Jerry Brown#1992 presidential election

Brown was born in San Francisco, California, the only son of four children born to district attorney of San Francisco and later governor of California, Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown Sr., and his wife, Bernice Layne.{{cite book |title=California after Arnold | last1=Cummings| first1=Stephen D.|last2= Reddy|first2= Patrick B.| publisher=Algora Publishing |date=September 14, 2009| page=179| isbn=978-0-87586-739-7 }} Brown's father was of half Irish and half German descent.{{harvnb|Rarick|2006|pp=8, 30}} His great-grandfather August Schuckman, a German immigrant, settled in California in 1852 during the California Gold Rush.{{Cite news|title=The people's will|url=http://www.economist.com/node/18563638|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=December 28, 2015|issn=0013-0613}}

"My great-grandfather left Germany, he left Hamburg in 1849 on a ship called Perseverance." —Jerry Brown

[https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/01/06/jerry-brown-politico-magazine-interview-223757/ Jerry Brown’s Midnight in America]

Brown was a member of the California Cadet Corps at St. Ignatius High School, where he graduated in 1955.{{Cite web|title=Cadets attend Governor's Inauguration {{!}} Riverside Preparatory School|url=http://www.riversideprep.net/cadet-corps/cadets-attend-governors-inauguration/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104201801/http://www.riversideprep.net/cadet-corps/cadets-attend-governors-inauguration/|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 4, 2016 |website=www.riversideprep.net|access-date=December 28, 2015}}{{Cite web|title=Jerry Brown: Latin Scholar and One-Time Almost Priest |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/12/jerry-brown-latin-scholar-and-one-time-almost-priest/282426/|website=The Atlantic|date=17 December 2013|access-date=December 28, 2015|language=en-US}} In 1955, Brown entered Santa Clara University for a year and left to attend Sacred Heart Novitiate, a Jesuit novice house in Los Gatos, intent on becoming a Catholic priest.{{cite book |title=Jerry Brown, the philosopher-prince |publisher=Stein and Day |author=Pack, Robert |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-8128-2437-7}} "A story appeared in the New York Times on May 16, 1976, reporting that Brown 'now admits he is no longer a practicing Roman Catholic.' The Times story prompted a member of the staff of The Monitor, the newspaper of the archdiocese of San Francisco, to query Brown, whose answer was, "I was born a Catholic. I was raised a Catholic. I am a Catholic." Brown resided at the novitiate from August 1956 to January 1960 before enrolling at the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in classics in 1961.{{cite web |url=http://gov.ca.gov/m_about.php |title=Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. - About |publisher=Gov.ca.gov |access-date=August 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703153459/http://gov.ca.gov/m_about.php |archive-date=July 3, 2014 |url-status=dead }}{{harvnb|Schell|1978|p=57}} With his tuition paid for by the Louis Lurie Foundation,{{harvnb|Schell|1978|pp=60–61}} including a $675 scholarship in 1963,{{cite news|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19700722.2.17|title=Probe Shows Politicians' Kids Received Scholarships|work=The Desert Sun|date=July 22, 1970|agency=United Press International|page=3}} Brown went on to Yale Law School and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1964. After law school, Brown worked as a law clerk for California Supreme Court justice Mathew Tobriner.

Returning to California, Brown took the state bar exam and passed on his second attempt.{{cite news |title=A High Bar for Lawyers |first=Maura |last=Dolan |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=3 |date=February 21, 2006 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-feb-21-me-bar21-story.html |access-date=March 11, 2010}} He then settled in Los Angeles and joined the law firm of Tuttle & Taylor. In 1969, Brown ran for the newly created Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees, which oversaw community colleges in the city; he placed first in a field of 124 and served until 1971.

{{Main|1970 California Secretary of State election}}

{{See also|Storer v. Brown|l1=Storer v. Brown}}

In 1970, Brown was elected California secretary of state. Brown argued before the California Supreme Court and won cases against Standard Oil of California, International Telephone and Telegraph, Gulf Oil, and Mobil for election law violations. In addition, he forced legislators to comply with campaign disclosure laws. Brown also drafted and helped to pass the California Political Reform Act of 1974, Proposition 9, passed by 70% of California's voters in June 1974. Among other provisions, it established the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

{{Main|1974 California gubernatorial election}}

File:Gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown speaking at political rally, 1974.jpg

In 1974, Brown ran in a highly contested Democratic primary for Governor of California against speaker of the California Assembly Bob Moretti, San Francisco mayor Joseph L. Alioto, Representative Jerome R. Waldie, and others. Brown won the primary with the name recognition of his father, Pat Brown, whom many people admired for his progressive administration.{{cite news|last=Kotkin |first=Joel |url=https://blogs.forbes.com/joelkotkin/2011/01/03/californias-third-brown-era/ |title=California's Third Brown Era – Joel Kotkin – New Geographer|work=Forbes |date=December 30, 2010 |access-date=January 21, 2011}} In the General Election on November 5, 1974, Brown was elected Governor of California over California state controller Houston I. Flournoy; Republicans ascribed the loss to anti-Republican feelings from Watergate, the election being held only ninety days after President Richard Nixon resigned from office. Brown succeeded Republican governor Ronald Reagan, who retired after two terms.

File:Jerry Brown 1974 Plymouth Satellite.jpg.]]

After taking office, Brown gained a reputation as a fiscal conservative.{{cite news |title=Gov. Brown, California |work=ABC News |date=August 23, 1975|author=Shoemaker, Dick}} The American Conservative later noted he was "much more of a fiscal conservative than Governor Reagan".{{cite news |title=Five Faces of Jerry Brown |url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/five-faces-of-jerry-brown// |work=American Conservative |date=November 1, 2009|author=Walker, Jesse |author-link=Jesse Walker}} His fiscal restraint resulted in one of the biggest budget surpluses in state history, roughly $5 billion.{{cite news |title=Brown, Whitman prepare for gubernatorial debate |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16188880 |agency=Associated Press |work=San Jose Mercury News |date=September 27, 2010 |author=Young, Samantha }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} For his personal life, Brown refused many of the privileges and perks of the office, forgoing the newly constructed 20,000 square-foot governor's residence in the suburb of Carmichael and instead renting a $275-per-month apartment at 1228 N Street, adjacent to Capitol Park in downtown Sacramento.{{harvnb|Bachelis|1986|p=68}}{{Harvnb|Schell|1978|pp=80–81}} Rather than riding as a passenger in a chauffeured limousine as previous governors had done, Brown walked to work and drove in a Plymouth Satellite sedan.{{cite news |first=Jennifer |last=Steinhauer |title=4 Ex-Governors Craving Jobs of Yore |date=December 5, 2009 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/us/politics/06govs.html|access-date=January 25, 2010}}{{cite web|title=Jerry Brown Meets Sgt. York & Flavor Flav|date=December 10, 2009|publisher=CalBuzz|url=http://www.calbuzz.com/2009/12/jerry-brown-meets-sgt-york-flavor-flav/|access-date=January 25, 2010|archive-date=January 9, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109082417/http://www.calbuzz.com/2009/12/jerry-brown-meets-sgt-york-flavor-flav/|url-status=dead}}{{Harvnb|Schell|1978|p=82}} When Gray Davis, who was chief of staff to Governor Brown, suggested that a hole in the rug in the governor's office be fixed, Brown responded: “That hole will save the state at least $500 million, because legislators cannot come down and pound on my desk demanding lots of money for their pet programs while looking at a hole in my rug!”{{ cite web | url=https://update.lib.berkeley.edu/2020/01/23/governor-gray-davis-on-jerry-brown/ | title=Governor Gray Davis on Governor Jerry Brown | last=Davis | first=Gray | author-link=Gray Davis | date=2020-01-23 | access-date=2020-10-20 | quote=Another example of the governor’s frugality occurred about three months into his administration. We were just finishing our morning meeting, when I mentioned to the governor that I had asked General Services to come over and not replace, but repair a 10-inch hole in the rug adjacent to his desk. “Why would you do that?” he asked. “Because it’s unseemly to have a hole in the governor’s rug.” The Governor answered: “That hole will save the state at least $500 million, because legislators cannot come down and pound on my desk demanding lots of money for their pet programs while looking at a hole in my rug!” }}

As governor, Brown took a strong interest in environmental issues. He appointed J. Baldwin to work in the newly created California Office of Appropriate Technology, Sim Van der Ryn as State Architect, Stewart Brand as Special Advisor, John Bryson as chairman of the California State Water Board. Brown also reorganized the California Arts Council, boosting its funding by 1300 percent and appointing artists to the council,{{cite web|url=http://ag.ca.gov/ag/brown.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119094345/http://ag.ca.gov/ag/brown.php|archive-date=November 19, 2009|title=Edmund G. Brown Jr.|publisher=California Office of the Attorney General|access-date=April 17, 2013}} and appointed more women and minorities to office than any other previous California governor. In 1977, he sponsored the "first-ever tax incentive for rooftop solar", among many environmental initiatives.{{cite news|author=COLIN SULLIVAN of Greenwire | url=https://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/10/08/08greenwire-jerry-browns-environmental-record-runs-deep-44334.html | title=Jerry Brown's Environmental Record Runs Deep |work=The New York Times |date=October 8, 2010 |access-date=October 13, 2010}} In 1975, Brown obtained the repeal of the "depletion allowance", a tax break for the state's oil industry, despite the efforts of lobbyist Joseph C. Shell, a former intraparty rival to Nixon.The decisive vote against the allowance was cast in the California State Senate by the usually pro-business Republican Senator Robert S. Stevens. Shell claimed that Stevens had promised him that he would support keeping the allowance: "He had shaken my hand and told me he was with me." Brown later rewarded Stevens with a judicial appointment, but Stevens was driven from the bench for making salacious telephone calls.{{cite news |url=http://www.sacbee.com/walters/story/844451.html |title=For Joe Shell, character trumped ideology in California politics |last=Walters |first=Dan|date=April 8, 2008|work=The Sacramento Bee |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423035846/http://www.sacbee.com/walters/story/844451.html|archive-date=April 23, 2008}}

