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Jerry Brown's Santa Rosa kickoff
Jerry Brown brought his campaign for governor to the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Hall on Wednesday. Brown talked about his time spent at the Russian River and his love for Sonoma County.
CRISTA JEREMIASON/The Press DemocratPublished: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 9:53 p.m.
Jerry Brown chose Santa Rosa to make his first foray onto the campaign trail in several weeks Wednesday night, rallying hundreds of Democratic Party faithful with a stump speech that held true to the candidate's off-the-cuff style.
Using no notes and with his suit jacket removed, the 72-year-old Brown spoke inside the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Hall on everything from pension reform to the benefits of meditation.
He argued that he has a broader base of experience in life and in politics than his opponent in the governor's race, Republican and former EBay executive Meg Whitman.
“I know all the mistakes. I've made them all,” Brown said.
Brown's appearance at the Vets Hall followed an exclusive fund-raising event at the McDonald Avenue home of former Congressman Doug Bosco, who has long known the attorney general and former governor.
Brown has been making fund-raising rounds for most of the summer as he wages an uphill money battle against Whitman, who has poured more than $100 million of her own money into her campaign.
Some Democrats have privately worried that Brown is letting the momentum get away from him by sticking to private events.
Brown, whose family vacationed at the Russian River when he was a child and whose father, Pat Brown, also served as governor, compared campaigning for governor to being on the rocky shore, grabbing hold of a rope swing and “letting go.”
But if people were hoping that his appearance at the Democratic rally was a sign that he is fully embracing the public fray, Brown squelched the idea in his opening remarks.
“The campaign starts after Labor Day,” he said. “Save your energy.”
Instead, Brown's 30-minute speech was short on specifics on how he would address the state's most vexing issues.
He mentioned California's budget deficit only briefly, and even then said revenues are still so high that he believes this is a “wonderful time in the state's history.”
He suggested that schools rely too much on testing to assess performance, saying “data doesn't measure teachers and students” while calling for a “village” approach to improving the state's education system.
Brown also mentioned pension reform, but only as an attack on Whitman, saying that when she quit EBay she paid herself $120 million and that 10 percent of the workforce was laid off.
“That's not the kind of pension reform we need,” he said.
Brown faced a friendly audience inside the Vets Hall, which was about three-quarters full. The event was sponsored by several Democratic Party groups in Sonoma County.
William Lyon and his wife Tara, both teachers in Santa Rosa, attended the event because they said they were curious to know more about Brown.
“I don't know much about his positions,” William Lyon said. “I'm a committed Democrat so I'm going to support him. But I don't know why.”
Donna Ryan, a retired Sonoma County prosecutor, said she is very familiar with Brown and that she used to not support him because he backed judges whose rulings affected search and seizure laws and applying the death penalty.
But now she's backing Brown, saying he has come full circle as attorney general and is being supported by many law enforcement organizations.
Brown lamented the fact that 22 prisons have been constructed in the state since he was governor. But he offered no details while calling for an overhaul of the state's criminal justice system.
He was critical of people who blame immigrants for the state's problems, saying immigrants were responsible for building the state.
He also expressed enthusiastic support for high-speed rail and locally based transit systems.
However, asked after the speech for his opinion on the plans for the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, Brown said, “I want to know a little more about that SMART Train.”
Asked also what he could do for Sonoma County that Whitman can't, Brown replied that he would raise the Russian River to historic levels.
About 20 Whitman supporters gathered with signs outside the Vets Hall to make their preferences known.
Lenny Lanterman, a substitute teacher from Windsor, held a sign that was critical of “Gov. Moonbeam.”
“He shut everything down in this state,” Lanterman said.
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