he was known for his personal frugality, which certainly sets a better example for what the state government AND its overextended citizens need right now.

I also recall his radio program "We the People" from the 1990s, in which he articulated his well-thought out worldview and proposed solutions to a wide range of problems. All we get from the other candidates are soundbites and attack ads. The cynic in me says that's all they have.

SF Chronicle on the history of the "Moonbeam" label:

Can Jerry Brown shed 'Gov. Moonbeam' label?

Brown was given the Moonbeam label in the late 1970s not just for his idea for a state-owned communications satellite but because he broke the political mold. He opted to live in a one-bedroom apartment instead of the governor's mansion, turned down the state-paid limo to drive his own Plymouth, and was so austere that other California politicians loved to recount stories about his thriftiness.

"He was indifferent to his surroundings, went his own way, lived his own life, and his personal character was not of the political world in Sacramento," said Bill Boyarsky, a journalism lecturer at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication and a political correspondent at Truthdig.com.

Speaking on radio station KCRW's "Which Way L.A.?" Tuesday, Boyarsky said Brown earned the Gov. Moonbeam moniker because "his ideas were considered quite far out ... one of (them) was California having its own satellite."

"But today," he said, "everybody has their own satellite ... and it turns out it wasn't a bad idea."

[EscapeCalifornia]

This is the guy with the "if we don't build it, they won't come" attitude that left us with 1970's infrastructure but twice the population.

[Uptown Oakland]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Or not! The last several certainly haven't been.

So what do you suggest?

[eureka1]

Go, Jerry, go! Arnold has been a joke and E-Meg IS a joke.

[Luke9686]

Originally Posted by Shope

Another lawyer turned professional politician, just what California needs!

What you guys need (and the entire U.S.) is an auto mechanic, or plumber to run the state.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Uptown Oakland

So what do you suggest?

A non-rich, non-politician, non-attorney. But it'll never happen. I got tired of waiting so I left.

In the alternative non-incumbents and non-office-holders across the board!

In other words, clean house and don't recycle or retread.