Jerry Brown plans inaugural party

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Gov.-elect Jerry Brown is planning to be sworn in Jan. 3 at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, followed by an afternoon reception for friends, family and supporters at the California State Railroad Museum, according to people who have coordinated with the governor-elect’s office in putting together the events.

For weeks, Brown had toyed with numerous options for his swearing-in to a historic third term as California governor, including holding the event in the vaulted chambers of the state Assembly, those involved in the planning said.

But ultimately Brown has chosen to be sworn in at the same location where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took the oath of office four years ago. The auditorium, first constructed in 1926, has been home to events as varied as Beach Boys and Rolling Stones concerts and Brown’s first post-election budget forum earlier this month.

The building has one other advantage for the governor-elect and wife Ann Gust-Brown: It’s across the street for their new upscale loft.

In the afternoon and early evening, Brown will invite guests to a reception at the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento. That is the site, during the 2003 recall, where then-candidate Schwarzenegger outlined his political reform agenda, railing against the special interests’ grip on the statehouse.

Two people involved in the discussions said that Brown intends to form an inaugural committee to raise private donations to pay for the event, with the hopes of keeping it to a $100,000 budget. But Brown has the option of raising a vastly larger sum from interest groups through ticket sales to the event or outright donations to the inaugural committee.

Brown spokesman Evan Westrup said he would not discuss the event until Brown issues a press release announcing the details.

-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento