Jerry Brown's latest comeback

» Discuss Article    (196 Comments)

Rick,

Jerry Brown became the center of the budget debate for two reasons: Outrageous personality and outrageous abuse of office.

Jerry Brown has always used his current office as a platform for the next election. He has gone from secretary of state to governor, running for president and the U.S. Senate, then mayor and attorney general and possibly governor again. He is always attracting media attention.

Last time as governor, it was trips to Africa with Linda Ronstadt and other eccentric behavior. Brown didn't get the nickname "Gov. Moonbeam" because of his knowledge of astronomy.

The latest incarnation of Jerry Brown has featured using his office to take advantage of the media hype over "climate change." The governor had signed into law AB 32, making mitigation of "greenhouse gases" part of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and was receiving plenty of attention. The issue graced the front pages of newspapers, magazines, cable networks, etc.

How could Jerry Brown get himself some of that attention? Do what the attorney general can do: Sue.

And sue he did. Brown picked a county -- San Bernardino -- dominated by Republicans to start the process.

This angered Republicans, who didn't like the new Jerry Brown any better than the old version. They correctly saw that this type of lawsuit could be used against any infrastructure project or development at any time. Other projects stalled by the threat of such lawsuits include two badly needed refineries.

Especially galling to Republicans was that Brown sued the county to force them to use AB 32 changes to the environmental act, even though the regulations to implement the law hadn't yet been drafted. They argued that the county couldn't comply, nor could any future road or housing project, until the rules were actually written.

Money otherwise set aside for these types of projects would now be used to pay attorneys rather than the projects themselves.

The notion that the taxpayer-funded attorney general's office would sue other taxpayer-funded agencies to stop taxpayer-financed infrastructure was infuriating. Again, especially considering that the rules weren't yet written.

Adding insult was the fact that Jerry Brown, as mayor of Oakland, had pushed legislation that eased other CEQA environmental restrictions in order to encourage development.

If the environmental act hurt development in Oakland, why the extraordinary use of lawsuits now?

Republicans in the state Senate used the two-thirds vote requirement on the budget to try to force changes on Brown. They succeeded partly by gaining temporary exemptions to lawsuits on voter-approved transportation and water-control projects. The governor vetoed $1 million for the attorney general's office budget that was to be used for such lawsuits, citing that this was properly the function of the Air Resources Board.

Was this enough? Hardly. More reform is needed to protect development projects from these abuses. Every jurisdiction is scrambling to avoid the same fate of having to comply with unseen regulations. The attorney general's office should be prohibited from using lawsuits or the threat of lawsuits until the Air Resources Board has written the regulations.

Mike Spence is president of the California Republican Assembly, California's oldest and largest Republican volunteer organization. He is a member of the West Covina School Board and a partner in Citadel Campaigns, LLC.

---