Brown calls on Whitman to take a position on Proposition 23

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Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown on Monday called out his Republican rival Meg Whitman for failing to take a position on Proposition 23, which would suspend California’s landmark climate-change law until unemployment drops sharply.

“I’m for renewable energy, solar, wind, efficiency and the kind of investment in the new jobs that will keep California at the forefront,” Brown said, speaking at PermaCity Solar in Los Angeles. “It is a very regressive move and plays right into the hands of out-of-state oil companies to say yes on this particular proposition. I say no on 23 and I call upon Meg Whitman, who has yet to make up her mind, to join environmentalists, labor, citizen groups in fighting this really noxious initiative.”

The November ballot measure would suspend a 2006 law that requires California to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels over a decade. If Prop. 23 is approved, the law would be suspended until unemployment dips to 5.5% or lower for one year.

The issue presents a quandary for GOP candidates, who are seeking to appease the party base, which opposes the law, while also being mindful of the fact that two-thirds of California voters support the state’s climate change law. Notably, more than 7 in 10 independent voters support the state’s climate law, and independents are key to the Republicans’ efforts to make up for Democrats’ double-digit voter registration edge in California

Since early August, Whitman has refused to take a position on the proposition, despite calling the law a “job killer” in the GOP primary. For nearly seven weeks, the candidate has said she is leaning against it but has not made up her mind.

Asked about the proposition on Monday in Sacramento, Whitman said she would release a statement on the measure by the end of this week. She has also said previously that her counterproposal for a one-year moratorium on the global warming bill is ‘smart and green.’

Brown dismissed Whitman’s proposal as a “gimmick.”

“Those naysayers who say we can’t pioneer, we can’t do something new, don’t understand the history of California … This is a state of imagination, of invention, of new technology. We’re the state of dreams,” he said. “One of my dreams is the sun and the wind and natural resources can give us the energy we need and propel our economy.”

-- Seema Mehta in Los Angeles