Past and would-be future Gov. Jerry Brown was in the house early
this evening, declaring that he is running again to serve a
struggling state that badly needs his experience to rescue
California from fiscal ruin.
Courtesy of the Sacramento Bee
Past and would-be future Gov. Jerry Brown was in the house early this evening, declaring that he is running again to serve a struggling state that badly needs his experience to rescue California from fiscal ruin.
Brown, who faces no serious opposition in the Democratic primary, arrived for 6 p.m. walk-through at his election night venue at Club Nokia in Los Angeles’ trendy L.A. Live entertainment district. He straddled a media platform for a national television interview and then told a swarming gaggle of reporters, “Look, I’ve done this job before.”
In an interview with Neil Cavuto of Fox News, Brown reflected that “at this stage of my life, I never thought I would be running for governor.”
“When I look at Sacramento, that awful mess that the politicians created, and also look at the mess that Wall Street created and how we’re suffering in this terrible recession, I think we can fix it,” Brown said. “I know what’s going on up there (at the Capitol). I know how it works. I’ve got the preparation. I’ve got the will to pull the legislators together.”
Brown told other reporters that, if elected governor, he will slash state spending and “cut wherever we have to” without raising taxes.
He also chided Republican candidates Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner for filling the television airwaves in “a billion dollar demolition derby.” But he declined the take the bait when a reporter asked him if he was offended by the Republicans’ campaign spending.
“Not at all,” Brown said. “These people can do what they feel is appropriate.”
However, he added, “If these people were working with homes for the poor and feeding the sick and dying and educating little children, I think they would be stronger candidates.”
