http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/jerrybrown/ en-us Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:30:49 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392625/posts It may come as a surprise to many of his Democratic supporters, but Attorney General and gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown has gone to bat for the National Rifle Association. The NRA's cause: urging the U.S. Supreme Court to guarantee the ability of gun owners across the land to keep and bear arms. Last year, the high court struck down a ban on handguns in Washington, D.C., ruling for the first time that the Second Amendment's right to bear arms applies to individuals who keep a gun at home for self-defense. But the court made it clear the ruling applied only... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392625/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:30:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392373/posts If the entertainment industry were allowed to pick California's next governor, there would be no contest: Jerry Brown would win by a landslide. That was made clear this past week as the 71-year-old attorney general was feted by industry leaders at an event raising more than $1 million and co-chaired by directors Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams, and other movers and shakers. It's also been clear for months as studio executives, writers and other Hollywood figures have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the as-yet-undeclared Democratic candidate's campaign. Meanwhile, industry figures contributed much less money, if anything, to Republican... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392373/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:14:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2389670/posts SACRAMENTO — Jerry Brown was sounding downright conservative when he told a group of corporate attorneys last week that the state's businesses are burdened with too many regulations. And, previously, he insisted state government needed more downsizing, dismissing higher taxes as an antidote to California's growing economic problems. (snip) "This state is ungovernable and in a mess, and we need to be hearing from Jerry Brown how he gets us out of this mess," said Robert Cruickshank, the public policy director for the Courage Campaign, a liberal advocacy group. "Cutting regulations is not the answer. It doesn't get teachers back... Contra Costa Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2389670/posts#comment Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:01:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388232/posts Jerry Brown's first governorship was marked by what one might term – charitably – a high degree of flexibility. Although he generally hewed to a liberal line after his 1974 election, Brown was often willing to bend ideology for political advantage, a tendency that some called "flakiness." Most famously, prior to the 1978 election in which voters enacted Proposition 13, the landmark property tax limit, Brown denounced it as a "consumer rip-off" but afterward, he abruptly changed his tune, declared himself to be a "born-again tax cutter" and championed a big state tax cut. Brown claimed virtue in his pirouettes.... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388232/posts#comment Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:52:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2387428/posts Attorney General Jerry Brown, a likely Democratic candidate for governor next year, faces political blowback no matter how he rules on the undercover videotaping by conservative filmmakers at offices of the community group ACORN in Southern California. Brown is investigating the filmmakers, who posed as a prostitute and a pimp, for possible violations of state privacy laws. He is also investigating the group for what is shown in the video: an employee of ACORN apparently advising the filmmakers how to smuggle Mexican girls across the border to work as prostitutes. After the tapes were released, House Republicans used a series... San Francisco Chronicle / sfgate.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2387428/posts#comment Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:21:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2384175/posts Attorney General Jerry Brown's office has sparked debate about its interpretation of state privacy laws after it determined that a spokesman had not done anything illegal by secretly taping conversations with news reporters. At issue is state penal code section 632, which prohibits the intentional recording without consent of "confidential communication." While announcing the results of an internal investigation, Chief Assistant Attorney General Dane Gillette wrote that the privacy protection of such communication did not include on-the-record media interviews – a view that clashes with the common understanding of a state Supreme Court ruling on the law. Under Gillette's interpretation,... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2384175/posts#comment Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:04:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2380609/posts The Legislature's top administrators have asked Attorney General Jerry Brown to decide whether pending 18 percent cuts to lawmakers' pay and benefits were legally approved by the California Citizens Compensation Commission. Jon Waldie, chief administrative officer of the Assembly, and Greg Schmidt, chief executive officer of the Senate, suggest that the reductions were beyond the jurisdiction of the seven-member commission, which is appointed by the governor. Citing the state's dire fiscal condition, the panel in May cut the pay for state officials by 18 percent beginning in December 2010 – after the next round of legislative elections. The cut will... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2380609/posts#comment Sat, 7 Nov 2009 03:43:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2377438/posts Attorney General Jerry Brown's communications director, Scott Gerber, submitted his resignation Monday after admitting last week that he had secretly taped conversations with reporters. In the letter to Chief Deputy Attorney General James Humes, Gerber said he was resigning "with a heavy heart" but emphasized that "neither the Attorney General nor any other attorneys from our office were aware that I was recording interviews without permission." The questionable, perhaps illegal, behavior came to light after Gerber told the San Francisco Chronicle that one of its reporters had misquoted Humes based on Gerber's recording of the conversation between Humes and political... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2377438/posts#comment Tue, 3 Nov 2009 16:01:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2374827/posts SACRAMENTO — The press secretary for California Attorney General Jerry Brown has been secretly recording telephone conversations with reporters, an apparent violation of state law. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that spokesman Scott Gerber acknowledged taping a phone interview with one of its reporters. It said Gerber later acknowledged recording other conversations with reporters without asking their permission. AP via CoCo Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2374827/posts#comment Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:55:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2373701/posts While Democrats have more than seven months left to choose their candidate for governor, one of the party's key constituencies has already made its preference clear, at least in the all-important money race. Unions all across the state and country have poured more than a million dollars into Attorney General Jerry Brown's campaign coffers – even though he has yet to officially announce his candidacy. That includes influential statewide bodies such as the California State Council of Labor and the California Nurses Association as well as out-of-state carpenters unions from New York to Honolulu. Meanwhile, the only declared Democratic candidate... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2373701/posts#comment Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:48:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2369896/posts Calpers burns in subprime fire 24 Oct 2009, 0000 hrs IST, REUTERS SAN FRANCISCO: Faced with huge losses on subprime loans, Calpers is suing the rating agencies which it said misled them by giving top ratings to mortgage bond funds which later turned out to be a house of cards. Calpers also was overcharged for foreign exchange transactions, says state Attorney General Brown, who is suing bank State Street. The market rally this year also has helped. “The recovery now is showing our asset strategy is doing pretty well,” Oliveira said. Calpers’ losses have been cut by about half from... Economic Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2369896/posts#comment Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:32:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367843/posts Want to make a big splash to bolster your chances in a political campaign? A tried and true strategy for some attorneys general has been to champion a populist position by exploiting the legal system for publicity. Just look at the lead up to the launch of former New York AG Eliot Spitzer gubernatorial campaign with his attacks on Wall Street. And that appears to be the playbook California Attorney General Jerry Brown is using in a lawsuit accusing State Street (NYSE:STT) of cheating the state's two largest pension funds, the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State... NewsBusters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367843/posts#comment Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:12:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367510/posts More than a decade before Jerry Brown's current incarnation as undeclared gubernatorial front-runner, he hit the airwaves of liberal Berkeley radio station KPFA five days a week to speak his mind. What he said then, as he interviewed poets, activists and the likes of leftist icon Noam Chomsky, promises to resurface this coming year as the 71-year-old former governor ponders running for a historic third gubernatorial term. During his three years on the air, Brown repeatedly blamed corporate malfeasance and political corruption for undermining American democracy and even causing deaths, according to edited excerpts of the radio broadcasts. Brown regularly... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2367510/posts#comment Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:59:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2353902/posts California’s Attorney General Jerry Brown is going to investigate "both ACORN and the circumstances under which ACORN employees were videotaped." That’s right. He’s going after filmmakers James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles. He’d just assume rough up the young folks who caught ACORN committing unlawful acts while Jerry Brown and his staff weren’t catching ACORN committing unlawful acts. Jerry Brown is one of ACORN’s A-rated attorneys general. In other words, all the while ACORN was engaged in its apparently many unlawful activities in his state, Jerry Brown was helping ACORN on the taxpayer dime. It’s a bad sign, to say the... AmericanThinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2353902/posts#comment Sat, 3 Oct 2009 02:29:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2353093/posts Reporting from Sacramento - Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown has launched an investigation into the brouhaha over videotapes of a conservative group's sting operation against ACORN, the community organizing group credited with helping push Barack Obama to the presidency. Brown's office plans to look into circumstances surrounding both the making of the videos and any possible misdeeds by ACORN employees in California caught on tape. In what has become a staple of TV and radio talk shows in recent weeks, ACORN workers in several states were shown allegedly offering advice on tax evasion, human smuggling and child prostitution. Undercover videotapes, shot... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2353093/posts#comment Fri, 2 Oct 2009 03:21:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2353061/posts (10-01) 15:14 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- State Attorney General Jerry Brown's office said Thursday that he is investigating the community activist group ACORN at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's request, after undercover videos at two California offices appeared to show staffers offering to help two purported clients break the law. Spokesman Scott Gerber said Brown sent a letter to Schwarzenegger last week agreeing to look into whether the group's employees did anything illegal. Brown said he would also investigate whether the surreptitious recording of the meetings in ACORN's San Diego and San Bernardino offices violated California privacy laws, a subject the governor... San Francisco Chronicle / sfgate.