In 1975, Brown opposed Vietnamese immigration to California, saying that the state had enough poor people. He added, “There is something a little strange about saying ‘Let's bring in 500,000 more people’ when we can't take care of the 1 million (Californians) out of work.”{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-jerry-brown-tried-to-keep-immigrants-out-of-california-1520634989|title=When Jerry Brown Tried to Keep Immigrants Out of California|first=Joseph|last=D’Hippolito|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=9 March 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/01/17/williams-why-dems-changed-course-on-illegal-immigration/|title=Williams: Why Dems changed course on illegal immigration|date=January 17, 2019}}

Brown strongly opposed the death penalty and vetoed it as governor, which the legislature overrode in 1977.{{Harvnb|Schell|1978|pp=232, 248–249}} He also appointed judges who opposed capital punishment. One of these appointments, Rose Bird as the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, was voted out in 1987 after a strong campaign financed by business interests upset by her "pro-labor" and "pro-free speech" rulings. The death penalty was only "a trumped-up excuse"{{cite web|url=http://www.cschs.org/02_history/images/CSCHS_2007-Brown.pdf|title=California Supreme Court History|work=California Supreme Court Historical Society|access-date=2018-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105014051/http://www.cschs.org/02_history/images/CSCHS_2007-Brown.pdf|archive-date=2013-11-05|url-status=dead}} to use against her, even though the Bird Court consistently upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty.{{cite news |title=Jerry Brown and the Rose Bird factor |url=http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2010/03/02/jerry-brown-and-rose-bird-factor |newspaper=San Francisco Bay Guardian |date=March 2, 2010 |last=Redmond |first=Tim}} In 1960, he lobbied his father, then governor, to spare the life of Caryl Chessman and reportedly won a 60-day stay for him.{{cite news |url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/CAMPAIGN-2006-State-attorney-general-Brown-s-2517600.php |title=Brown's rivals question commitment to death penalty |last=Zamora |first=Jim Herron |date=June 2, 2006 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=November 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623112947/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2006%2F06%2F02%2FBAGOTJ685P1.DTL |archive-date=June 23, 2006 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/20/books/he-was-their-last-resort.html |title=He Was Their Last Resort |last=Lewis |first=Anthony |date=August 20, 1989 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=November 19, 2009}}

Brown was both in favor of a Balanced Budget Amendment and initially opposed to Proposition 13, the latter of which would decrease property taxes and greatly reduce revenue to cities and counties.{{cite news |title=The parable of 'Jerry Jarvis' |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-mar-04-la-me-cap4-2010mar04-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=March 4, 2010 |last=Skelton |first=George}} After Prop 13 passed in June 1978, he changed course and declared himself a “born-again tax cutter.” He heavily cut state spending, and along with the Legislature, spent much of the $5 billion surplus to meet the proposition's requirements and help offset the revenue losses which made cities, counties, and schools more dependent on the state. His actions in response to the proposition earned him praise from Proposition 13 author Howard Jarvis who went as far as to make a television commercial for Brown just before his successful re-election bid in 1978. The controversial proposition immediately cut tax revenues and required a two-thirds supermajority to raise taxes.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/us/14calif.html |newspaper=The New York Times |first=Jesse |last=McKinley |title=A Candidate Finds Much Changed, and Little |date=March 13, 2010}} Max Neiman, a professor at the Institute of Governmental Studies at University of California, Berkeley, credited Brown for "bailing out local government and school districts", but felt it was harmful "because it made it easier for people to believe that Proposition 13 wasn't harmful". In an interview in 2014, Brown indicated that a "war chest" would have helped his campaign for an alternative to Proposition 13.{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-jerry-brown-20141019-story.html |title=An experienced Jerry Brown vows to build on what he's already done |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=October 19, 2014 |access-date=October 21, 2014}}

{{Main|1976 Democratic Party presidential primaries}}

File:JerryBrown.png in New York City]]

File:Democratic Convention in New York City, July 14, 1976. Cesar Chavez at podium, nominating Gov. Brown (cropped1).jpg nominating Brown at the 1976 Democratic National Convention]]

Brown began his first campaign for the Democratic nomination for president on March 16, 1976,{{harvnb|Schell|1978|p=3}} late in the primary season and over a year after some candidates had started campaigning. Brown declared: "The country is rich, but not so rich as we have been led to believe. The choice to do one thing may preclude another. In short, we are entering an era of limits."{{cite news|last=Nolte|first=Carl|title=California rides the wave |url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/California-Rides-the-Wave-Booming-growth-2928139.php|work=San Francisco Chronicle|access-date=November 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021128134856/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F1999%2F05%2F30%2FSC48827.DTL|archive-date=November 28, 2002|url-status=live|date=May 30, 1999|df=mdy-all}}{{cite news|last=Schmalz|first=Jeffrey|title=THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Candidate's Record; Brown Firm on What He Believes, But What He Believes Often Shifts|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/30/us/1992-campaign-candidate-s-record-brown-firm-what-he-believes-but-what-he.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 28, 2010|date=March 30, 1992}}

Brown's name began appearing on primary ballots in May and he won in Maryland, Nevada, and his home state of California.View archival news footage of Brown's campaign speech in Union Square, San Francisco on May 25, 1976: {{cite web|url=http://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/189401 |title=Jerry Brown Presidential Campaign in Union Square - Bay Area Television Archive |access-date=2016-11-08 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306125430/https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/189401 |archive-date=March 6, 2016 |df=mdy }}. He missed the deadline in Oregon, but he ran as a write-in candidate and finished in third behind Former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter and Senator Frank Church of Idaho. Brown is often credited with winning the New Jersey and Rhode Island primaries, but in reality, uncommitted slates of delegates that Brown advocated in those states finished first. With support from Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards, Brown won a majority of delegates at the Louisiana delegate selection convention; thus, Louisiana was the only southern state to not support Southerners Carter or Alabama governor George Wallace. Despite this success, he was unable to stall Carter's momentum, and his rival was nominated on the first ballot at the 1976 Democratic National Convention. Brown finished third with roughly 300 delegate votes, narrowly behind Congressman Morris Udall and Carter.

{{main|1978 California gubernatorial election}}

File:Governor Jerry Brown speaking before crowd at re-election rally on UCLA campus, 1978.jpg

Brown won re-election in 1978 against Republican state attorney general Evelle J. Younger. Brown appointed the first openly gay judge in the United States when he named Stephen Lachs to serve on the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 1979.{{Cite book |last1=Clendinen |first1=Dudley |last2=Nagourney |first2=Adam |title=Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America |url=https://archive.org/details/outforgoodstrugg0000clen |url-access=registration |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-81091-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/outforgoodstrugg0000clen/page/411 411]–412|year=1999 }} In 1981, he also appointed the first openly lesbian judge in the United States, Mary C. Morgan, to the San Francisco Municipal Court.Jim Schroeder, Twenty-five years of courtroom trauma The Advocate (August 23, 1994). Brown completed his second term having appointed a total of five gay judges, including Rand Schrader and Jerold Krieger.Tracy Wilkinson, [http://www.aegis.org/news/lt/1991/LT911129.html Municipal Court Judge Faces Challenge of AIDS – Disease] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813042722/http://www.aegis.org/news/lt/1991/LT911129.html |date=August 13, 2011 }}, Los Angeles Times (November 25, 1991).Myrna Oliver, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-feb-20-me-krieger20-story.html Judge Jerold Krieger, 58; Activist Helped Open Gay-Lesbian Temple], Los Angeles Times (February 20, 2002). Through his first term as governor, Brown had not appointed any openly gay people to any position, but he cited the failed 1978 Briggs Initiative, which sought to ban homosexuals from working in California's public schools, for his increased support of gay rights. The governor also signed AB 489, The Consenting Adult Sex Act, which decriminalized homosexual behavior between adults, adding to this reputation. He did, however, sign AB 607, which barred homosexual couples from receiving civil marriage licenses, in 1977.

File:Jerry Brown in 1978 crop.jpg

Brown championed the Peripheral Canal project to transport water from near Sacramento around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta into the Central Valley Project and export it to southern California. It was submitted to the voters for approval as a ballot proposition in 1982, but was turned down.{{Cite journal|last=Gwynn|first=Douglas|date=February 1983|title=The California Peripheral Canal: who backed it, who fought it|url=https://ucanr.edu/repositoryfiles/ca3701p22-70808.pdf|journal=California Agriculture|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604145356/https://ucanr.edu/repositoryfiles/ca3701p22-70808.pdf|archive-date=2016-06-04|url-status=dead}}

In 1981, Brown, who had established a reputation as a strong environmentalist, was confronted with a serious medfly infestation in the San Francisco Bay Area. The state's agricultural industry advised him, and the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), to authorize airborne spraying of the region. Initially, in accordance with his environmental protection stance, he chose to authorize ground-level spraying only. Unfortunately, the infestation spread as the medfly reproductive cycle out-paced the spraying. After more than a month, millions of dollars of crops had been destroyed, and billions of dollars more were threatened. Governor Brown then authorized a massive response to the infestation. Fleets of helicopters sprayed malathion at night, and the California National Guard set up highway checkpoints and collected many tons of local fruit; in the final stage of the campaign, entomologists released millions of sterile male medflies in an attempt to disrupt the insects' reproductive cycle.

