Jerry Brown Still Wants Your Vote

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Brown has come under withering criticism from African Americans and civil libertarians who say he has turned Oakland into a police state, and the cops are under a court order to mend their more abusive habits. Some Brown critics have said he has adopted a tough-on-crime stance to help him elsewhere in the state in his race for attorney general. But as Brown questions the cops at headquarters, he doesn't sound like their friend. How many cops are on the street right now? How many of them are on patrol, and how many are responding to calls? Why don't we know that? Are they all paid the same? Is there special pay for the more effective officers? What time does crime pick up in the day? When does it slack off? It goes on like that for nearly 90 minutes, until it becomes clear that everyone needs a break. Walking out, Brown says his job is to keep the pressure on police. "I was trying to get them to think differently. We have a lot of dedicated criminals here."

BROWN SITS DOWN THE NEXT MORNING TO talk over a cappuccino at a downtown coffee shop. You don't really interview Jerry Brown. He does that for you. You just try to keep up. He talks about California and whether it is becoming more conservative. (He's not sure.) He is worried about the growing number of workers who can find jobs only in the underground economy. (It's not the taxes employers are avoiding, he says. It's the health benefits and safety regulations.) He complains that to reach undecided voters, candidates have to buy ads on American Idol and Desperate Housewives--an absurd context for messages about governing. (But he adds, "You gotta take 'em where they are.") He insists that journalists are clueless captives of the narrow-minded worlds they come from--a number he has been running on reporters for more than 30 years, but it's still pretty effective. "You are a prisoner of the TIME-LIFE world that sent you," he says. When I'm not immediately sure how to respond to that, he goes in for the kill: "Well, is it true, or is it not?"

Even when he is rolling, Brown will engage only briefly about national politics. Brown describes Hillary Clinton as "iconic" and disagrees with those who say she can't win. "Sure, she can win," he says. "Anything is possible." Al Gore "would be powerful" as an antiwar candidate if, Brown says, "he loses some weight." The mayor has no patience for George W. Bush. Brown calls him a "cowboy." Republicans are under fire for so many things, Brown observes, that even "Fox News is exhibiting signs of anxiety."

He can't run for mayor again. He made sure the job was term limited when he took it in 1998, he says, "in case I got tempted to stay." How come? "You lose your edge. You need new challenges. You start thinking you own the place." Why does he wants to be attorney general when he has already been Governor? Brown says the jobs are completely different. A Governor plays defense across a broad front, he says, whereas an attorney general can play offense in a more targeted way--on workers' rights, the environment and consumer protection, all at a time when the "rule of law has been undermined" by the Bush Administration. "The balance between change and continuity has always been a part of my life. Continuity looms a lot right now." He thinks about that for a moment and then adds, "In a society of rootlessness and rapid change, I'm running as the traditionalist."