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2353061/posts#comment Fri, 2 Oct 2009 02:16:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2352810/posts The attorney general of California has opened an investigation into ACORN and the circumstances under which its employees were secretly videotaped, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced on his Twitter page Thursday. The attorney general of California has opened an investigation into ACORN and the circumstances under which its employees were secretly videotaped, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced on his Twitter page Thursday. Schwarzenegger wrote he had "just heard" that the state's attorney general, Edmund G. Brown Jr., is opening an investigation following the release of five hidden-camera videos that depicted ACORN employees offering advice to filmmakers James O'Keefe and Hannah... Fox News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2352810/posts#comment Thu, 1 Oct 2009 21:12:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2351394/posts SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Attorney General Jerry Brown took a major step toward running for governor on Tuesday by filing paperwork that will allow him to raise campaign funds more aggressively. Brown, a Democrat who served as governor of California from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, submitted papers for "Brown for Governor 2010 Exploratory Committee" with the state's top elections officer. Brown, 71, had already been raising campaign funds but the committee will allow him to raise money at higher levels if he opts to seek the Democratic nomination for governor. Brown can run for governor again because... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2351394/posts#comment Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:00:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2351256/posts Crime | Government | Wildfires | Education | Roman Polanski | Traffic | Westside L.A. NOW Southern California -- this just in « Previous Post | L.A. NOW Home | Next Post » Jerry Brown files papers to explore run for governor September 29, 2009 | 5:42 pm Jerry Brown dropped the fiction that he was seeking reelection as state attorney general and filed papers today to explore a run for governor, a job he first won in 1974 and has for months been fighting hard, if quietly, to recapture. Brown’s move was born of necessity: Contributions to candidates for... Los Angeles Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2351256/posts#comment Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:42:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2351009/posts Runner sues Attorney General over ballot wording SACRAMENTO • State Sen. George Runner is suing California Attorney General Jerry Brown for crafting what Runner calls an “overtly biased” summary of a ballot measure the senator created to prevent voter fraud. “I believe he has misrepresented what this initiative does,” said Runner, R-Lancaster, in an interview Monday. “That’s a tremendous disservice to the citizens of California.” Earlier this year Runner submitted ballot measure Vote SAFE, which would require voters to present photo identification at the polls, allow county Registrar of Voters additional time to count military votes and protect the identity... Victorville Daily Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2351009/posts#comment Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:02:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2336445/posts Just heard on Savage's home radio station, 910 KNEW, that they will be dropping his 3PM to 6PM PST slot in favor of the Armstrong and Getty show! I am interested to see what his reaction will be to this one... First banned in Britain, and now in his own hometown??? http://910knew.com/main.html http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2336445/posts#comment Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:21:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2316544/posts SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline)-California will no longer be home to a "liberal, activist" attorney general if voters choose state Sen. Tom Harman as the state's next chief legal officer, the Republican told Legal Newsline. Harman is the only Republican vying to replace Attorney General Jerry Brown, the state's high-profile politician, in 2010. A crowded field of Democrats is in the running, but Harman said they are largely in the mold of Brown, who is widely expected to run for governor rather than seek reelection as attorney general. The Legal News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2316544/posts#comment Sat, 15 Aug 2009 06:44:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306176/posts California's gubernatorial primary is still 10 months away, but the multimillion-dollar race for campaign cash has already picked up a quick pace, with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman at the front of the pack. It's no surprise that the billionaire Internet exec, who has never held elected office, has lots of money in the bank to spend on her campaign. According to a tally Saturday, she has some $19 million in cash available--and that's after spending $6.1 million to get her campaign operations up and running. It's also after she contributed first $4 million, then $15 million of her own... CNET http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2306176/posts#comment Sat, 1 Aug 2009 22:47:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280500/posts State Attorney General Jerry Brown joined a legal challenge Wednesday to Pleasanton's 13-year-old limit on housing construction, arguing that the East Bay community is defying state housing laws and adding to urban sprawl, vehicle use and greenhouse gas emissions. "Pleasanton's draconian and illegal limit on new housing forces people to commute long distances, adding to the bumper-to-bumper traffic along (Interstates) 580 and 680 and increasing dangerous air pollution," Brown said in a statement after filing suit in Alameda County Superior Court. He said Pleasanton's housing shortage will worsen if the city adopts a revised general plan that calls for more... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280500/posts#comment Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:46:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2274033/posts LIMITS ON VOTING. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Prohibits citizens from voting at the polls unless they present a government-issued photo-identification card. Establishes provisional voting for citizens at the polls who fail to present government-issued photo-identification. Requires that provisional and mail-in ballots be deemed invalid unless the accompanying envelope is marked with the last four digits of a citizen's California driver's license, state identification card or social security number. Eliminates the right to vote for citizens on probation for a felony offense. Establishes that ballots from absent military personnael are timely if postmarked by election day. Vote Safe Now http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2274033/posts#comment Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:40:27 GMT