Ultimately, the infestation was eradicated, but both the governor's delay and the scale of the action have remained controversial ever since. Some people claimed that malathion was toxic to humans, as well as insects. In response to such concerns, Brown's chief of staff, B. T. Collins, staged a news conference during which he publicly drank a glass of malathion. Many people complained that, while the malathion may not have been very toxic to humans, the aerosol spray containing it was corrosive to car paint.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/us/the-battle-over-the-medfly.html|title=The Battle Over the Medfly|last=Haberman|first=Clyde|date=2014-03-16|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-09-07}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/10/us/california-resumes-air-war-against-invading-fruit-fly-stirring-debate.html|title=California Resumes Air War Against Invading Fruit Fly, Stirring Debate|author=Alexandra Smith|date=1989-12-10|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-09-07}}

Brown proposed the establishment of a state space academy and the purchasing of a satellite that would be launched into orbit to provide emergency communications for the state—a proposal similar to one that was indeed eventually adopted. In 1979, an out-of-state columnist, Mike Royko, at the Chicago Sun-Times, picked up on the nickname from Brown's girlfriend at the time, Linda Ronstadt, who was quoted in a 1978 Rolling Stone magazine interview humorously calling him "Moonbeam".{{cite news |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/zach-friend/california-governors-race_b_611344.html |first=Zach |last=Friend |title=California Governor's Race: Why Moonbeam Will Win |work=The Huffington Post |date=June 14, 2010 |access-date=November 18, 2010}}{{cite news |title=Our Latest Export: Gov. Moonbeam--er, Brown |first=Mike |last=Royko |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 23, 1979 |page=C11 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/158869485 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2017 |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525064826/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/doc/158869485.html |url-status=live |id={{ProQuest|158869485}}}} A year later, Royko expressed his regret for publicizing the nickname,{{cite news |title=Gov. Moonbeam Has Landed |first=Mike |last=Royko |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=August 17, 1980 |page=E5 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/162909754 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2017 |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525064829/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/doc/162909754.html |url-status=live |id={{ProQuest|162909754}}}} and in 1991 Royko disavowed it entirely, proclaiming Brown to be just as serious as any other politician.{{cite news |last=McKinley |first=Jesse |title=How Jerry Brown Became 'Governor Moonbeam' |newspaper=The New York Times |page=WK5 |date=March 7, 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/weekinreview/07mckinley.html |access-date=March 8, 2010}}{{cite news |title=Time to eclipse the 'moonbeam' label |first=Mike |last=Royko |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=September 10, 1991 |quote=By now, the label had surely faded away, especially since Brown is obviously a serious man and every bit as normal as the next candidate, if not more so. |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/09/04/time-to-eclipse-moonbeam-label/}}

Some notable figures were given priority correspondence access to him in either advisory or personal roles. These included United Farm Workers of America founder Cesar Chavez, Hewlett-Packard co-founder David Packard, labor leader Jack Henning, and Charles Manatt, then-Chairman of the California State Democratic Party. Mail was routed as VIP to be delivered directly to the governor. However, it is unclear as to exactly how long this may have occurred.{{cite news |author=Davis, Chase |url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/List-reveals-who-had-Jerry-Brown-s-ear-in-79-3250206.php |title=List reveals who had Jerry Brown's ear in '79 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|agency=California Watch |date=October 10, 2010 |access-date=November 18, 2017}}

In 1978, San Francisco punk band the Dead Kennedys' first single, "California über alles", from the album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, was released; it was performed from the perspective of then-governor Brown painting a picture of a hippie-fascist state, satirizing what they considered his mandating of liberal ideas in a fascist manner, commenting on what lyricist Jello Biafra saw as the corrosive nature of power. The imaginary Brown had become President Brown presiding over secret police and gas chambers. Biafra later said in an interview with Nardwuar that he now feels differently about Brown; as it turned out, Brown was not as bad as Biafra thought he would be, and subsequent songs have been written about other politicians deemed worse.{{cite news |first=John |last=Ruskin |url=http://www.nardwuar.com/vs/jello_biafra/jello-2002_page-2.html |title=Nardwuar the Human Serviette vs Jello Biafra |publisher=Nardwuar |year=2002 |access-date=April 21, 2009 |archive-date=September 11, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911165621/http://www.nardwuar.com/vs/jello_biafra/jello-2002_page-2.html |url-status=dead }}

Brown chose not to run for a third term in 1982, and instead ran for the United States Senate, but lost to San Diego mayor Pete Wilson. He was succeeded as governor by George Deukmejian, then state attorney general, on January 3, 1983.

{{Main|1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries}}

File:Jerry Brown, 1980.jpg

In 1980, Brown challenged Carter for renomination. The press had anticipated his candidacy ever since he won re-election as governor in 1978 over the Republican Evelle Younger by 1.3 million votes, the largest margin in California history. But Brown had trouble gaining traction in both fundraising and polling for the presidential nomination. This was widely believed to be because of the more prominent candidate Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. Brown's 1980 platform, which he declared to be the natural result of combining Buckminster Fuller's visions of the future and E. F. Schumacher's theory of "Buddhist economics", was much expanded from 1976. His "era of limits" slogan was replaced by a promise to, in his words, "Protect the Earth, serve the people, and explore the universe".

Three main planks of his platform were a call for a constitutional convention to ratify the Balanced Budget Amendment; a promise to increase funds for the space program as a "first step in bringing us toward a solar-powered space satellite to provide solar energy for this planet";{{cite news|last=Rood|first=W.B.|date=September 26, 1979|title=Brown proposes $2 billion revival of space program|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|page=B9|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/651211032.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411161506/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/651211032.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 11, 2013|quote=He called it the 'first step in bringing us toward a solar-powered space satellite to provide solar energy for this planet.'}} and, in the wake of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, opposition to nuclear power. On the subject of the 1979 energy crisis, Brown decried the "Faustian bargain" that he claimed Carter had entered into with the oil industry, and declared that he would greatly increase federal funding of research into solar power. He endorsed the idea of mandatory non-military national service for the nation's youth. He suggested that the Defense Department cut back on support troops while beefing up the number of combat troops.

Brown opposed Kennedy's call for universal national health insurance and opposed Carter's call for an employer mandate to provide catastrophic private health insurance labeling it socialist.{{cite news|last=Kempster|first=Norman|date=November 11, 1979|title=Brown calls opponents' health insurance programs part of a 'medical arms race'|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|page=A4|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/647930002.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|quote=As an alternative, the governor suggested a program of tax credits as a 'wellness incentive' for people who do not smoke or otherwise damage their own health. He admitted that he had not worked out all of the details of such a plan, but he promised to offer the specifics later. Arguing that most illness is caused by occupational hazards, environmental pollution, and bad habits, Brown said 'Those who abuse their bodies should not abuse the rest of us by taking our tax dollars.'|access-date=July 6, 2017|archive-date=April 11, 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411171108/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/647930002.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|url-status=dead}}
{{cite news|last=Claffey|first=Charles E.|date=November 11, 1979|title=Brown's health plan outlined at Harvard|newspaper=The Boston Globe|page=1|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1994161312.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|quote=He also would expand such unorthodox medical procedures as acupuncture and midwifery.|access-date=July 6, 2017|archive-date=April 11, 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411161727/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1994161312.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|url-status=dead}} As an alternative, he suggested a program of tax credits for those who do not smoke or otherwise damage their health, saying: "Those who abuse their bodies should not abuse the rest of us by taking our tax dollars." Brown also called for expanding the use of acupuncture and midwifery.

As Brown's campaign began to attract more members of what some more conservative commentators described as "the fringe", including activists like Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden, and Jesse Jackson, his polling numbers began to suffer. Brown received only 10 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, and he was soon forced to announce that his decision to remain in the race would depend on a good showing in the Wisconsin primary. Although he had polled well there throughout the primary season, an attempt to film a live speech in Madison, the state's capital, into a special effects-filled, 30-minute commercial (produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola) was disastrous.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LoQwAAAAIBAJ&pg=3829,2892425&dq=jerry-brown+francis-ford-coppola+commercial |title= Jerry Brown Francis Ford Coppola Comercial|format=Search Result|access-date=November 18, 2010}}

In 1982, Brown chose not to seek a third term as governor; instead, he ran for the United States Senate for the seat being vacated by Republican S. I. Hayakawa. He was defeated by Republican San Diego mayor Pete Wilson by a margin of 52% to 45%. After his Senate defeat, Brown was left with few political options.{{cite news|title=Brown beaten in Senate bid|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PccUAAAAIBAJ&pg=5798,434388&dq=jerry-brown+pete-wilson|access-date=October 6, 2010|newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard|date=November 2, 1982|agency=Associated Press}} Republican George Deukmejian, a Brown critic, narrowly won the governorship in 1982, succeeding Brown, and was re-elected overwhelmingly in 1986. After his Senate defeat in 1982, many considered Brown's political career to be over.

Brown traveled to Japan to study Buddhism, studying with Christian/Zen practitioner Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle under Yamada Koun-roshi. In an interview, he explained, "Since politics is based on illusions, zazen definitely provides new insights for a politician. I then come back into the world of California and politics, with critical distance from some of my more comfortable assumptions."{{cite web |last=Branfman |first=Fred |url=https://www.salon.com/1996/06/03/interview960603/ |title=The SALON Interview: Jerry Brown |work=Salon |date=June 3, 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010708000719/http://www.salon.com/weekly/interview960603.html |archive-date=July 8, 2001 |access-date=November 18, 2017 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}} He also visited Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India, where he ministered to the sick in one of her hospices.{{cite news|title=Jerry Brown: On a quest for change|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9OUiAAAAIBAJ&pg=6799,1076438&dq=jerry-brown+mother-teresa|access-date=October 6, 2010|newspaper=The Times-News|date=March 6, 1992|agency=Associated Press}} He explained, "Politics is a power struggle to get to the top of the heap. Calcutta and Mother Teresa are about working with those who are at the bottom of the heap. And to see them as no different from yourself, and their needs as important as your needs. And you're there to serve them, and doing that you are attaining as great a state of being as you can."

