Gov. Jerry Brown sails into history books
Updated 5:29 am, Sunday, September 29, 2013
Jerry Brown - who once warned that the riptides of California politics should be navigated by paddling "a little bit on the left, then you paddle a little bit on the right" - is sailing into the history books this week and becoming California's longest serving governor.
As an energetic political wunderkind, he first took office in 1975 at age 36 as the nation's youngest governor. Today, he's an energetic, 75-year-old political silverback, in the midst of his third term and the nation's oldest governor.
Brown's service as governor will exceed the late Gov. Earl Warren, also a third termer, who resigned Oct. 5, 1953, to become chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Political watchers love to speculate over whether Brown, son of the late Gov. Edmund "Pat" Brown, will be the first California governor to run for a fourth term next year. If he does, as is expected, and wins, he and his father together will have governed California for a quarter of a century.
With a few exceptions, then-and-now comparisons of Brown's terms are not very different.
His famously frugal persona, for example, is backed up by Chronicle file photos from the 1970s. In those, Brown is seen wearing a tie he slips on for speeches and other appearances to this day.
'Never, ever changed'
His penchant for populist symbolism also hasn't wavered: In 1975, Brown rejected the trappings of office and drove a basic blue Plymouth sedan that endeared him to millions of working voters. Today, he and his wife, Ann Gust Brown, share their home with a Corgi named Sutter Brown - California's "first dog," and a brilliant ambassador for the everyman Democrat.
"He's never changed. He's never, ever changed," said former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who was the only elected official to endorse Brown - back then "a skinny, geeky kid," he said - in his first statewide campaign for California secretary of state.
Willie Brown said a Jerry Brown political hallmark, and perhaps the secret of his longevity, is that "he's a loner."
"He's never been ... an adherent to any group of people, and he has his own ideas about everything," said Willie Brown, the former Assembly speaker and a Chronicle columnist. "He doesn't get away from that for political advantage. And it works for him ... nobody bothers to challenge him."
Perhaps that's because more than anyone else in statewide office, Jerry Brown "knows California granularly," said Barbara O'Connor, professor emeritus of political science at Sacramento State University, who has worked with Brown for decades.
The governor, who learned the state's history and studied politics at the knee of his father, "started out on a community college board ... and he's held about every relevant office in California," including state attorney general and mayor of Oakland.
The unique training has made Brown "the best prepared governor in state history" while also giving him the confidence and experience "to make decisions on big issues," and to continue to push broad themes that have remained surprisingly uniform over the decades, O'Connor said.
Back in 1975
On his first day in the governor's office in January 1975, Brown told Californians the state's challenges lay in energy, environment, including solar energy, economy, and "the lack of faith in government." He called for prudent spending, and also for unity, saying politics is "not the work of one person, it is the work of all of us working together."
Thirty-five years later, at his 2010 inauguration, he stressed virtually the same issues - spending included - while adding: "It remains to elicit the best from each of us and show us how we depend on one another and how we have to work together."
Early on, Brown appeared "terrifically far-seeing," dubbed "Governor Moonbeam" for backing ideas like satellites for communication, space exploration, solar energy, even mass transit. He also urged Californians to "lower your expectations," and not expect government to be pounding nails and pouring concrete, notes Chuck McFadden, author of the recently published "Trailblazer: A Biography of Jerry Brown."
Today, "he still has overtones of a visionary in his makeup. For a 75-year-old man, his whole persona and ethos looks forward," McFadden said. While maintaining his fiscal conservatism, the older Brown is "a much more nuts-and-bolts, pick-and-shovel administrator," pushing high-speed rail and major water projects that some consider politically risky and economically unfeasible.
Republican strategist and Hoover Institution fellow Bill Whalen said Brown has maintained a remarkable partisan independence.
Noting the governor's favored navigation philosophy, Whalen said that "in a state absolutely dominated by Democrats - and where Republicans haven't won a statewide race - you would think it would be paddle to the left all the time.
"He doesn't. He will occasionally defy his party's orthodoxy," Whalen said, especially "when it comes to keeping his state competitive."
Critics say, however, that the governor has been consistent - about keeping himself at center stage.
Politically, "he's very selfish, and he has absolutely no hesitancy" to demand complete loyalty from others, said one veteran Democrat who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. "He reads the contribution reports closer than any other politician, and he reminds you that you haven't given."
Others have accused him of having a short attention span. He ran three times for president, a move that he now acknowledges was a mistake.
But the brash young politician who sometimes alienated or offended veterans has softened his approach with age.
When it comes to negotiations, today "he's better at it and less confrontational," O'Connor said. "He wants to solve the problems ... and wisdom adds less of a need to be center stage.
"He no longer needs to be the smartest kid in the room.
"In fact," she added, "he likes to avoid the room, most days."
Most credit Brown's partner of 23 years and wife of eight years, Anne Gust, the former chief administrative officer for the Gap.
California's first lady is widely respected and independent, his intellectual match and his official chief counsel.
"Jerry has always engaged with the people. When he was mayor, he walked (Lake Merritt) and talked to people - it's healthy," said Democratic consultant Larry Tramutola of Oakland. Today, he's regularly seen jogging on local trails near his home, or eating out with Gust in local restaurants.
"You're only as old as you feel and look, and on both counts, he's vibrant, youthful and relevant," said longtime adviser Steve Glazer, an Orinda city councilman. "He relishes the problem solving and he gets excited about it every day. He's into figuring it out, and enjoying it.
"It doesn't mean he always knows the answers," Glazer said. But California's governor "knows more than most."
The bottom line - which is always important to Brown - said Glazer: "The canoe seems to be well balanced, and moving in the right direction."
Jerry Brown then and now
A comparison of Brown's evolution as California's longest-serving chief executive, which started when he was elected to his first term at age 36 (then the youngest U.S. governor) to his current term at age 75 (now the oldest):
THEN: Gov. Moonbeam
THEN: 1975 Plymouth Satellite sedan, symbolized an "everyman" connection
NOW: Corgi Sutter Brown, California's "first dog," the 2013 "everyman" connection
THEN: Rented apartment at the corner of 14th and N streets, adjacent to Capitol Park in downtown Sacramento
NOW: $1.8 million hillside home in Montclair section of Oakland, and a Sacramento apartment
THEN: Girlfriends included pop singer Linda Ronstadt
NOW: Married to Anne B. Gust, former chief administrative officer for the Gap
THEN: American Conservative: Jerry Brown is "much more of a fiscal conservative than Governor Reagan."
NOW: The Hill, August 2013: "Will Jerry Brown bring final destiny to California? Is Jerry Brown the anti-Reagan?"
THEN: Traveled to Japan to study Buddhism, visited Mother Teresa in Calcutta and ministered to the sick in one of her hospices
NOW: In 2013, traveled to Ireland and Germany to visit distant relatives and the stomping grounds of his ancestors
Pressing political issue
THEN: State's budget surplus, a driving factor in passage of property-tax-limiting Proposition 13
NOW: State's budget deficit, which became driving factor in passage of Proposition 30, a tax increase
THEN: Space program, alternative energy
NOW: High-speed rail, alternative energy
THEN: "Small is beautiful."
NOW: "S- happens."