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Ex-Governor, Oakland Mayor Speaks at UC-Berkeley

Posted on: Saturday, 25 March 2006, 06:00 CST

By Veronica Louie

By Veronica Louie
Daily Californian ( UC-Berkeley )

(U-WIRE) BERKELEY, Calif. -- Oakland mayor and former California governor Jerry Brown brought his campaign for state attorney general to campus Thursday, speaking to over 75 students and Berkeley, Calif. residents at the Boalt Hall School of Law. The event, sponsored by the Boalt Hall Democrats and University of California-Berkeley's Center on Politics, gave the audience a glimpse of the UC-Berkeley alumnus's platform, which included a strong emphasis on fighting crime and protecting the environment. A veteran in the field of state politics, Brown has also ventured onto the national scene with unsuccessful runs for the U.S. Senate in 1982 and the Democratic presidential nomination a decade later. Brown stressed that his extensive background -- from the ground level as mayor to his presidential run -- qualify him as the strongest candidate for post. His main strategy for work as an attorney general is similar to his approach in overseeing Oakland for the past eight years, with a focus on reducing crime and establishing charter schools to improve the city from the ground up, he said. Brown said he chose to focus his agenda on a few specific items where he could succeed, rather than attempting to tackle all of California's ills and failing at the task. "My focus was to pick a few things," he said. "To make the structure work you need to have goals." Brown touched on social justice issues by advocating active intervention. "Hundreds of thousands of working people are currently exploited and as attorney general I could and will go after employers with our lawyers to enforce the law," Brown said. In addition to social justice, the attorney general's role reaches far beyond reducing crime and enforcing laws, he said. "In issues like affirmative action and educational opportunity, where there are gross disparities, the attorney general can make a difference," he said. Brown said school systems are not dealing with the pressing issue of adequate K-12 funding, an issue which is especially hurting the bottom 10 to 15 percent of public schools in the state. "You cannot treat 'unequals' equally," he said. "Everyone wants to distribute things equally but that just doesn't work." The discussion drew a range of attendees from Berkeley locals to undergraduates. UC-Berkeley freshman Kyle McCormick said although Brown could have discussed his opponents to give a better perspective on where he stood in comparison to the other candidates, the talk was interesting and informative. "I think that any time we can have a former governor or state official come out, it enriches students' understanding," he said. Contact Veronica Louie at vlouie@dailycal.org.

(C) 2006 Daily Californian via U-WIRE

Source: U-WIRE

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