Upon his return from abroad in 1988, Brown announced that he would stand as a candidate to become chairman of the California Democratic Party, and won against investment banker Steve Westly.{{cite news|title=JERRY BROWN WINS STATE PARTY POST|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA071EF8395D0C708DDDAB0894D1484D81 |access-date=October 6, 2010|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 13, 1989}} Although Brown greatly expanded the party's donor base and enlarged its coffers, with a focus on grassroots organizing and get out the vote drives, he was criticized for not spending enough money on TV ads, which was felt to have contributed to Democratic losses in several close races in 1990, such as Dianne Feinstein's attempt to become the first female governor of California. In early 1991, Brown abruptly resigned his post and announced that he would run for the Senate seat held by the retiring Alan Cranston. Although Brown consistently led in the polls for both the nomination and the general election, he abandoned the campaign, deciding instead to run for the presidency for the third time.

{{Main|Jerry Brown 1992 presidential campaign|1992 Democratic Party presidential primaries}}

When Brown announced his intention to run for president against President George H. W. Bush, many in the media and his own party dismissed his campaign as having little chance of gaining significant support. Ignoring them, Brown embarked on a grassroots campaign to, in his own words, "take back America from the confederacy of corruption, careerism, and campaign consulting in Washington".{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dr2FAAAAMAAJ |title=The CQ guide to current American government, Volume 49 |date=October 13, 2008 |access-date=November 18, 2010}} In his stump speech, first used while announcing his candidacy on the steps of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Brown said he would accept campaign contributions from individuals only and that he would not accept more than $100. Continuing with his populist reform theme, he assailed what he dubbed "the bipartisan Incumbent Party in Washington" and called for term limits for members of Congress. Citing various recent scandals on Capitol Hill, particularly the recent House banking scandal and the large congressional pay raises of 1990, he promised to put an end to Congress being a "Stop-and-Shop for the moneyed special interests".

As Brown campaigned in various primary states, he expanded his platform beyond a policy of strict campaign finance reform. Although he focused on a variety of issues during the campaign, he highlighted his endorsement of living wage laws and opposition to free trade agreements such as NAFTA; he mostly concentrated on his tax policy, which had been created specifically for him by Arthur Laffer, the famous supporter of supply-side economics who created the Laffer curve. This plan, which called for the replacement of the progressive income tax with a flat tax and a value added tax, both at a fixed 13% rate, was decried by his opponents as regressive. Nevertheless, it was endorsed by The New York Times, The New Republic, and Forbes, and its raising of taxes on corporations and elimination of various loopholes that tended to favor the very wealthy proved popular with voters. Various opinion polls at the time found that as many as three-quarters of Americans believed the current tax code was biased toward the wealthy.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} Jesse Walker wrote in The American Conservative that he "seemed to be the most left-wing and right-wing man in the field ... [calling] for term limits, a flat tax, reforming social security, and the abolition of the Department of Education".Walker, Jesse (November 1, 2009) [http://www.amconmag.com/article/2009/nov/01/00012/ Five Faces of Jerry Brown] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629141411/http://www.amconmag.com/article/2009/nov/01/00012/ |date=June 29, 2011 }}, The American Conservative Brown scored surprising wins in Connecticut and Colorado and seemed poised to overtake Clinton.

Due to his limited budget, Brown began to use a mixture of alternative media and unusual fundraising techniques. Unable to pay for actual commercials, he frequently used cable television and talk radio interviews as a form of free media to get his message out. To raise funds, he purchased a toll-free telephone number. During the campaign, Brown's repetition of this number and moralistic language led some to call him a "political televangelist" with an "anti-politics gospel"."Brown Enters Race as Leader Against 'Corrupt Politics'", Associated Press, October 22, 1991. Page A3.

Despite poor showings in the Iowa caucus (1.6%) and the New Hampshire primary (8%), Brown won narrow victories in Maine, Colorado, Nevada, and Vermont, but he continued to be considered a small threat for much of the campaign. It was not until shortly after Super Tuesday, when the field had been narrowed to Brown, former senator Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, and front-runner then-governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, that Brown began to emerge as a major contender in the eyes of the press. On March 17, Brown received a strong third-place showing in the Illinois and Michigan primaries, and Tsongas dropped out of the race. A week later, he cemented his position as a major threat to Clinton when he eked out a narrow win in the bitterly fought Connecticut primary.

As the press focused on the primaries in New York and Wisconsin, which were held on the same day, Brown, who had taken the lead in polls in both states, made a gaffe: he announced to an audience of various leaders of New York City's Jewish community that, if nominated, he would consider Jesse Jackson as his running mate.{{cite news|last=Dowd |first=Maureen |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10614F839540C708CDDAD0894DA494D81 |title=THE 1992 CAMPAIGN – Brown – Candidate Is Tripped Up Over Alliance With Jackson |location=New York State |work=The New York Times |date=April 3, 1992 |access-date=October 13, 2010}} Jackson, who had made a pair of antisemitic comments about Jews in general, and New York City's Jews in particular, while running for president in 1984, was still mistrusted by the Jewish community. Jackson also had ties to Louis Farrakhan, infamous for his own antisemitic statements, and to Yasir Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Brown's polling numbers suffered. On April 7, he lost narrowly to Bill Clinton in Wisconsin (37%–34%), and dramatically in New York (41%–26%).

Brown continued to campaign, but won no further primaries. Despite being overwhelmingly outspent, he won upset victories in seven states and his "votes won to the money raised ratio" was by far the best of any candidate's in the race.{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/a-modern-populist-movemen_b_639408.html |title=Mike Lux: A Modern Populist Movement |work=The Huffington Post |date=July 8, 2010|access-date=October 13, 2010}} He had a sizable number of delegates, and a big win in his home state of California would have deprived Clinton of sufficient support to win the Democratic nomination, possibly bringing about a brokered convention. After nearly a month of intense campaigning and multiple debates between the two candidates, Clinton managed to defeat Brown in this final primary, 48% to 41%. Brown did not win the nomination, but was able to boast of one accomplishment: at the following month's Democratic National Convention, he received the votes of 596 delegates on the first ballot, more than any other candidate but Clinton. He spoke at the convention, and to the national viewing audience, yet without endorsing Clinton, through the device of seconding his own nomination. There was animosity between the Brown and Clinton campaigns, and Brown was the first political figure to criticize Bill Clinton over what became known as the Whitewater controversy.{{cite news |title=The OTHER Big Problem With Hillary's Notorious Remarks |first=William |last=Bradley |newspaper=The Huffington Post |date=May 25, 2008 |access-date=March 11, 2010 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-bradley/the-other-big-problem-wit_b_103478.html}}

After his 1992 presidential bid, Brown had moved from the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco to the Jack London District neighborhood of Oakland, California,{{cite web |last1=Barabak |first1=Mark Z. |last2=La Ganga |first2=Maria L. |title=Jerry Brown Enters Race for Oakland Mayor |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-oct-29-mn-47898-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=5 December 2019 |date=29 October 1997}} an "overwhelmingly minority city of 400,000".{{cite web|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15916879?nclick_check=1 |title=Jerry Brown's years as Oakland mayor set stage for political comeback|work=San Jose Mercury News |date=August 29, 2010 |access-date=October 13, 2010}} He constructed a multi-million dollar work-live complex, serving both as his residence and as a workspace. Among other features, it included a broadcast studio and a 400-seat auditorium.{{cite web |last1=West |first1=Paul |title=Jerry Brown as Oakland's mayor? Champion: The idealistic former governor and presidential hopeful has found a city where he can make a difference -- small enough to get things done, big enough to be a national model. |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1998-05-28-1998148034-story.html |work=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=5 December 2019 |date=28 May 1998}}

Brown launched a national talk radio show from his Oakland complex, which he would continue to produce until October 1997.

In 1995, with Brown's political career at a low point, in the motion picture Jade, the fictional governor of California tells an assistant district attorney to drop a case, "unless you want as much of a future in this state as Jerry Brown". The assistant DA responds, "Who's Jerry Brown?"{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-04-25/jerry-brown-californias-grownup-governor|title=How Jerry Brown Scared California Straight|last=Stein|first=Joel|date=April 25, 2013|work=Bloomberg Business}}

In Oakland, Brown became involved as an activist in local political matters, including bay-front development and campaign finance reform. In 1996, Brown unsuccessfully urged Oakland mayor Elihu Harris to appoint him to a seat on the Oakland Port Commission.

File:Brown, Feinstein, Newsome.JPG (middle) and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom (right) in 2007]]

After Oakland mayor Elihu Harris decided against seeking reelection, Brown ran in the city's 1998 mayoral election as an independent "having left the Democratic Party, blasting what he called the 'deeply corrupted' two-party system". He won with 59% of the vote in a field of ten candidates.

Prior to taking office, Brown campaigned to get the approval of the electorate to convert Oakland's "weak mayor" political structure, which structured the mayor as chairman of the city council and official greeter, to a "strong mayor" structure, where the mayor would act as chief executive over the nonpolitical and thus the various city departments, and break tie votes on the Oakland City Council. In November 1998, Oakland's electorate voted by a landslide margin of 3 to 1 in support of Measure X, which would shift the city government to the strong mayor model for a period of six years.{{cite web |last1=DelVecchio |first1=Rick |last2=Holtz |first2=Debra Levi |title=Measure X Victory for Jerry Brown / Strong-mayor initiative OKd by Oakland voters |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Measure-X-Victory-for-Jerry-Brown-Strong-mayor-2981070.php |publisher=SFGate |access-date=12 December 2019 |date=4 November 1998}}{{cite book |last1=Svara |first1=James H. |last2=Watson |first2=Douglas J. |title=More than Mayor or Manager: Campaigns to Change Form of Government in America's Large Cities |date=2010 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |isbn=978-1-58901-620-0 |pages=121–138 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUDsPHOnkGEC |access-date=12 December 2019 |language=en}} A referendum permanently extending Measure X later passed in 2004, after failing to pass in 2002, thus making permanent the city's shift to the strong mayor model of governance.

