Jerry Brown Aide Overheard Calling Meg Whitman A 'Whore'
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — An aide to Attorney General Jerry Brown can be overheard on an audio tape released Thursday evening referring to Meg Whitman, Brown's rival for Governor, as "a whore."
The quote refers to Whitman's stance on pension reform.
The Brown camp was responding to Whitman's cutting a deal to protect police pensions as the two vie for police endorsements.
According to the LA Times, Brown left a voicemail message for Scott Rate, a union official.
Brown apparently believed he had hung up the phone, but the connection remained intact and the voice mail machine captured an ensuing conversation between Brown and his aides.
A second male voice can be heard saying, of the deal-making, "What about saying she's a whore?" Brown replies: "Well, I'm going to use that. It proves you've cut a secret deal to protect the pensions."
The tape was given to the LA Times by the Los Angeles police union.
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Brown campaign spokesman Sterling Clifford confirmed the authenticity of the tape but said Brown was responding to Whitman's cutting the deal and not the use of the word whore.
Sarah Pompei, spokesperson for the Whitman campaign, responded to the whore comment saying, "The use of the term 'whore' is an insult to both Meg Whitman and to the women of California. This is an appalling and unforgivable smear against Meg Whitman. At the very least Mr. Brown tacitly approved this despicable slur and he himself may have used the term at least once on this recording."
