Via Cheese Louise, I came across this article by Chip Johnson on Jerry Brown, former California Governor, current Oakland Mayor and (likely) future candidate for state Attorney General. Johnson quotes Jerry as making a pretty general expression of goodwill about Schwarzenegger, encouraging him to take a moderate approach to governance. Based on what Jerry has said earlier about the recall, I would think he's saying that he regards the result as a significant expression of voter discontent, possibly even one of those rare "democratic moments."
It's interesting, though, that Johnson seems surprised that Jerry as Oakland Mayor has "promoted economic development and hammered away at the city's crime problem and it's long-standing link to parole and probation department failures." Jerry has always been hard for political reporters to understand, relying as they do on the conventional wisdom of the moment. Jerry's a hardline pro-labor liberal, just as he's always been. But "conventional" is normally not a useful word to describe him.
It's kind of a Zen thing, living in the moment. If your "moment" is being the mayor, you concentrate on mayor stuff, like development and crime. Jerry has also made a big effort to promote the arts and bring residential units to downtown Oakland, a perspective many mayors sadly lack.
I really have to chuckle though over Johnson's comment that Jerry has a "new law-and-order stance." News flash: he's always been known for his strong anti-crime stance, from his election to California Secretary of State on an anti-corruption theme and throughout his governorship. He focused on getting violent offenders off the streets and keeping them in jail, especially during their late teens and early 20s, when the potencial for repeat offenses is highest.
Twenty years ago, Neal Pierce and Jerry Hagstrom wrote in The Book of America that "it became Brown's lot" to "forge the gap between the old America and the new frontiers of high technology and social thinking." They said, "for years he was unquestionably the most creative thinking public official in the nation."
I wouldn't hesitate to say that's still true.
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