Brown Blasts Budget Plans for State as Unfair to Poor

Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. returned Thursday to the state Capitol where he once presided as governor, this time as part of a protest against proposed state budget cuts that he said unfairly target poor people.

Buoyed by a new poll showing him in a virtual tie with Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in the state’s Democratic presidential primary Tuesday, Brown stood on the Capitol’s west steps to attack Republican Gov. Pete Wilson’s plans for closing an estimated $11-billion budget shortfall.

Among other things, Wilson has proposed cutting welfare grants by as much as 25% and eliminating dental care and long-term hospitalization for poor adults.

“This is a very rich country and very rich state and I don’t believe we should take it out on the poorest among us,” Brown said to the cheers of about 200 people gathered for the rally. “They don’t have to make all those cuts this year.”

Brown charged that Wilson’s approach is similar to strategies employed in Washington, D.C., that he said have contributed to domestic turmoil.

He said the Bush Administration and the Democratic Congress are willing to spend money on aid to foreign countries, military spending and savings-and-loan bailouts, but unwilling to invest the money necessary to rebuild the nation’s cities.

“I believe the funds can be found to protect people and to protect our families, to protect our health and to protect our environment,” Brown said.

The former governor also bitterly accused Wilson of gutting the California Conservation Corps, a youth-work program Brown created.

“I want to address something very specifically to Pete Wilson,” Brown said. “Your cutting of the California Conservation Corps in half is not right. It’s not right because it is a proven program that helps kids.”

A spokeswoman for the program confirmed plans to cut the corps’ support from the state’s general fund to $16 million from $32 million. The program has other sources of funding, so the overall budget will drop to $32 million from $48 million, subject to approval by the Legislature and Wilson.

The new poll showing Clinton and Brown in a tight race in California was conducted by Mason-Dixon Political-Media Research Inc. for an Arkansas newspaper and came as a pleasant surprise to Brown. A Los Angeles Times Poll released last week had shown Clinton with a 10-percentage-point lead among the state’s Democratic voters.

The latest poll of 374 registered Democratic voters gave Clinton 45% of the vote and Brown 44%, with 11% undecided. The poll had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 5%.

Times staff writer Daniel M. Weintraub contributed to this story.