The political left had hoped for some of the more progressive politics from Brown's earlier governorship, but found Brown, as mayor, to be "more pragmatic than progressive, more interested in downtown redevelopment and economic growth than political ideology".{{cite news|url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/johnson/article/City-awaits-word-from-Dellums-2604062.php|title=City awaits word from Dellums |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=October 7, 2005 |access-date=November 18, 2017 |first=Chip |last=Johnson}} As mayor, he invited the U.S. Marine Corps to use Oakland harbor lands for mock military exercises as part of Operation Urban Warrior.{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Henry K. |last2=Hamburg |first2=Laura |title=War Games Come Ashore In East Bay / Chanting protesters greet Marines and helicopters |url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/War-Games-Come-Ashore-In-East-Bay-Chanting-2941929.php |access-date=November 18, 2017 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=March 16, 1999}}

The city was rapidly losing residents and businesses, and Brown is credited with starting the revitalization of the city using his connections and experience to lessen the economic downturn while attracting $1 billion of investments, including refurbishing the Fox Theatre, the Port of Oakland, and Jack London Square. The downtown district was losing retailers, restaurateurs and residential developers, and Brown sought to attract thousands of new residents with disposable income to revitalize the area.{{cite news|url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/CAMPAIGN-2006-Oakland-Mayor-Candidates-agree-2541221.php |title=CAMPAIGN 2006: Oakland Mayor / Candidates agree on increasing housing / They differ on how to assist middle-, low-income families|work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=February 19, 2006 |access-date=November 18, 2017 |first=Christopher |last=Heredia}} Brown continued his predecessor Elihu Harris's public policy of supporting downtown housing development in the area defined as the Central Business District in Oakland's 1998 General Plan.{{cite news|url=http://www.eastbayexpress.com/news/inflating_the_numbers/Content?oid=323334 |title=Inflating the Numbers, The Brown administration came very close on the 10K Plan. So why the grade inflation? |newspaper=East Bay Express |author=Robert Gammon |date=January 3, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230101059/http://www.eastbayexpress.com/news/inflating_the_numbers/Content?oid=323334 |archive-date=December 30, 2008 }} Since Brown worked toward the stated goal of bringing an additional 10,000 residents to Downtown Oakland, his plan was known as the "10k Plan". It has resulted in redevelopment projects in the Jack London District, where Brown himself had earlier purchased and later sold an industrial warehouse which he used as a personal residence, and in the Lakeside Apartments District near Lake Merritt. The 10K plan has touched the historic Old Oakland district, the Chinatown district, the Uptown district, and Downtown. Brown surpassed the stated goal of attracting 10,000 residents according to city records, and built more affordable housing than previous mayoral administrations.

Brown had campaigned on fixing Oakland's schools, but "bureaucratic battles" dampened his efforts. He concedes he never had control of the schools, and his reform efforts were "largely a bust". He focused instead on the creation of two charter schools, the Oakland School for the Arts and the Oakland Military Institute. Defending his support of a military charter school in Oakland, Brown once told KQED reporter Stephen Talbot, "I believe that had I been sent to the military academy, as my mother and father threatened, I would have been president a long time ago."Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/ZAfltGwzgpI Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20140727222808/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAfltGwzgpI Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAfltGwzgpI|title=Educating Oakland: Jerry Brown Re-Invents Himself as Mayor of Oakland|date=May 15, 2014 |via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}

Brown sponsored nearly two dozen crime initiatives to reduce the crime rate,{{cite news |url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Jerry-Brown-is-ex-mayor-not-Gov-Moonbeam-3270689.php |title=Jerry Brown is ex-mayor, not Gov. Moonbeam |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=March 9, 2010 |access-date=November 18, 2017 |first=Chip |last=Johnson}} although crime decreased by 13 percent overall, the city still suffered a "57 percent spike in homicides his final year in office, to 148 overall".

Brown's largely successful first term as mayor of Oakland was documented in a one-hour KQED documentary, "The Celebrity and the City" (2001) that evaluated his record in dealing with his four stated goals: reducing crime, improving education, attracting 10,000 new residents to a resurgent downtown, and encouraging the arts.{{cite web|last=Talbot|first=Stephen|title=The Celebrity and the City|work=KQED|url=http://cironline.org/blog/post/no-2nd-acts-politics-4-clips-look-back-jerry-browns-career-6423|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122062452/http://cironline.org/blog/post/no-2nd-acts-politics-4-clips-look-back-jerry-browns-career-6423|archive-date=January 22, 2016|df=mdy-all}}

Brown was reelected as mayor in 2002.

{{main|2006 California Attorney General election}}

File:JerryBrownByPhilKonstantin.jpg

In 2004, Brown expressed interest to be a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General of California in the 2006 election, and in May 2004, he formally filed to run. He defeated his Democratic primary opponent, Los Angeles city attorney Rocky Delgadillo, 63% to 37%. In the general election, Brown defeated Republican state senator Charles Poochigian 56.3% to 38.2%, one of the largest margins of victory in any statewide California race.{{cite web|last=McPherson|first=Bruce |author-link=Bruce McPherson|url=http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/sov/2006_general/complete_sov.pdf|title="Statement of Vote", 2006|work=Elections & Voter Information|publisher=California Secretary of State's Office|access-date=June 12, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070107113900/http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/sov/2006_general/complete_sov.pdf|archive-date=January 7, 2007|df=mdy-all}} In the final weeks leading up to Election Day, Brown's eligibility to run for attorney general was challenged in what Brown called a "political stunt by a Republican office seeker" (Contra Costa County Republican Central Committee chairman and state GOP vice-chair candidate Tom Del Beccaro). Plaintiffs claimed Brown did not meet eligibility according to California Government Code §12503, "No person shall be eligible to the office of Attorney General unless he shall have been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the state for a period of at least five years immediately preceding his election or appointment to such office." Some legal analysts called the lawsuit frivolous because Brown was admitted to practice law in the State of California on June 14, 1965, and had been so admitted to practice ever since. Although ineligible to practice law because of his voluntary inactive status in the State Bar of California from January 1, 1997, to May 1, 2003, he was nevertheless still admitted to practice. Because of this distinction the case was eventually thrown out.{{cite news|url=http://www.metnews.com/articles/2006/editorial102006.htm|title=Editorial: GOP Volunteers Disgrace Party by Opposition to Kennard, Suit Against Brown|work=Metropolitan News-Enterprise|page=6|date=October 23, 2006|access-date=June 12, 2007}}{{cite news|first=Josh|last=Richman|url=http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_5201111|title=Judge dismisses suit against Brown|work=Oakland Tribune|date=February 10, 2007|access-date=June 12, 2007}}

As attorney general, Brown represented the state in fighting death-penalty appeals and stated that he would follow the law, regardless of his personal beliefs against capital punishment. Capital punishment by lethal injection was halted in California by federal judge Jeremy D. Fogel until new facilities and procedures were put into place.{{cite news|last=Williams|first=Carol J.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-sep-22-la-me-lethal-injection-chamber-20100922-story.html|title=Clock is ticking on first execution at San Quentin's revamped death chamber|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=September 26, 2010|date=September 22, 2010}} Brown moved to resume capital punishment in 2010 with the execution of Albert Greenwood Brown after the lifting of a statewide moratorium by a California court.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/brown-wants-executions-to-resume-in-california/509-020a587a-ac65-415d-b98f-2e73b3bcc440 |title=Brown Wants Executions To Resume In California|work=CBS News|agency=Associated Press|access-date=September 27, 2010|date=September 22, 2010 }}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Brown's Democratic campaign, which pledged to "enforce the laws" of California, denied any connection between the case and the gubernatorial election. Prosecutor Rod Pacheco, who supported Republican opponent Meg Whitman, said that it would be unfair to accuse Brown of using the execution for political gain as they never discussed the case.{{cite news|last=Elias|first=Paul|url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2021510,00.html|title=Timing of Calif. Execution Questioned|magazine=Time|agency=Associated Press|access-date=September 27, 2010|date=September 25, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100927180545/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2021510,00.html|archive-date=September 27, 2010|df=mdy-all}}

In June 2008, Brown filed a fraud lawsuit claiming mortgage lender Countrywide Financial engaged in "unfair and deceptive" practices to get homeowners to apply for risky mortgages far beyond their means.{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mortgage_suit_25jun25,0,3774900.story |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221111010105/https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mortgage_suit_25jun25,0,3774900.story |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 11, 2022 |title=State's suit to target mortgage lender for unfair practices |work=Chicago Tribune |date=June 25, 2008 |access-date=June 25, 2008 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-countrywide-illinois-lawsuit,0,4219028.story |title=Illinois AG sues Countrywide over lending practices |agency=Associated Press |date=June 25, 2008 |access-date=June 25, 2008 |work=Chicago Tribune |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628162101/http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-countrywide-illinois-lawsuit%2C0%2C4219028.story |archive-date=June 28, 2008 |df=mdy-all}} Brown accused the lender of breaking the state's laws against false advertising and unfair business practices. The lawsuit also claimed the defendant misled many consumers by misinforming them about the workings of certain mortgages such as adjustable-rate mortgages, interest-only loans, low-documentation loans and home-equity loans while telling borrowers they would be able to refinance before the interest rate on their loans adjusted.{{cite news |url=https://money.cnn.com/2008/06/25/real_estate/countrywide_california.ap/index.htm?section=money_latest |title=California sues Countrywide |publisher=CNN Money.com |date=June 25, 2008 |access-date=June 25, 2008}} {{Dead link|date=August 2012|bot=RjwilmsiBot}} The suit was settled in October 2008 after Bank of America acquired Countrywide. The settlement involved the modifying of troubled 'predatory loans' up to $8.4 billion.{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna27050659 |title=BofA to pay $8 billion over subprime suit |work=NBC News |date=October 6, 2008 |access-date=November 18, 2010}}

