Brown Speech Ignores Clinton, Rips Bush, Perot

While his quixotic quest for the presidency met its inevitable end Wednesday night, Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. accomplished his personal goal of speaking to the Democratic National Convention on his own terms.

The former California governor did not specifically endorse Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton; in fact, he did not even mention his name. He did, however, promise to work for the party, and he took solid shots at both President Bush and prospective independent candidate Ross Perot.

“I intend to fight for this party, its ideals, tonight, this year and every year,” he vowed. “I want you to join me in that undertaking.”

Brown seemed to be trying to walk a line between not appearing to be a traitor to the principles of change and political reform that had attracted 4 million voters while avoiding being viewed as a pouting loser who was refusing to help his party oust the Republicans in November.

He clearly succeeded at the former, but there could be controversy about the latter.

Many of his delegates waved signs saying, “The Brownies will be back” and “Jerry in ’96.” At the end of his 20-minute address, his supporters stood and chanted: “Take Back America.”

“It’s the only thing that has made me feel as good as when I used to hear the Kennedys,” exclaimed Bernice Bonillas, a Brown delegate from Delano, Calif.

But other delegates were disappointed that Brown did not embrace Clinton.

“I think it would have been helpful if he had taken this opportunity to line up behind the ticket,” said Rep. Leon E. Panetta (D-Carmel Valley). “He’s got to do that at some point. Whatever his differences, he certainly can’t stand aside and let George Bush or Perot win.”

“If he was a true Democrat, he’d be talking about unity,” commented Elizabeth Lara, a Clinton delegate from Houston. “He would have come out as a shining star if he had urged his folks to unite with the mainstream party candidate.”

Brown’s speech had a defiant, sermonizing tone, typical of his style on the stump. And the only gracious comments were directed at his father, former California Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown Sr., whose ill health caused him to miss his first convention in 50 years.

Jerry Brown seemed near tears as he noted that his father had defeated Richard M. Nixon in a 1962 gubernatorial race and “in my view (is) the greatest Democrat in this country. . . . Dad, thanks a lot.”

Always the showman, Brown asked a 15-year-old girl--rather than a well-known politician, as is traditional--to give a seconding speech after his name had been placed in nomination by his campaign manager, Jodie Evans.

The girl, Kelly Aldrich of Seattle, had come to Brown’s attention after she praised his candidacy in a political essay contest sponsored by Scholastic Magazine. She wrote that he was “the man I most admire in America.” The high school freshman, here as a member of the “Kid’s Caucus,” told a reporter that the only instruction Brown gave her was to focus on her feelings as a young person.

Immediately after his name was placed in nomination, Brown took a second highly unusual step by marching to the podium to deliver the speech he had long fought to give, using the time normally set aside for seconding remarks.

“He’s nominating himself, seconding himself and then accepting himself,” commented former President Jimmy Carter, who himself felt harassed by Brown during the 1976 and 1980 presidential races. But Carter added that Brown lent “a little excitement to the Democratic convention and I think no harm is being done.”

If the maverick Californian had promised to support the party ticket, the Clinton camp and Democratic Chairman Ronald H. Brown would have granted him a prized prime-time slot in which to speak. But Brown insisted, as he said Tuesday, “I should not have to buy or make some quid pro quo deal in order to address the delegates when 4 million people have voted to send me here.”

“Let Jerry speak” had become a rallying cry for Brown delegates all week. And the losing candidate milked the controversy for more attention than his aides could have imagined, with TV crews and reporters swarming around him as if he were a rock star. In effect, Brown forced his way onto the podium, crashing Clinton’s party on the night of his nomination by taking advantage of an obscure rule in the convention nominating process. Then he found himself sandwiched between two of the nation’s more moving political orators, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Gov. Mario M. Cuomo of New York.

Brown’s address mainly contained a litany of the economic, environmental and political reform messages he had pushed through the campaign. But it also featured some pointed barbs at Clinton’s foes.

Of Perot, he simply said: “Outside of advertising, there is no such thing as a billion-dollar populist.”

And referring to Perot’s plan to finance his own campaign--refusing to use federal funds because, the Texan says, the taxpayers can’t afford it--Brown asserted: “Mr. Perot, we can afford to pay for our own democracy. We don’t need you to lend it to us.”

Regarding Bush, Brown declared that he “gives us government of, by and for the privileged.”

After his lopsided defeat in the New York primary on April 7--Brown’s 54th birthday--there was general skepticism that he could “go all the way to the convention,” as he was promising. But the always-quotable Brown survived because, unlike traditional candidates, he could bounce from state to state on relatively few dollars with the help of dedicated volunteers.

As Brown’s campaign neared its end, his sister, California state Treasurer Kathleen Brown, observed proudly: “My God, he went the distance. I admire his guts and I admire his staying power.”

Kathleen Brown had supported her brother but now will endorse Clinton.

Times staff writers Glenn Bunting, Dave Lesher, Michael Ross and D’Jamila Salem contributed to this story.