Brown stances define issues, make waves

Posted at 07:36 AM on Monday, Nov. 23, 2009

As the undeclared Democratic front-runner in the governor's race, Jerry Brown keeps a low profile and stays mum on divisive issues, saying he'll talk more if and when he actually runs.

As California's attorney general, however, the 71-year-old former governor is winning headlines nationwide for protecting taxpayers from unscrupulous banks and green-lighting deep salary cuts for legislators.

That dual role has fueled criticism that Brown is using his day job for partisan gain, a charge he has vehemently denied.

What's clear is Brown's official position has let him take the high road on a wide range of issues while he avoids the rhetorical skirmishes of the governor's race.

Just this past week, Brown appeared before news reporters to celebrate a $1.4 billion settlement with Wells Fargo & Co., which Brown had sued for misleading investors.

He's also protected children from toys containing dangerous amounts of lead and African American churches from suspected scammers.

On Thursday, Brown tapped into the anti-Sacramento mood of the moment by issuing an opinion letting the state's salary-setting commission cut legislator pay in the middle of their terms.

Brown's opinion on the pay cuts acknowledged that three other legal opinions had come to an opposite conclusion, but Brown wrote that the most recent word on the issue, voter-approved Proposition 112, allowed such cuts and should take precedence.

Jack Pitney, a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College, said he wasn't surprised Brown took the more voter-friendly legal route.

"I'm no attorney, but I'm not surprised that if it were legally possible to do something popular, Jerry Brown would do it," Pitney said.

Andrew Acosta, a Democratic strategist, said Brown was just doing what many attorney generals with ambitions to higher office had done while in office. Some of Brown's predecessors, including Republicans Dan Lungren and George Deukmejian, also launched gubernatorial campaigns while serving as the state's top lawyer.

"The attorney general is a very good office from which to run for statewide office in California because you get involved in issues that matter to most Californians," Acosta said. "That's what the job is."

California Republican Party Chief Operating Officer Brent Lowder, however, accused Brown of taking that practice to new partisan heights.

Lowder said Brown's positioning showed itself in his argument against voter-passed Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, and his lawsuit against San Bernardino County for not adequately addressing climate change in its general plan. Those stands, Lowder said, reflected Brown's liberal politics rather than the will of Californians.

"Every elected official running for office uses his office for the campaign," Lowder said. "But Brown seems to raise this paradigm to an abuse level."

Brown confronted similar questioning last month when he appeared on the financial network CNBC to discuss his lawsuit against Boston-based State Street Bank for allegedly defrauding state pension funds.

After Brown explained the substance of the suit, anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera asked him, "What do you say to people who look at this and say this is a perfect example of the demagoguery that attorney generals use when they want to run for governor?"

Brown responded furiously, calling the question "symptomatic of the insensitivity and arrogance of this Eastern financial elite."

Brown senior adviser Steven Glazer said in an e-mail to The Bee that running for office while already in office could help or hurt, depending on the issue.