Law-enforcement group adds $800,000 to pro-Whitman campaign

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A law-enforcement group mentioned by Jerry Brown on his now-infamous voicemail message that was made public last week has purchased more than $800,000 in radio time to boost Republican Meg Whitman.

The California State Law Enforcement Assn., whose president, Alan Barcelona, was called ‘not one of our stalwart officers, in my opinion’ by Brown in the voicemail message, endorsed Whitman last month.

The organization’s “endorsement of Meg Whitman for governor came down to just one final item: We don’t know which Jerry Brown we’d have for the next four years, and we can’t afford to take that risk,” Barcelona wrote in a letter explaining the group’s endorsement of Whitman.

Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford said Whitman earned the endorsement by pandering to the group.

‘Whitman began her campaign calling for the privatization of prisons and an end to the pension system as it now exists but conveniently went back on those pledges when asked about them by CSLEA,’ Clifford told Capitol Weekly last month.’So the question now is, does Whitman believe she was wrong to propose privatizing prisons? Why the change of heart? How can voters trust that she won’t change her mind again?’

-- Anthony York in San Rafael