Author: Caroline Osborne
Five weeks away from election day, Democrat Jerry Brown holds a five percent lead over Republican Meg Whitman for the position of Governor of California, according to a recent Los Angeles Times poll. While many Occidental students are not registered to vote in California elections, a large portion of students are expected to support the Democratic candidate.
Despite Brown’s current lead, students have varying opinions about the outcome of the election. “It’s a complete toss-up,” Politics major Isaac Hale (senior) said. “On the one hand, Whitman has the money and Brown is uncharismatic and underfunded. On the other hand, California is a blue-trending state with a very unpopular outgoing Republican governor.”
Whitman currently holds 44 percent of the overall vote, with Brown just ahead of her with 49 percent, according to the L.A. Times’ Sept. 22 poll.
Brown’s plan for social, education, monetary and environmental reform, as well as the declining approval ratings of current Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, will provide him with a solid liberal base.
Brown promotes his commitment to pursuing equal rights for all, regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation, according to his official website.
Involvement, especially with the minority vote, is critical for Brown in this election. The typical strategy for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate involves securing San Francisco and Los Angeles (25 percent of the state’s vote) and hoping for the best throughout the rest of the state. By campaigning heavily for the Latino vote, a demographic that usually leans to the left, Whitman leads in the L.A. area, but only slightly, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
“Black and Latino turnout will be critical for Brown in particular. Whitman will have to walk a tight balancing rope around immigration. The question will be turnout,” Politics professor Regina Freer said.
If elected, Brown aims to return more authority to local governments while increasing revenue from state property for the benefit of local cities, schools and businesses.
His education plan includes using new technology (such as online learning), focusing on community colleges and better teaching career skills to the younger generations due to the California overhaul on test results.
Also included in his reform plan is to transform the state budget process by involving the entire Legislature much earlier than the current process does. In addition, Brown plans to lower the cost of our current pension system.
He has proposed the Clean Energy Jobs Plan, aiming to promote renewable energy as a means of creating more efficient jobs that will also protect the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollutants.
The candidates’ divergent positions on Proposition 23 may also influence public opinion. Proposition 23 suggests a temporary suspension of AB 32, an act that mandates California’s reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions to match or undercut levels extant in 1990. This level must be reached by the year 2020.
Proponents of the proposition reason that suspending AB 32 will revive the economy. When unemployment falls to 5.5 percent, AB 32 would be reinstated. Brown stands against putting the environment on hold. Whitman declared her opposition to the proposition, but also announced that if elected governor, she would delay the law for a year to allow the economy to recover, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
As current Attorney General of California, former governor of California, Mayor of Oakland and Secretary of State of California, Brown’s political experience is an additional benefit to his campaign. Although in some ways a positive force for his campaign, his previous experience has also been viewed negatively by some students. “As important as I believe defeating Meg Whitman is, Jerry Brown is honestly not a compelling candidate,” Hale admits. “Seriously folks, we can do better.”
In contrast, Whitman has focused her campaign on cutting government spending and inefficiency, fixing California’s education system and creating jobs, according to her official campaign website.
Whitman, widely known for her wealth, amassed her personal fortune while working as the Chief Executive Officer and President of eBay – a position she held for 10 years. In addition to her personal contributions of millions of dollars to her campaign, her economic success at eBay has been interpreted by some as a sign that she will bring success to California’s economy.
“This is something that I’ve done before,” Whitman said, according to the L.A. Times. “I think maybe it is about time for a governor who has created jobs, who’s managed a budget, who’s led and inspired large organizations, who listens well, and who can drive an agenda.”
Whitman has proposed decreasing state regulation in order to promote economic stimulation, increasing teachers’ salaries and cutting corporate income taxes.
Additionally, Whitman has been using the economy to her advantage against Brown’s campaign. “When the economy is bad, the incumbent is pushed aside. Whitman’s campaign casts Brown as the incumbent,” Freer said.
Though Whitman’s approach to California’s economic woes is generally conservative, she has a more moderate leaning concerning social issues. Whitman supports Proposition 8, a controversial ballot measure that would ban gay marriage. However, she also backs civil unions and the right for gay couples to adopt children. Additionally, she advocates for women to have the choice of abortion.She also promises to crack down on illegal immigration, consider nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels and protect public safety by building more prisons and barring new gun control laws.
Politics major Erik Fujinami (senior) names Whitman as most likely to win the November election. “The fact that she is new to the political scene gives her special appeal to California voters sick of the same old political games being played in Sacramento. Yet this does not mean I will vote for Whitman,” he said.
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
