age quod agis
April 20, 2016 12:12 PM   Subscribe

 
was it the suede-denim secret police
posted by poffin boffin at 12:16 PM on April 20, 2016 [47 favorites]


Can he come to my state next?
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:23 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


He taught everybody to jog for the master race?
posted by jonp72 at 12:25 PM on April 20, 2016 [7 favorites]


IT'S A HOLIDAY IN CAMBO-ohwait
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:26 PM on April 20, 2016 [17 favorites]


Can we make him the governor of the Bay Area as well, because the housing/income inequality/traffic/law enforcement brutality issues are still pretty bad here
posted by Apocryphon at 12:29 PM on April 20, 2016 [5 favorites]


Jerry Brown: Both the youngest and the oldest governor in the history of the state! I would gladly vote for him over and over. He's not perfect but who is?

Now if he can figure out how to make water fall from the sky...
posted by Justinian at 12:31 PM on April 20, 2016 [11 favorites]


He was the mayor of Oakland but you can't really do much in the greater Bay Area because it's basically a single metropolis with 25 governments that refuse to talk to each other.
posted by murphy slaw at 12:32 PM on April 20, 2016 [22 favorites]


Yet nowhere in the article do the essential words "Democratic majority in the State Legislature" appear.
posted by twsf at 12:36 PM on April 20, 2016 [26 favorites]


Yeah, I have a lot of respect for Jerry Brown, who has accomplished a lot of good each time he has held public office*. As Justinian said, he isn't perfect, but he's soooooo much better at running this state than the never ending shitshow our previous governors starred in. And FWIW, I'd rank Arnie-the-gropenführer as the least-worst of our recent previous governors, as Gray Davis was a big, toadying POS who was in the back pocket of the state's prison-industrial complex.

*He also did a damn good job as mayor of Oakland -- no small feat!
posted by mosk at 12:40 PM on April 20, 2016 [4 favorites]


Yeah, we've got like 15 bigger problems now.
posted by lumpenprole at 12:54 PM on April 20, 2016 [4 favorites]


Yet nowhere in the article do the essential words "Democratic majority in the State Legislature" appear.

He and they have not always been on the best of terms.
posted by psoas at 12:58 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


His aura smiles and never frowns!

Seriously though, Jerry Brown is the best governor California has had since, well, Jerry Brown.
posted by entropicamericana at 1:00 PM on April 20, 2016 [19 favorites]


He and they have not always been on the best of terms.

Sure, but replace them with Republicans and tell me he'd have the same success. I'm not saying anyone could do the job -- many others have failed -- but let's not pretend his job isn't easier having members of his own party in control of the legislative process.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:00 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn didn't have particularly successful runs as Illinois governors with Democratic legislatures. Of course, Blagojevich had a singularly vexing problem in that he was Rod Blagojevich, and Quinn had decades of not-so-benign neglect to try to fix.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:04 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


He was the mayor of Oakland but you can't really do much in the greater Bay Area because it's basically a single metropolis with 25 governments that refuse to talk to each other.

Yeah, so I'm asking can the governor or some other state-level authority force municipalities and other local governments to consolidate? Not necessarily merge, but force them to assemble an intra-municipality association where they have to talk to each other. Does this require some sort to state constitutional amendment? Referenda?
posted by Apocryphon at 1:05 PM on April 20, 2016


Yet nowhere in the article do the essential words "Democratic majority in the State Legislature" appear.

Second article, sixth paragraph down: "That vote, along with solid Democratic majorities in the legislature, gave Brown flexibility."
posted by gyusan at 1:07 PM on April 20, 2016 [9 favorites]


Brown, by contrast, is far too inquisitive and restless for ideologies, which is why some sought to draft him into a 2016 presidential race in which Trump and Bernie Sanders have been the two candidates engendering the most enthusiasm, each offering unrealistic ideas involving border walls and class revolt.

Lumping Sanders with Trump is ridiculous, and it's a safe bet that Gov Brown would support Sanders over Trump every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
posted by Beholder at 1:07 PM on April 20, 2016 [17 favorites]


In other Jerry Brown news, it came out that he's selling his house in the Oakland hills. Any guesses what his plans are? Buying a bigger house? Leaving Oakland?

Apocryphon: "force them to assemble an intra-municipality association where they have to talk to each other."

I think the closest thing is the proposed ABAG-MTC merger. ABAG currently has the authority to force communities to create plans to build a certain amount of new housing and then sue them if they don't follow through on those plans. You can imagine this isn't popular.
posted by crazy with stars at 1:19 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn didn't have particularly successful runs as Illinois governors with Democratic legislatures. Of course, Blagojevich had a singularly vexing problem in that he was Rod Blagojevich, and Quinn had decades of not-so-benign neglect to try to fix.

