Brown for top cop
Jerry Brown's record as mayor of Oakland proves that "law-and-order liberal" is not an oxymoron. For his innovative approach to crime-fighting in one of California's toughest cities, we support Brown as California's next attorney general.
Brown's eight-year tenure as Oakland's mayor instilled in him an appreciation for the challenges facing law enforcement. Brown pushed for more than 50 new officers, imposed curfews on probationers and adopted high-tech police gear, from satellite monitoring devices for parolees to audio receivers that pinpoint the location of gunshots.
The result? Although Oakland's murder rate is up sharply this year, the city's violent crime rate is down 30 percent since Brown took office.
As California's chief law enforcement officer, Brown says he would expand the use of the attorney general's resources to aid local police. He would make enforcing the state's environmental protection laws a higher priority and vows to fight recent federal efforts to undermine California's air and water standards.
Brown's Republican opponent, Sen. Chuck Poochigian, has been a good legislator with a conservative record on crime. Poochigian sponsored legislation to crack down on sex offenders and toughen penalties on criminals who use guns in a crime.
But rather than campaign on his own strengths, Poochigian's campaign has been mostly an attack on Brown. Let's stipulate that Brown was a poor governor when he served from 1975 until 1983. In particular, Brown's anti-growth policies left a lasting negative legacy on California's roads and highways.
But that was 25 years ago. "Gov. Moonbeam" went to Oakland and discovered that idealism does not work. Success in local government requires pragmatism and consensus-building.
Over two terms running California's eighth-largest city, Brown evolved into a pro-development, union-wary, anti-crime liberal. He would make a surprising and capable attorney general.
