 There is something very 19th century about the old-fashioned crusades by the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board, which has set its sights on a garish and coruscating new billboard near the Bay Bridge. Now, the editorial campaigns to beat politicians into submission come with e-mail addresses.
Former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, now attorney general, had a dream of bringing the lighted billboard to tens of thousands of commuters traveling in and out of San Francisco. The billboard is now up and glowing with the help of a politically connected company that, incidentally, had received a no-bid contract for another prominent billboard complex near the Oakland Coliseum.
Brown calls the new Bay Bridge billboard "darn good commercial art," for which the city received payment on some rehabilitation projects. That "art" can now be seen at night miles away from the Berkeley/Oakland hillsides. Caltrans wants the billboard toned down, but so far it still shines in the night.
The companion controversy involves legislation that would allow commercial billboards all over the state to convert to electronic versions. And why not--it would save the lives of children by allowing more Jessica's Law alerts. Try opposing that.
S.F. Chronicle.
(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
In a story today about Attorney General Jerry Brown collecting campaign contributions for his legal defense fund is the name of donor Milan Panic. He's listed in the article as "CEO of MP Biomedicals, which makes chemicals and diagnostic products."
 Panic's political contribution went to fight a pre-election lawsuit accusing Brown of being ineligible for the office because his California bar membership has been put on official "inactive" status. A judge said his status was valid, and Brown was sworn in. Panic (pictured) donated $10,000 to help Brown's legal efforts.
But he's not just a biomedical company CEO. He also served as the prime minister of the former Federal Republican of Yugoslavia for nine months in 1992. And the Yugoslavia-born Panic has been connected to Brown for decades.
A well-known figure in Orange County, Panic founded a company in a Los Angeles garage that became known as ICN Pharmaceuticals. Panic was forced out by shareholders in 2002, after settlements in sexual-harassment cases and accusations the company made misleading statements about a hepatitis C drug. Last year, the company, now named Valeant Pharmaceutical, reached a settlement with Panic to repay $20 million in bonuses he had received before he was ousted.
Brown served on the board of directors of one of Panic's companies, ICN Biomedicals, between 1987 and 1991, resigning before he ran for the Democratic nomination for president. They sat together on a small executive committee of the board.
His relationship with Panic dogged Brown during the 1992 presidential race. The Washington Post reported that Brown had "made his support of AIDS patients a prominent
feature of his bid for the Democratic nomination," but held the $20,000 directorship in a firm whose parent company had been accused of falsely promoting an anti-AIDS drug. ICN Pharmaceuticals paid $400,000 to settle the federal charges but admitted no wrongdoing.
The Post said Brown called Rep. Henry Waxman,
chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health and
the environment, asking for Waxman's help in Panic's dispute with
the Food and Drug Administration. Brown said he had been unaware of the AIDS drug controversy. The company had allegedly promoted the respiratory drug Virazole as a treatment for AIDS, even though the FDA had not approved it for that use.
UPDATE: The Recorder legal newspaper has more about their relationship here.
(Photo: Shawn Baldwin/AP;
Lenny Ignelzi/AP)
Attorney General Jerry Brown - lamenting an "institutional conveyor belt" that perpetuates gang crime - told a Central Valley crowd that the prison crisis might be solved by moving California inmates far away from their homes. Very far away. The Fresno Bee:
"We have a paradox in that even the gang members we put in prison can
still be in control of crimes outside by communicating with other gang
members," Brown said. "Maybe some should be sent to Maine instead of
Corcoran, so that they'd be further away from their crime network."
In a move that has angered the state's prison guard union, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued an executive order to transfer California inmates to out-of-state facilities. Currently, the state prison system has about 170,000 men and women housed in prisons built for 100,000. But shipping inmates to prisons in Maine might not work either.
According to Maine prison Commissioner Martin Magnusson, the state has its own emergency - overcrowding by a whopping 293 inmates. "The crowding is taking a major toll on staff, who
are working so much overtime that some are sleeping in their cars after
their shifts because they're too tired to drive home, said the
commissioner, who met with 250 corrections staff on Monday to hear
their frustrations," the Morning Sentinel reported.
Anyway, it's the concept that counts.
Attorney General Jerry Brown just gave the Democratic leadership in the Legislature a significant assist in their efforts to alter California's term limits law.
The title and summary of a proposed term limits initiative has just been released by Brown's office, and it emphasizes exactly what Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez wants California voters to hear: that the initiative would "limit" and "reduce" the terms of lawmakers. The first two sentences: "LIMITS ON LEGISLATORS' TERMS IN OFFICE. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Reduces the total amount of time a person may serve in the state legislature from 14 years to 12 years."
The title and summary does not mention that Nunez and Senate leader Don Perata would see their terms extended under the initiative, which is expected to be on the Feb. 5 presidential primary ballot. Both leaders are scheduled to leave the Legislature next year, unless voters approve the alteration of the 1990 law and allow them to stay in their current houses. The initiative campaign is being run by Nunez's political advisor, Gale Kaufman.
To be sure, voters make their decisions in the ballot box for many reasons. But the title and summary, which is produced by attorneys in Brown's office, often provides a critical guide to voters who make up their minds at the last minute. As one Democratic operative emailed Political Muscle today, the title and summary released today is "as good as it gets."
Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown this afternoon ordered new rules for public records inside his office, after an Associated Press investigation found "information on scores of Justice Dept. contracts, many of them no-bid, was erroneously labeled 'confidential' and omitted from computerized state records, cloaking it from public sight."
 Now, Brown's office sets some "precise standards" for when a document may be declared confidential.
It requires employees to provide a written explanation of why any information on contracts should be withheld from state computer data, and the recommendation must be approved by a supervisor, with advice from lawyers when needed, the AP reports. Exemptions will be made for the purchase of wiretapping equipment, advice from experts during ongoing trials, and any information that could threaten the security of agents.
Although the public records were kept hidden by the previous Justice Dept. administration under Bill Lockyer, Brown himself has been stung by missing public records in Oakland, where he was mayor for eight years. A report by the Oakland Tribune and the Contra Costa Times showed some documents are missing or destroyed. The editorial writers at the CCT weighed in today: "Never mind that the lawyers for the city say that there was never any approval given to get rid of the records. Also never mind that it is against state law to remove, tamper with or destroy government records. But, really, everything is OK because one of the other people who destroyed the records tells us that many of the things that were thrown away were probably backed up electronically, you know, somewhere."
(Photo: Ray Chavez / The Oakland Tribune via AP)
 It was not the best moment for the California Attorney General's office yesterday. The high-profile case against former Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairwoman Patricia C. Dunn ended with a whimper, the Times reports today.
The charges against Dunn and three others involved spying on reporters and wiretapping, and led to a congressional hearing and a new state law on privacy. But Dunn was cleared of all charges Wednesday, and her three co-defendants each pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor count of illegal wiretapping.
Both Attorney General Jerry Brown and former A.G. Bill Lockyer get some blame today, on different counts.
 The Wall Street Journal excoriates Lockyer, now the state treasurer, for bringing the case in the first place: "Lockyer saw a way to grab a share of the case's publicity frenzy during an election year and threw felony raps at Ms. Dunn and three co-defendants. Mr. Lockyer betrayed the state of his own wisdom by going on national TV and saying 'crimes have been committed' even before any charges were filed. Yesterday's result should embarrass Mr. Lockyer, if he is capable of embarrassment."
 Ouch.
Brown (pictured with his wife and senior advisor, Anne Gust) is praised for whittling the case down, but he made a definitive mistake yesterday. His office issued a press release Wednesday morning saying Dunn would plead guilty to a misdemeanor. Not true. Her case was simply dropped. HP issued a statement saying the "attorney general and the court have fashioned a most appropriate resolution of this case." But as LegalNewsline writes: "Only one of them, it seems, knew what it was beforehand."
(Photos: Paul Sakuma / AP; Steve Yeater / AP )
"Mitt Romney is a completely fresh face. I think some of his more
fundamentalist affiliations would make it difficult. But he's certainly
- if you're going to Central Casting, Mitt Romney would be the guy
that you would pick." - California Attorney General Jerry Brown, speaking yesterday on CNN's Situation Room.
For more on Romney and the GOP lineup, California version, see post below. Full transcript of Brown's interview after the jump.
Read on »
Attorney General Jerry Brown is free to continue working in his new job, even though he was technically an "inactive" member of the state Bar during the five-year period before he was elected, a judge ruled today.
