Gov. Jerry Brown: Pulling California back from the brink
The New Year has brought change and new faces to much of our political landscape, not least on Capitol Hill, where Republicans took control of the Senate this past week. From out of the west, though, a different sight -- a familiar face on the Democratic side taking the oath of office yet again . . . many years after his political debut. John Blackstone reports our Cover Story.
Six years ago, the sun appeared to be setting on the California Dream. Plummeting home prices and soaring debt were robbing the Golden State of its luster.
As we reported on "Sunday Morning" back then, plenty of Californians were ready to give up hope:
"Is the California dream kind of dying?" Blackstone asked.
"It's not dying -- it's dead," said Harvey Schwartz of 20th Century Props (which closed its doors for good in 2009).
It was a crisis, to be sure. But in politics, "crisis" is just another word for "opportunity."
"The state was in massive debt, $27 billion," said Gov. Jerry Brown. "There was great uncertainty. Over a million people had lost their jobs. Well, that was then. Now, California's coming back."
"Is that your doing?" Blackstone asked.
"It's in part my doing, certainly," said Brown.
It's hard to imagine who would have wanted to become governor of a state that was in such a sorry state, but in 2010 Jerry Brown certainly did. And last November, voters rewarded him for leading California back from the brink, electing him to an unprecedented fourth term as governor.
The state once again boasts the world's eighth-largest economy -- bigger than Russia's -- and it even posted a budget surplus last year.
The governor regularly receives foreign dignitaries, befitting California's status as a high-tech superpower.
The secret to Brown's success? Raising taxes while cutting spending -- policies that have angered his fellow Democrats nearly as much as Republicans.
"You had to push Democrats in California to accept a lot of the cuts that you proposed," Blackstone said.
"I still have to push Democrats, and Republicans," he replied. "There's endless desires. The way I say it is, first, you have a desire, and then you make it a need, then you make it a right, and pretty soon you got a law. Then as soon as you got a law, you got a lawsuit.
"You've got to be able to say, 'No.' Because this government is not something you just milk forever."
"I don't like to spend money. But that's not because I'm conservative -- it's just because I'm cheap!" - Jerry Brown, in a 1976 speech
For decades Jerry Brown has always charted a unique course in politics. His father, Pat Brown, was elected governor of California in 1958. Edmund Brown Jr. was hardly the heir apparent: at the time, he was studying to become a Jesuit priest.
But politics proved to be his true calling, and in 1974, Jerry Brown won his father's old job.
"It is a unique experience at the age of 36 to find myself elected governor of the largest state in the union," he said at a 1975 press conference.
He encountered a political landscape that's all-too-familiar today...
"An election is not an end, rather it's a beginning," Brown said then. "It's fair to say people want a new spirit, but they don't want to pay a lot of money for it!"
Famously frugal, Brown dispensed with the limos and private planes of his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, favoring blue Plymouth sedans.
He was a creature of the 1970s, and the bachelor governor made waves for dating singer Linda Ronstadt.
In office, his track record was solid, but Brown also pursued ideas that were ahead of their time: an advocate for the environment and alternative energy, he even wanted the state to launch its own research satellite.
Brown's stellar ambitions earned him a long-lasting nickname: "Moonbeam."
Blackstone asked, "Have you finally purged Governor Moonbeam?"
"That was a little moniker that I had to live with for a while," he said, "but it was a reflection of the fact that we were trying to do very innovative things that seemed a bit outlandish then."
His presidential ambitions were no less outlandish: he ran three times, and each time he found his campaigns at odds with the Democratic establishment.
"It's a cause they can't buy, a force they can't stop," Brown said in a 1992 ad. "On Tuesday, don't vote for me; vote for yourselves."
Today, at age 76, Jerry Brown IS the establishment -- an exemplar of the adage, "What goes around, comes around."
The path back to Sacramento wasn't easy. He served as Mayor of Oakland, then Attorney General, before running a heated race to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger.
His last re-election was easier: He swept back into office with 59 percent of the vote. He also convinced voters in the drought-stricken state to approve a $7.5 billion plan that includes new reservoirs, dams and water tunnels.
And Brown remains committed to building a controversial high-speed rail line from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
- Time for American get on the fast track? ("Sunday Morning," 08/23/09)
- California's bullet train project ready to break ground
- How viable is a U.S. high-speed rail system?
- Despite Spain crash, California proceeding with high-speed rail
"Well, if I could use a Biblical admonition, he who perseveres will be saved," Brown said. "And perseverance is something I learned very early in life, and I wouldn't be here as governor these many decades later, if I didn't have that habit of sticking to it."
Blackstone asked, "Is it frustrating to be, 40 years later, fighting the same battles?"
"Think about the alternative," Brown responded. "To be frustrated is a real pleasure."
If Brown has mellowed in recent years, many attribute it to his 2005 marriage to Anne Gust, a former executive with The Gap. For both of them, it was their first marriage.
"You got married, you said, after 15 years of dating," Blackstone said. "You were pushed, do I understand correctly?"
"No, not pushed. No, just due diligence," Brown laughed.
"You just decided it was time?"
"These things evolve."
They've evolved into a working partnership as well, with Gust-Brown serving (without pay) as special counsel to the governor.
"How do you give that counsel?" Blackstone asked.
"Well, in different ways, at different times," replied Ann Gust-Brown. "I try not to do it publicly. Usually, I start it with Edmund -- when I'm really giving him serious advice, I'm usually calling him Edmund. But, Jerry, I have to give him a lot of credit, because he really listens."
"You're always willing to change your mind?" Blackstone asked Brown.
"Well, I didn't say that," Gust-Brown interjected.
"Well, I've been accused of that," Brown said. "But I know, I'm interested in what's true, what is the circumstance. And that takes a clarity of mind, and an openness, and in some ways maybe some humility. But I do strive for that."
Humility is not a term often heard in politics -- here in Sacramento, and certainly not in our nation's capital.
Blackstone asked, "Does Washington have some things to learn about how political problems have been solved here in California?"
"In Washington, some of the people are afraid to pass a tax, because it affects the economy," said Brown. " Well, we created a million jobs with that new temporary tax. But we also cut, and we've made cuts that I think even in Washington, they've been reluctant to do.
"They gotta get out of their comfort zone, give up the ideological edges, and find what it means to be an American at heart."
The long, strange journey of Jerry Brown is far from over. And in the man who's spent much of his life wielding power, you can still recognize the searching seminarian who, 40 years ago, found himself at the helm of his state.
"If you could say something to that 36-year-old now," Blackstone said, "is there some advice you might give him?"
"You know, I don't know that you can give advice to young men in a hurry," Brown said. "I don't think I would have listened to it, if I had heard it then."
"Are you still in a hurry?"
"I don't feel quite in a hurry, but I do feel the same zeal," Brown said. "Virtually every morning, I get up excited about what I'm doing, ready to dig in, and I can't even explain to you why. I just love being governor, I like what I'm doing, and I think we're making some progress."
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