Proposition 8, a contentious voter-approved amendment to the state constitution that banned same-sex marriage was upheld in May 2009 by the California Supreme Court.{{cite news|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/mar/02/ca-gay-marriage-glance-030209/?zIndex=60748|title=Calif. Sup. Ct. arguments on Prop. 8, at a glance|agency=Associated Press|date=March 1, 2009|access-date=August 6, 2010}}{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/26/california.same.sex.marriage/index.html|title=California high court upholds same-sex marriage ban|work=CNN|date=May 26, 2009|access-date=May 26, 2009}} In August 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Proposition 8 violated the Due Process and the Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.{{cite web |url=https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/files/09cv2292-ORDER.pdf |title=N:\Katharine Van Dusen\Civil\Perry v Schwarzenegger 09-2292\Findings\FF & CL FINAL.wpd |access-date=January 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316191210/https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/files/09cv2292-ORDER.pdf |archive-date=March 16, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} Brown and then Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger both declined to appeal the ruling.{{cite web|last=Willon|first=Phil |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-oct-06-la-me-attorney-general-20101005-story.html |title=Attorney general candidates offer differing visions of post |work=Los Angeles Times |date=6 October 2010 |access-date=July 14, 2013}} The state appeals court declined to order the governor or Attorney-General Brown to defend the proposition.{{cite web|url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/09/03/Court-Calif-need-not-defend-Prop-8/UPI-98841283559390/ |title=Court: Calif. need not defend Prop 8 |work=United Press International |date=September 3, 2010 |access-date=October 13, 2010}}

{{Main|2010 California gubernatorial election}}

File:Jerry Brown rally G.jpg two days before the election in 2010]]

Brown announced his candidacy for governor on March 2, 2010.{{cite news|author=Kernis, Jay|title=Intriguing people for March 2, 2010|url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/02/mip.tuesday/|date=March 2, 2010|work=CNN|access-date=March 6, 2010}} First indicating his interest in early 2008, Brown formed an exploratory committee in order to seek a third term as governor in 2010, following the expiration of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's term.{{cite news|title=The Anti-Governor: Jerry Brown wants to be governor of California again|newspaper=The Economist|date=June 12, 2008|url=http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11551735}}The fact that he has served two terms already does not affect him because Proposition 140 does not apply to those who had served as public officials before the law passed in 1990, as provided in Article 20, Section 7 of the California Constitution.[http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.const/.article_20 Term limits] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009015911/http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.const/.article_20 |date=October 9, 2014 }}

Brown's Republican opponent in the election was former eBay president Meg Whitman. Brown was endorsed by the Los Angeles Times,[https://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-governor-20101003,0,913011.story Jerry Brown for governor] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101128224525/http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-governor-20101003%2C0%2C913011.story |date=November 28, 2010 }}, editorial, Los Angeles Times, October 3, 2010 The Sacramento Bee,[http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/03/3073192/jerry-brown-best-pick-for-governor.html Endorsements: Jerry Brown best pick for governor] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101004130817/http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/03/3073192/jerry-brown-best-pick-for-governor.html |date=October 4, 2010 }}, editorial, The Sacramento Bee, October 3, 2010 the San Francisco Chronicle,{{cite web|url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/A-vote-for-experience-over-a-big-leap-of-faith-3172484.php|title=Chronicle Recommends Jerry Brown for Governor; A vote for experience over a big leap of faith|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=October 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716095806/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2010%2F10%2F03%2FEDCL1F4Q46.DTL|archive-date=July 16, 2011|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} the San Jose Mercury News,{{cite web|url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2010/10/08/mercury-news-editorial-jerry-brown-is-the-right-choice-for-governor/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824173855/http://www.mercurynews.com/editorials/ci_16291551|archive-date=August 24, 2013|title=Mercury News editorial: Jerry Brown is the right choice for governor|work=San Jose Mercury News|date=October 10, 2010|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} and the Service Employees International Union.{{cite web |url=http://draft.seiuca.org/politics/Rebuild_California__SEIU_Voter_Guide.aspx |title=Rebuild California: SEIU Voter Guide |publisher=Draft.seiuca.org |access-date=November 18, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709101825/http://draft.seiuca.org/politics/Rebuild_California__SEIU_Voter_Guide.aspx |archive-date=July 9, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}

Both Whitman and Brown were criticized for negative campaigning during the election. During their final debate at the 2010 Women's Conference a week before the election, moderator Matt Lauer asked both candidates to pull attack ads for the rest of the election, which elicited loud cheers from the audience.[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130852376 Whitman, Brown In The Hot Seat Over Negative Ads] by Ina Jaffe. Brown agreed and picked one ad each of his and Whitman's that he thought, if Whitman would agree, should be the only ones run, but Whitman, who had been loudly cheered earlier as the prospective first woman governor of the state, was booed when she stated that she would keep "the ads that talk about where Gov. Brown stands on the issues".[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/10/the-morning-line-negative-ads-put-front-and-center-in-race-for-california-governor.html Brown, Whitman Challenged to Pull Negative Ads in California Governor Race] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118183141/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/10/the-morning-line-negative-ads-put-front-and-center-in-race-for-california-governor.html |date=2014-01-18 }} PBS Newshour, David Chalian and Terrance Burlij, October 27, 2010.

The Los Angeles Times reported that nearly $250 million was spent on the Governor's race.{{cite news| url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2010/11/political-flashback-most-expensive-governors-race-in-state-history-ends-with-a-flurry-of-campaigning.html | work=Los Angeles Times | title=PolitiCal}} At least two spending records were broken during the campaign. Whitman broke personal spending records by spending $140 million of her own money on the campaign,[http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/03/how-jerry-brown-got-back-in-the-governors-saddle/?hpt=C1 "How Jerry Brown got back in the governor's saddle"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116180049/http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/03/how-jerry-brown-got-back-in-the-governors-saddle/?hpt=C1 |date=2017-01-16 }}, Ashley Fantz, CNN, November 3, 2010. Fetched from URL on November 3, 2010. and independent expenditures exceeded $31.7 million, with almost $25 million of that spent in support of Brown.{{cite news| url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2010/11/independent-spending-for-2010-campaign-sets-record-.html | work=Los Angeles Times | title=PolitiCal}} Despite being significantly outspent by Whitman, Brown won the gubernatorial race 53.8% to Whitman's 40.9%.

Brown was sworn in for his third term as governor on January 3, 2011, succeeding Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger who had been officially term-limited. Brown was working on a budget that would shift many government programs from the state to the local level, a reversal of trends from his first tenure as governor.Jesse McKinley. "The New York Times".01/10/2011. "{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/us/11california.html |title=Deep Social Services Cuts Outlined in California |newspaper=The New York Times |date=11 January 2011 |access-date=2011-01-17 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106123649/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/us/11california.html |archive-date=November 6, 2014 |df=mdy |last1=McKinley |first1=Jesse }}". January 16, 2011.

On June 28, 2012, Brown signed a budget that made deep cuts to social services with the assumption that voters would pass $8 billion in tax increases in November 2012 to close California's $15.7-billion budget deficit. Brown stated: "We need budget cuts. We need the continued growth of the economy for a long period of time. We're suffering from the mortgage meltdown that killed 600,000 jobs in the construction industry. ... We're recovering from a national recession slowly—over 300,000 jobs [gained] since the recession. We've got a million to go. That needs to continue, but that depends not only on Barack Obama and the Congress and the Federal Reserve, but also on [German chancellor Angela] Merkel, China, the European Union, and the self-organizing quality of the world economy."{{cite news|url=https://psmag.com/social-justice/the-governors-last-stand-44798|work=Pacific Standard|title=The Governor's Last Stand|date=August 12, 2012}}

In September 2012, Brown signed legislation sponsored by California state senator Ted Lieu that prohibits protesters at funerals within 300 feet, with convicted violators punishable with fines and jail time; the legislation was in response to protests conducted by the Westboro Baptist Church.{{cite news |title=Calif. law distances protesters from funerals |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.armytimes.com/mobile/news/2012/09/ap-california-law-distances-protesters-from-funerals-091712 |newspaper=Army Times |date=September 17, 2013 |access-date=February 24, 2013}}

File:Barack Obama speaks with farmers about California drought, 2014.jpg discussing the drought in California with farmers, 2014]]

In the November 2012 general elections, voters approved Brown's proposed tax increases in the form of Proposition 30. Prop 30 raised the state personal income tax increase for seven years among California residents with an annual income over US$250,000 and increased in the state sales tax by 0.25 percent over four years. It allowed the state to avoid nearly $6 billion in cuts to public education.{{cite news|last=Abdollah|first=Tami|title=Prop. 30 winning; what's next for schools, taxes|url=http://www.scpr.org/blogs/politics/2012/11/07/10949/prop-30-election-taxes-California-schools-votes/|access-date=November 10, 2012|publisher=KPCC|date=November 7, 2012}}

In 2013, Brown proposed a large, $25 billion Bay Delta Conservation Plan{{cite web|title=Bay Delta Conservation Plan - Water Education Foundation |url=http://www.watereducation.org/topic-bay-delta-conservation-plan|website=www.watereducation.org|access-date=4 November 2016}} (later renamed the California Water Fix and Eco Restore project) to build two large, four-story tall, {{convert|30|mile}} long tunnels to carry fresh water from the Sacramento River under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta toward the intake stations for the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project.{{cite news|last1=Siders|first1=David|title=Field Poll: Jerry Brown riding high, but not his big projects|url=http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/field-polls/article11054465.html|access-date=10 May 2015|agency=Sacramento Bee|date=23 Feb 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518102847/http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/field-polls/article11054465.html|archive-date=May 18, 2015|df=mdy-all}} Unlike his earlier Peripheral Canal project, the two tunnels are to be funded by the agencies and users receiving benefit from the project and do not require voter approval.{{Cite web|url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/californiawater/pdfs/Draft_Final_DCE_Agreement_Combined.pdf|title=DRAFT Design & Construction Enterprise (DCE) Agreement and Exhibits|date=September 23, 2015|publisher=Department of Water Resources and the Conveyance Project Coordination Agency|access-date=March 1, 2016}}

In July 2014, Brown traveled to Mexico to hold meetings with Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto and Central American leaders about the ongoing children's immigration crisis.{{cite news|title=Jerry Brown to meet with Mexican president|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/jerry-brown-enrique-pena-nieto-mexico-immigration-109426.html |access-date=July 28, 2014|work=Politico|date=July 27, 2014}}

On September 16, 2014, Gov. Brown signed a historic package of groundwater legislation. The plan will regulate local agencies and also implement management plans to achieve water sustainability within 20 years.{{cite news|last1=Orr|first1=Katie|title=Brown Signs Historic Groundwater Legislation|url=http://kvpr.org/post/brown-signs-historic-groundwater-legislation|access-date=September 16, 2014}}

{{Main|2014 California gubernatorial election}}

File:Secretary Zinke meeting with Governor Brown 2811 (33632762780).jpg in April 2017]]

Brown announced his bid for another term on February 27, 2014. On June 3, he came in first place in the primary election by over 1.5 million votes. He received 54.3% of the vote and advanced to the general election with Republican Neel Kashkari, who took 19.38% of the vote.

