The Return of Jerry Brown

Jerry Brown is getting from Arnold Schwarzenegger a state with a huge debt.

Jerry Brown returns this week to the office he left exactly 28 years ago with a comfortable surplus of $5 billion. Today, circumstances have changed. From the outgoing governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, he receives a state with a fiscal deficit of $25 to 30 billion and a huge public debt. Brown was governor of the state from 1975 to 1983, at a time when California was at the forefront of innovation in the growth of its economy, its modern infrastructure, its superior educational system and its visionary environmental awareness.

There are thousands of anecdotes and a few hard facts stemming from the famous frugality of the young governor, who resigned from the priesthood to enter politics. For example, there is his decision to refuse to occupy the governor’s mansion and instead rent a modest apartment near the office. There is also his example of the austerity and fiscal conservatism that allowed him to leave a fiscal surplus at the end of his mandate. His asceticism, however, will not prevent him from proposing a tax exemption to those who install panels to harness solar power on rooftops. It is precisely in this context that Brown suggested that California launch its own satellite into space to explore the universe, which was a laudable initiative that for decades will have Brown bearing the nickname of “Governor Moonbeam,” given to him by Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood actor who won the governorship by promising the impossible, ends his administration by leaving behind a budget deficit similar to that of 2003, which served as a pretext for ousting Gov. Gray Davis. Also, there are two more issues: a public debt higher than it was at that time and a popularity rating of around 20 percent. Some analysts have said the political career of this moderate Republican, who started with fireworks and caused many to think about the possibility of amending the constitution to allow the immigrant to become president, now ends in tears.

Others say Schwarzenegger’s administration was not as bad as it seems. They do not deny the severity of the deficit, the public debt and his declining popularity, but they do argue that the state’s precarious situation is due to the recession, the depth of the problems and the unmanageable game of politics played in California. They also say that Schwarzenegger’s achievements took place in the final stretch of his administration. Also, his efforts to mitigate the effects of global warming and utilize solar energy are such that it would not be unreasonable to think that President Obama might call on him to occupy the position of Secretary at the Department of Energy.

Those who believe this know that Brown himself is the best example of the saying that, in politics, “reinvention” is a matter of routine. He sought his party’s nomination for the presidency three times and once for the Senate. However, just when he was considered a political has-been, he reappears to win the mayoral election, the state attorney general’s office, and now begins his third term as governor.

I do not know what will be in Schwarzenegger’s future, and I am not sure that the issue is a matter of public interest. What really does matter to all of us who live here is what will happen in California, given its pitiful financial state. What we want to know is what Brown will do to subdue California’s intolerable political class, force them to set aside their personal interests and put first the interests of the citizens who elected him.