For the fourth time in as many decades, Californians have the option of choosing Democrat Jerry Brown to be their governor.
It’s an easy choice to make.
Brown, who is finishing up his third term in the state’s highest office, has an impressive track record of fiscal responsibility, forward-thinking policy-making and extensive experience navigating Sacramento’s political coalitions.
In his most recent term, Brown has successfully turned California’s dire financial crisis around, saving the state from almost certain bankruptcy and even managing to get state legislators to turn the state budget in on time the last four years in a row. His main victory comes in balancing the state budget for 2014, a remarkable feat considering the state was verging on default when he took office. Moreover, under his watch, California has gone from a multibillion-dollar deficit to a $1.9 billion surplus at the end of 2013, the first time there has been leftover cash in the state coffers since 2007.
But Brown has also been a responsible governor when it comes to legislation affecting the University of California. In 2011, he signed the California Dream Act, allowing undocumented students to have access to both state and private financial aid for higher education. More recently, Brown also signed the “yes means yes” bill into law, mandating an affirmative consent standard on college campuses.
However, this board has extreme reservations about Brown’s hesitance to allocate excess funding to the UC. He was a major proponent of Proposition 30 in 2012, which raised taxes in an effort to bring millions in relief to the UC, but time and time again, he has shown an unwillingness to further institutional state support for the UC.
Another issue with Brown is his lack of transparency – his decision to shut down the website, http://www.transparency.ca.gov, in 2011, created by the Schwarzenegger administration to consolidate financial documents for easy public perusal, raised many red flags.
His September veto of three separate bills aimed at increasing government transparency, AB 194, AB 400 and AB 2058, is also cause for alarm, but ultimately does not diminish his general record of success.
Brown’s opponent in this election is Republican and investment banker Neel Kashkari. Having served as interim assistant secretary of the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Stability, Kashkari has big government experience, but lacks the coalition-building and party navigation skills that make Brown such a strong contender. While his primary platform goals of fixing public education, increasing jobs and making higher education more affordable are nice on paper, his practical plans for creating substantial policy changes are generally vague.
Overall, Brown’s experience and track record make him a more viable and capable choice for the state’s chief executive.