There was only one gubernatorial debate. When asked to schedule another, Brown ultimately declined.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/06/us/politics/in-california-governors-race-jerry-brown-risks-little.html|title=In California Governor's Race, the Risks of Running a Low-Risk Campaign |newspaper=The New York Times |date=6 September 2014 |format=web|access-date=September 27, 2014|last1=Nagourney |first1=Adam }} During the debate in Sacramento on September 4, 2014, Kashkari accused Brown of failing to improve California's business climate. His leading example was the Tesla Motors factory investment, creating 6,500 manufacturing jobs, going to Nevada rather than California. Brown responded that the cash payment upfront required by the investment would have been unfair to California taxpayers.{{cite web|last1=Williams|first1=Juliet|title=Brown, Kashkari clash over education, business climate in only California governor's debate |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2014/09/05/brown-slammed-over-tesla-in-california-debate|agency=Associated Press|access-date=September 10, 2014}} A range of issues were debated, including recent legislation for a ban on plastic bags at grocery stores that Brown promised to sign and Kashkari thought unimportant.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/06/us/politics/in-california-governors-race-jerry-brown-risks-little.html |title=In California Governor's Race, the Risks of Running a Low-Risk Campaign |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 6, 2014 |access-date=September 27, 2014}}

Brown said that if he were elected to a fourth and final term, he would continue transferring power to local authorities, particularly over education and criminal justice policy, and would resist fellow Democrats' "gold rush for new programs and spending".

In the general election, Brown was re-elected with 4,388,368 votes (60.0%) to Kashkari’s 2,929,213. He was sworn in for a final term specifically on January Monday 5, 2015. His stated goals for his unprecedented fourth term in office were to construct the California High-Speed Rail, to create tunnels to shore up the state's water system and to curb carbon dioxide emissions. He still had $20 million in campaign funds to advance his ballot measures in case the legislature didn't support his plans.{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-10/jerry-brown-sets-california-on-a-course-of-public-works.html |title=Jerry Brown Sets California on a Course of Public Works |newspaper=Bloomberg.com |publisher=Bloomberg |date=November 10, 2014 |access-date=November 11, 2014}}

In October 2015, Brown signed off the California End of Life Option Act allowing residents of California who fulfilled strict criteria to exercise the right to die by accessing medical aid in dying. During the sign off he took the unusual step of adding a personal message indicating his dilemma regarding the consideration of the ethical issues involved and stating that he felt unable to deny the right of choice to others.{{cite news|last1=Lovett|first1=Ian|last2=Perez-Pena|first2=Richard|title=California Governor Signs Assisted Suicide Bill Into Law|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/us/california-governor-signs-assisted-suicide-bill-into-law.html|website=The New York Times|date=5 October 2015|access-date=6 September 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Brown|first1=Edmund G.|title=Letter to the members of the California State Assembly|url=https://www.gov.ca.gov/docs/ABX2_15_Signing_Message.pdf|website=Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown|publisher=State of California|access-date=7 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115040913/https://www.gov.ca.gov/docs/ABX2_15_Signing_Message.pdf|archive-date=15 November 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}

On December 18, 2015, Brown moved into the Historic Governor's Mansion, now part of Governor's Mansion State Historic Park.

In 2016, Brown vetoed a bill to exempt feminine hygiene products from state sales taxes, at the same time that he vetoed other bills which would also have exempted diapers, saying that collectively, these exemptions would have reduced state revenues by $300 million annually, and stated “As I said last year, tax breaks are the same as new spending – they both cost the general fund money.”{{Cite news|last=Bernstein|first=Sharon|date=2016-09-13|title=California governor vetoes bill to repeal tampon tax|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-tampon-idUSKCN11J2QK|access-date=2021-05-06}}

In the 2018–2019 budget plan that Brown released on January 10, 2018, the governor proposed spending $120 million to establish California's first fully online community college by fall 2019.{{cite news|last1=Teresa|first1=Wantanabe|title=Gov. Brown proposes California's first fully online public community college|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-online-community-college-20170110-story.html|access-date=13 January 2018|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=10 January 2018}}

Legislative accomplishments in Brown's final term include passing California Sanctuary Law SB 54, which prevents police from complying with most requests by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold illegal immigrants for deportation; California Senate Bill 32, which requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, extending the state's cap and trade system (which had originally been outlined by the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006) to achieve this goal; and passing the Road Repair and Accountability Act. Brown has opposed the Proposition 6 ballot measure to repeal the Road Repair and Accountability Act,{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-gas-tax-repeal-november-ballot-20180625-story.html|title=California ballot will include gas tax repeal in November|last=McGreevy|first=Patrick|website=Los Angeles Times|date=26 June 2018|access-date=2018-07-06}} and endorsed Gavin Newsom to eventually succeed him.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-may-2018-gov-jerry-brown-rallies-democrats-to-1528923917-htmlstory.html|title=Gov. Jerry Brown rallies Democrats to elect Gavin Newsom as his successor|last=McGreevy|first=Patrick|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-07-09}}

Brown has been criticized for his links to the oil and gas industry, notably for contributions from, and his family ties to, Sempra Energy.{{Cite news|url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/sd-me-sempra-report-20170801-story.html|title=Consumer report alleges conflicts of interest between Gov. Brown and Sempra|last=McDonald|first=Jeff|work=The San Diego Union-Tribune|access-date=2018-09-27|language=en-US}}

By September 2018, Brown had granted more than 1,100 pardons since returning to office in 2011; more pardons than any California governor in recent history.{{Cite news|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/30/jerry-brown-has-pardoned-more-felons-than-any-governor-in-recent-state-history/|title=Jerry Brown has pardoned more felons than any governor in recent state history|date=2016-12-30|work=The Mercury News|access-date=2018-11-29|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-commuting-20-murder-convicts-sentences-california-governor-draws-praise-condemnation/2018/09/09/de31525e-b2ed-11e8-aed9-001309990777_story.html|title=In commuting 20 murder convicts' sentences, California governor draws praise, condemnation|newspaper=The Washington Post|language=en|access-date=2018-11-29}} Brown commuted more than 82 sentences, the highest number since at least the 1940s.

{{Main|Electoral history of Jerry Brown}}

Following the conclusion of his career in public office, Brown has become increasingly involved with climate cooperation between United States non-state entities (including Michael Bloomberg and the Bloomberg Foundation) and China.{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Joanna I. |title=Cooperating for the Climate: Learning from International Partnerships in China's Clean Energy Sector |date=2023 |publisher=The MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-54482-5 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts}}{{Rp|page=108}} Brown has also worked with former Chinese climate minister Xie Zhenhua to establish a new center for California-China climate cooperation at University of California, Berkeley.{{Rp|page=108}}

Brown lives on a mountain ranch in California that he allows researchers including the California Native Plant Society to use as a meeting point. In 2023 a beetle in the genus Bembidium was named B. brownorum after Brown and his wife, after it was discovered on the ranch.[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/28/jerry-brown-rare-beetle Insect infamy: rare beetle named for former California governor] The Guardian

File:California Governor Jerry Brown (8577347663).jpg in 2013]]

A bachelor in his first two terms as governor and first term as mayor of Oakland, Brown attracted attention for dating famous women, the most notable of whom was singer Linda Ronstadt.{{cite web |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/newsweek79.htm |title=Jerry Brown and Linda Ronstadt |publisher=Ronstadt-linda.com |access-date=August 29, 2010}}{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/158843725 |title=Brown, Linda Ronstadt Book Flight to Liberia |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 6, 1979 |page=A1 |author= |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 6, 2017 |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525065821/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/doc/158843725.html |url-status=live |id={{ProQuest|158843725}}}}{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/158893272 |title=Board Plane for Africa |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 7, 1979 |page=A1 |last=Goldman |first=John J. |url-access=subscription |quote=Gov. Brown left quickly and quietly from New York Friday with rock singer Linda Ronstadt to celebrate his 41st birthday in Africa. |access-date=July 6, 2017 |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525065826/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/doc/158893272.html |url-status=live |id={{ProQuest|158893272}}}}{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/158863960 |title=Visits Tribesmen |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 12, 1979 |page=B3 |author= |url-access=subscription |quote=Rock star Linda Ronstadt Wednesday visited Kenyan tribesmen who she said looked "like something out of National Geographic" and for the first time firmly denied she will marry California Gov. Brown during their African safari. |access-date=July 6, 2017 |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525065828/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/doc/158863960.html |url-status=live |id={{ProQuest|158863960}}}}{{cite news |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/158817018 |title=Brown's Back, Unmarried and Hot at the Press |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 17, 1979 |page=B3 |last1=Martinez |first1=Al |last2=Sweeney |first2=Joan |name-list-style=amp |url-access=subscription |quote=Gov. Brown arrived at Los Angeles International Airport Monday with still-unmarried rock singer Linda Ronstadt, a large rolled-up map of the world and some harsh comments on how the press treated him and the singer during their 10-day African tour. |access-date=July 6, 2017 |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525065831/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/doc/158817018.html |url-status=live |id={{ProQuest|158817018}}}} In March 2005, Brown announced his engagement to his girlfriend since 1990, Anne Gust, former chief administrative officer for the Gap.{{Cite news |last=Garchik |first=Leah |title=Oakland's royal wedding: Nearly 600 attend Jerry Brown's nuptials |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |location=San Francisco, CA |date=June 19, 2005 |url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/garchik/article/Oakland-s-royal-wedding-Nearly-600-attend-Jerry-2627405.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051210101719/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2005%2F06%2F19%2FJERRYBROWN.TMP |archive-date=December 10, 2005 |url-status=live |access-date=November 3, 2010 |df=mdy-all }} They were married on June 18, 2005, in a ceremony officiated by Senator Dianne Feinstein in the Rotunda Building in downtown Oakland. They had a second, religious ceremony later in the day in the Roman Catholic Church in San Francisco where Brown's parents had been married. Brown and Gust lived in the Oakland Hills in a home purchased for $1.8 million.Young, Samantha (June 22, 2010) [https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/22/jerry-brown-house-worth-1_n_620523.html "Jerry Brown House, Worth $1.8 Million, Doesn't Fit California Governor Candidate's Tale Of Frugality"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104201801/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/22/jerry-brown-house-worth-1_n_620523.html |date=January 4, 2016 }}, The Huffington Post. Retrieved September 13, 2010. {{As of|2019}}, they live on a ranch in Colusa County.{{cite news|url = https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-colusa-jerry-brown-20190211-htmlstory.html|title = Colusa didn't always embrace Jerry Brown, but new neighbors just may give him a chance|work = Los Angeles Times|date = February 11, 2019|access-date = November 26, 2020|last = Marcum|first = Diana}}