State law requires California attorneys general to be active members of the Bar for the five consecutive years before an election. (It's best if they know the law before enforcing it.)
A Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled this afternoon that Brown was still a Bar member when elected in November - he has been since 1965 - and simply chose to pay less dues for the category of "inactive member" during a few of those years. If the Legislature wanted to ban such "inactive" active Bar members from office, it would have written that into the law, Judge Gail Ohanesian said.
Finally, disregarding the votes of several million people to protect a minor and relatively ambiguous point of law would be unfair. The judge wrote: "The right to hold public office is a fundamental right of citizenship, and the statute must be construed in a manner that favors eligibility."
The lawsuit against Brown was filed by Republican activists, including Contra Costa County GOP chairman Thomas Del Beccaro, during the final weeks of 2006 election. (Del Beccaro is running for GOP state vice chairman at the party convention this weekend.) Brown's campaign dismissed the lawsuit as a political stunt.
(Photo: Paul Sakuma / AP)
 I still totally heart Jerry Brown's Myspace page. Our new Attorney General hasn't updated in awhile, but he can be forgiven on account of he's running a 5,000-person department with vast and dangerous powers over other people's lives. Nevertheless, it's cool that California's chief law enforcement officer (sorry, Arnold!) plays "Green Onions" by Booker T and the MGs, and he's got a rockin' group of friends.
There is "Meatrack," standing next to his tractor in a white jumpsuit ready to push the dead bodies into the food processor. And "Devin," who totally looks like this party sucks and wants to bail, along with "Nehemiah Saint-Danger" and someone named "John Garamendi" and "alfie numeric, aka dollface malone aka joy atari."
The "real st. danger" posted a cool photo of Jerry on a jet with Linda Ronstadt. Sweet. And it's so Jerry to start a "blog" on the site and then only post one item. He gets so distracted!
Let's hope Jerry keeps this page going post-campaign. In true Jerry style, he's setting up shop in a shoebox government office near his house in Oakland. (Makes his carbon footprint smaller, natch.) It's about 90 miles from where his huge staff actually does the work of attorneys generalling. But maybe he can use the Myspace page to check on legal briefs, approve settlements and monitor sensitive investigations. And quell the internal complaints that have already started about running the Attorney General's office by Blackberry, telephone and fax. Peace out.
The death of former President Gerald R. Ford has brought back some pointed memories for Vietnamese refugees who fled after the war. Welcomed by Ford, some 130,000 settled in the United States. Ford said "to do less would have added moral shame to humiliation." Ford visited refugee camps, and within months all the refugees had been resettled around the country.
But in California, there was a roadblock: Gov. Jerry Brown, now the state's newly elected attorney general. In an essay widely reprinted this week, Marine pilot and businessman Quang X. Pham, who was born in Saigon, quotes Julia Vadala Taft, head of a refugee task force at the time: "The new governor of California, Jerry Brown, was very concerned about refugees settling in his state. Brown even attempted to prevent planes carrying refugees from landing at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento. ... The secretary of health and welfare, Mario Obledo, felt that this addition of a large minority group would be unwelcome in California. And he said that they already had a large population of Hispanics, Filipinos, blacks and other minorities."
 Obledo, a fierce advocate for Latino immigrants, is better known as co-founder of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Quoted in another essay, Taft noted that Obledo "really attacked our program. He wanted no Vietnamese resettlement in California! Obledo then sent a telegram to John Eisenhower, chairman of President Ford's advisory committee on refugees, complaining that the sponsorship program for the Vietnamese would result in 'a majority of refugees receiving welfare assistance.' "
In the end, the Jerry Brown administration backed down. It's no small irony that Brown later was elected mayor of Oakland, one of the most diverse cities in the nation. His new job as California's top law enforcement officer takes him back to Sacramento - home of one of the largest Southeast Asian immigrant populations in the country.
(Note about the photo: It's taken by Nick Ut, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic image of the naked girl fleeing a napalm attack during the Vietnam War. He now works out of Los Angeles and often takes photographs of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other California political figures.)
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There is something very 19th century about the old-fashioned crusades by the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board, which has set its sights on a garish and coruscating new billboard near the Bay Bridge. Now, the editorial campaigns to beat politicians into submission come with e-mail addresses.
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