My point wasn't that a Democratic legislature is sufficient to ensure success, but it does seem necessary.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:23 PM on April 20, 2016


Wrong second link I think, but that is good information, thanks.
posted by Apocryphon at 1:23 PM on April 20, 2016


I've lost the article I intended to link, but this one is interesting: "Could a new Bay Area agency force cities to build more housing?"
posted by crazy with stars at 1:33 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


Raised taxes and still has a 60% approval rating. That might be the most important sea change evidenced by the article.
posted by clawsoon at 1:58 PM on April 20, 2016 [9 favorites]


Raised taxes and still has a 60% approval rating. That might be the most important sea change evidenced by the article.

Exactly. Whatever else you want to say about Jerry Brown, he took office during a financial crisis, took a look at the state's crumbling revenue, said "welp, fuck it, looks like we're going to have to raise taxes," and then he did. And the sky didn't fall, and he didn't get drummed out of office by some astroturf tea part recall movement, and in fact the state's economy has been going gangbusters ever since. I mean, I'm not saying the tax increase caused that, but it didn't stop it, and that's the biggest lesson here, and the reason I consider the California legislature 100x more effective than the federal one at this particular moment in history.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 2:18 PM on April 20, 2016 [29 favorites]


I do realize that the governor is part of the executive branch, so substitute "government" for "legislature" up there I guess.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 2:20 PM on April 20, 2016


Let's not forget, when talking about the approval rating as it relates to the tax increase, that Californians voted for it as a ballot measure! It was "Governor Brown's tax measure," but it was on the ballot, and the people made it happen.
posted by eyesontheroad at 2:21 PM on April 20, 2016 [8 favorites]


I would just like to point out that he ran around Lake Merritt* (in Oakland**), by himself, in sweaty, soaked sweats and huffed and puffed just like a regular guy.

*As gondoliers rowed and sang.

**Try Oakland!
posted by uraniumwilly at 2:22 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


Joey Buttafoucault: " I mean, I'm not saying the tax increase caused that, but it didn't stop it, and that's the biggest lesson here, and the reason I consider the California legislature 100x more effective than the federal one at this particular moment in history."

I've lived in California since 1998, experiencing the many and glorious spectacles by the name of "California legislature" over those years, and the fact that I completely agree with this sentiment should tell you everything you need to know about just how dire the Congress situation is.
posted by scrump at 2:23 PM on April 20, 2016 [3 favorites]


The only small comfort I can offer, as a Californian, is that the Republicans did manage to be so hateful and so intransigent and hurt the state so visibly that they did finally piss the voters off enough to lose even the 1/3 foothold that let them block progress. So it can happen!
posted by tavella at 2:29 PM on April 20, 2016 [13 favorites]


Jerry has been great. He's not perfect; he has a tendency of Jerrysplaining education to schools and universities. But overall, thumbs up.
posted by persona au gratin at 2:51 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


He will be a true hero if he fixes Prop 13.
posted by persona au gratin at 2:52 PM on April 20, 2016 [7 favorites]


Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn didn't have particularly successful runs as Illinois governors with Democratic legislatures. Of course, Blagojevich had a singularly vexing problem in that he was Rod Blagojevich, and Quinn had decades of not-so-benign neglect to try to fix.

In comparison to the current governor of Illinois by any quantitative measure both those men were infinitely successful.
posted by srboisvert at 3:18 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


Exactly. Whatever else you want to say about Jerry Brown, he took office during a financial crisis, took a look at the state's crumbling revenue, said "welp, fuck it, looks like we're going to have to raise taxes," and then he did. And the sky didn't fall, and he didn't get drummed out of office by some astroturf tea part recall movement, and in fact the state's economy has been going gangbusters ever since.

I'm possibly not being cynical enough, but I think the reason all hell didn't break loose is because it was already loose and was running roughshod. Schwarzenegger's method of making things "better" was cut, cut, cut. I mean, he closed almost half of our state parks to spare the state budget. This is from the LA Times, 2009:
The extra cuts the governor made Tuesday -- $489 million -- took nearly $80 million that pays for workers who help abused and neglected children; $50 million from Healthy Families, which provides healthcare to children in low-income families; $50 million from services for developmentally delayed children under age 3; $16 million from domestic-violence programs; and $6.3 million from services for the elderly. Among other reductions was $6.2 million more from parks, which could result in the closure of 100, rather than 50, of California's 279 state parks.
He (and the Legislature, this one's not on just him) also gutted the budgets for the UC and CSU systems, which resulted in tuition hikes and enrollment freezes. Ditto the community college system -- students who couldn't get in to a UC or CSU also couldn't get into classes at community colleges because the community colleges had no money to offer classes.

And let's not forget that furloughs were imposed on state workers -- three unpaid days a month. Figure 20 work days a month, and that's like a 15% pay cut for people who worked for the state.

No one likes hearing "we need to raise taxes." But by the time Brown came along, his argument for raising taxes was basically an argument for putting an end to the austerity measures that Schwarzenegger enacted. That made the higher taxes palatable, and that's why the sky didn't fall. It was a fucking relief, is what it was, that someone figured out a way for us to climb out of the hole Schwarzenegger tossed us into while purporting to help us climb out of a hole the previous guy made.