File:Governor Jerry Brown DIG14394-011.jpg

Beginning in 1995, Brown hosted a daily call-in talk show on the local Pacifica Radio station, KPFA-FM, in Berkeley broadcast to major U.S. markets. Both the radio program and Brown's political action organization, based in Oakland, were called We the People. His programs, usually featuring invited guests, generally explored alternative views on a wide range of social and political issues, from education and health care to spirituality and the death penalty.

The official gubernatorial portrait of Jerry Brown, commemorating his first period as Governor of California, was painted by Don Bachardy and unveiled in 1984. The painting has long been controversial due to its departure from the traditional norms of portraiture.{{cite book |author1=William Kloss |author2=Diane K. Skvarla |author3=Jane R. McGoldrick |title=United States Senate Catalogue of Fine Art |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1EsbkN7nVsYC&pg=PR28 |year=2002| publisher=Government Printing Office |page=xxviii |id=N6505 .U479 2002 |access-date=April 9, 2013}}

Brown had a long-term friendship with his aide Jacques Barzaghi, whom he met in the early 1970s and put on his payroll. Author Roger Rapaport wrote in his 1982 Brown biography California Dreaming: The Political Odyssey of Pat & Jerry Brown, "This combination clerk, chauffeur, fashion consultant, decorator, and trusted friend had no discernible powers. Yet, late at night, after everyone had gone home to their families and TV consoles, it was Jacques who lingered in the Secretary (of state's) office." Barzaghi and his sixth spouse Aisha lived with Brown in the warehouse in Jack London Square; Barzaghi was brought into Oakland city government upon Brown's election as mayor, where Barzaghi first acted as the mayor's armed bodyguard. Barzaghi left Brown's staff in July 2004, six days after police had responded to his residence over a complaint of domestic violence, and later moved to Morocco and then Normandy. Barzaghi died in 2021.{{cite news|url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/OAKLAND-Barzaghi-leaves-Jerry-Brown-s-staff-2740217.php|author1=Steve Rubenstein |author2=Janine DeFeo |title=Barzaghi Departs Jerry Brown Staff|work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=July 20, 2004 |access-date=November 18, 2017}}{{Cite news|last=Seelye|first=Katharine Q.|date=2021-06-25|title=Jacques Barzaghi, a Former Fixture Beside Jerry Brown, Dies at 82|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/us/jacques-barzaghi-dead.html|access-date=2022-02-06|issn=0362-4331}}

In April 2011, Brown had surgery to remove a basal-cell carcinoma from the right side of his nose.{{cite news|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2011/04/gov-jerry-brown-undergoes-surgery-to-remove-cancerous-growth.html |work=Los Angeles Times |title=PolitiCal |date=April 30, 2011}} In December 2012, media outlets reported that Brown was being treated for early stage (the precise stage and grade was not stated) localized prostate cancer with a very good prognosis.{{cite web |url=http://news.msn.com/politics/calif-governor-being-treated-for-early-stage-prostate-cancer |title=Calif. governor being treated for early stage prostate cancer |publisher=MSN |access-date=August 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529103341/http://news.msn.com/politics/calif-governor-being-treated-for-early-stage-prostate-cancer |archive-date=May 29, 2014 |url-status=dead }}

In 2011, Jerry and Anne Gust Brown acquired a Pembroke Welsh corgi, Sutter Brown, dubbed the "first dog" of California.Judy Lin, [http://www.recordnet.com/article/20110218/A_NEWS/110219885 California gov's newest ally? A 'fur ball' with charm] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012151546/http://www.recordnet.com/article/20110218/A_NEWS/110219885 |date=October 12, 2016 }}, Associated Press (February 18, 2011). Sutter was frequently seen in the company of the governor, accompanying him to political events and softening the governor's cerebral image.Nick Miller, [https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/how-sutter-brown-saved-california/content?oid=11581260 How Sutter Brown saved California] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715174915/https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/how-sutter-brown-saved-california/content?oid=11581260 |date=July 15, 2014 }}, Sacramento News & Review, September 26, 2013.{{cite web|title=First Dog, Sutter Brown|url=http://gov.ca.gov/s_firstdog.php|publisher=State of California|access-date=26 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123230103/http://gov.ca.gov/s_firstdog.php|archive-date=23 January 2013|url-status=dead}} In 2015, the couple obtained a second dog, Colusa "Lucy" Brown, a Pembroke Welsh corgi/border collie mix.David Siders, [http://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2016/10/californias-first-dog-falls-critically-ill-106267 California's 'first dog' falls critically ill] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012075801/http://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2016/10/californias-first-dog-falls-critically-ill-106267 |date=October 12, 2016 }}, Politico (October 11, 2016). Sutter had emergency surgery in October 2016 to remove cancerous tissue. Sutter died in December 2016 from cancer at the age of 13.{{Cite web |date=2016-12-31 |title=Sutter Brown, Gov. Jerry Brown's famous dog, has died |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-sutter-brown-dog-dies-jerry-brown-snap-htmlstory.html |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}

In 2019, Brown was appointed to be a visiting professor at Berkeley.{{Cite news |last=Manke |first=Kara |date=September 23, 2019 |title=UC Berkeley, former Gov. Jerry Brown partner with China to spur climate action |work=Berkeley News |url=https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/09/23/uc-berkeley-former-gov-jerry-brown-partner-with-china-to-spur-climate-action/ |access-date=April 7, 2022}}

Brown's accent has been described as reminiscent of the "Mission Brogue", particularly with his non-rhoticity.{{cite web|last=Veltman|first=Chloe |title=Why the Myth of the 'San Francisco Accent' Persists|url=https://www.kqed.org/news/11719871/why-the-myth-of-the-san-francisco-accent-persists|website=KQED|date=January 24, 2019}}

{{Reflist}}

• Bollens, John C. and G. Robert Williams. Jerry Brown: In a Plain Brown Wrapper (Pacific Palisades, California: Palisades Publishers, 1978). {{ISBN|0-913530-12-3}}
• Brown, Jerry. Thoughts (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1976)
• Brown, Jerry. Dialogues (Berkeley, California: Berkeley Hills Books, 1998). {{ISBN|0-9653774-9-0}}
• {{Cite book|last=Bachelis|first=Faren Maree|title=The Pelican Guide to Sacramento and the Gold Country|url=https://archive.org/details/pelicanguidetosa00bach|url-access=registration|publisher=Pelican|year=1986|isbn=0-88289-497-8}}
• Lorenz, J. D. Jerry Brown: The Man on the White Horse (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1978). {{ISBN|0-395-25767-0}}
• McFadden, Chuck and Joe Barrett. Trailblazer: A Biography of Jerry Brown (2013) scholarly biography
• Newton, Jim. Man of Tomorrow: The Relentless Life of Jerry Brown (2020) 448pp [https://www.amazon.com/Man-Tomorrow-Relentless-Jerry-Brown/dp/0316392464/ excerpt]
• Pack, Robert. Jerry Brown, The Philosopher-Prince (New York: Stein and Day, 1978). {{ISBN|0-8128-2437-7}}
• Pawel, Miriam. [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1019973627 The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty That Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation] (New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018). {{ISBN|9781632867339}}
• Rapoport, Roger. California Dreaming: The Political Odyssey of Pat & Jerry Brown (Berkeley, CA: Nolo Press, 1982) {{ISBN|0-917316-48-7}}
• {{Cite book|last=Rarick|first=Ethan|title=California Rising: The Life and Times of Pat Brown|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vo99tTE2lDcC|place=Berkeley, California, United States|publisher=University of California Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-520-24828-1}}
• Rarick, Ethan. "The Brown Dynasty." in Modern American Political Dynasties: A Study of Power, Family, and Political Influence ed by Kathleen Gronnerud and Scott J. Spitzer. (2018): 211–30.
• {{citation|last=Schell|first=Orville|title=Brown|place=New York|publisher=Random House|year=1978|isbn=0394410432|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/brown00sche}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• {{Ballotpedia}}
• [http://www.ontheissues.org/Jerry_Brown.htm Jerry Brown] at On the Issues
• {{C-SPAN|11405}}
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSgncpqWtE&t=104 Jerry Brown at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) on December 14, 2016]

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