Taxes may be higher, and CA definitely still has its problems, but Brown brought back a lot of things that Schwarzenegger took away, and those things make life better and easier for a lot of people.
posted by mudpuppie at 3:42 PM on April 20, 2016 [15 favorites]


I've been working on my list of best and worst California governors, and Jerry Brown's up there but he's also really screwed over higher education. He's also not done much to deal with the water situation in the state, well nothing meaningful. His dad's legacy is also a bit mixed. (Thankfully Pat Brown's vision for highways everywhere didn't quite happen. We have Reagan to thank for that.)

Right now I think Culbert Olson might be my winner.
posted by kendrak at 4:35 PM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


This article is weird: What did Jerry Brown actually do?

I have a sore spot because he was balls as a mayor. His run was so cynical - he's clearly addicted to being in office and he knew he could win since he had the biggest name, and of course he did win. He was notoriously closed-doored in his decision making and threw all his connections and political might into starting two high-profile charter schools while the rest of OUSD and most of West and East Oakland continued their crumbling trajectory. He brought police war games to Oakland and clearly didn't give crap one about this city except as as stepping stone back to the governor's office.

Meanwhile, what has he done as governor except sponsor one (yes, quite important) ballot measure?

This article is very short on specifics but does point out that he is doing nothing to help the housing crisis, has actually shitty environmental politics, and refuses to spend on social programs. He has not "Saved" California. California is fucking falling into the metaphorical ocean with no water and greater income inequality than ever before.
posted by latkes at 4:52 PM on April 20, 2016 [5 favorites]


Yeah, I can't think of many educators who have the love for Brown that I'm seeing here. I voted for him with enthusiasm but very quickly regretted it.
posted by wintersweet at 5:12 PM on April 20, 2016


kendrak: "I've been working on my list of best and worst California governors, and Jerry Brown's up there but he's also really screwed over higher education. "

Thus simultaneously appearing on both lists!
posted by scrump at 5:39 PM on April 20, 2016


I also think that tax raising initiative was helped by the fact that there was an even more severe, Overton Window shifting initiative to raise taxes on the ballot in the same year. It made Brown's look like a compromise. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd negotiated with the heiress who funded the other one to get both on the ballot. That's probably the only way to get rid of Prop 13 - have one initiative to repeal it and one to raise property taxes by 20%. Repeal looks moderate!

Don't get me started on the water stuff, as we've hashed that out in previous threads. The pain and suffering from the worst drought in recorded history has been a ton of sound and fury. Prop 1 in 2014 was another of his characteristic smorgasbords, one of the technocratic grab bag approaches that don't have a single giant thing to point to as Really Significant but did allow for a ton of money to be spent on every possible solution to easing the pain of a drought. And this one isn't nearly as bad - not nearly as bad - as it could have been if not for the conservation and storage policies Brown passed the last time he was in office.
posted by one_bean at 6:28 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yeah, education has gotten screwed over for sure, but I don't entirely blame Brown. It's more of a national Fuck You to teachers.

The best part of this article is that it refers to Trump as a "golden-haired man-baby." Trump is such a joke that calling him a man-baby is acceptable in a mainstream publication like Newsweek.
posted by guster4lovers at 9:47 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


The only small comfort I can offer, as a Californian, is that the Republicans did manage to be so hateful and so intransigent and hurt the state so visibly that they did finally piss the voters off enough to lose even the 1/3 foothold that let them block progress. So it can happen!

Let's be specific here. The Republicans couldn't keep their mouths shut about hating brown people. That is not an optimal strategy in California.
posted by rdr at 11:58 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


He brought police war games to Oakland and clearly didn't give crap one about this city except as as stepping stone back to the governor's office.

OTOH, he did push the 10K Plan, which certainly seems to have been a rousing success.
posted by asterix at 7:39 AM on April 21, 2016


That's true - I actually forgot that even though it was like his main thing. I do remember him as being solely focused on Uptown/Downtown, which really pissed me off at the time (abandoned East, West and North Oakland with their African American and immigrant families).

I honestly don't understand his specific policy actions well enough to know if we can attribute the current wealth of Uptown situation to him or not but while I totally disagree with his focus on this narrow section of Oakland, it does seem that he achieved his goals there.
posted by latkes at 8:06 AM on April 21, 2016


At least from my outsider's perspective he gets credit for Uptown. I'll have to look up the actual demographics later, but at least from what I see on a daily basis there are a lot of African-American residents; it's certainly not like the area has been whitewashed. And there seems to be a good mix of affordable housing, too.
posted by asterix at 9:01 AM on April 21, 2016


There is a 50(?) Unit low income housing development next to the Fox that is beautiful and great. There are also a lot of "market rate" (luxury) condos down there. Uptown has its goods and bads but he totally neglected the majority of the city to focus funds and development there.
posted by latkes at 6:13 PM on April 21, 2016


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