Jerry Brown

Governor Jerry Brown photographed election night at after party.

Governor Jerry Brown photographed election night at after party.

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Edmund G. Brown, Jr., known as Jerry, was born in San Francisco on April 7, 1938. He attended both public and parochial schools, completed freshman year at the University of Santa Clara before entering Sacred Heart Novitiate, a Jesuit seminary in August 1956. In 1960 he enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, received his B.A. degree in Classics and entered Yale Law School, where he graduated in 1964.

Following law school, Brown worked as a law clerk at the California Supreme Court, traveled and studied in Mexico and Latin America and then took up residence in Los Angeles, working for the prestigious law firm, Tuttle & Taylor. In 1969, Brown was elected to the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees, placing first in a field of 124. In 1970, he was elected California Secretary of State.

Brown was elected Governor in 1974 and reelected in 1978, by a margin of 21%.  During Governor Brown’s tenure, California created 1.9 million new jobs, and adopted the nation’s first energy efficiency standards.

He signed the nation’s first legislation requiring high school students to demonstrate basic proficiency before graduation. In the field of crime fighting, Governor Brown enacted hundreds of tough anti-crime measures, including the “Use A Gun Go To Prison” Law. He established and funded the Career Criminal Prosecution Program, the Career Criminal Apprehension Program and the Crime Resistance Task Force.

After his governorship, Brown lectured widely, led delegations to China and the Soviet Union, studied Spanish in Mexico, spent six months in Japan studying Japanese culture and Buddhist practice, worked with Mother Teresa in India at the Home for the Dying, and traveled to Bangladesh as a CARE ambassador of good will during the devastating floods of 1987.

Brown again practiced law in Los Angeles and in 1989 became chairman of the state Democratic Party. He resigned that position in 1991 and sought the 1992 Democratic Presidential nomination. During that campaign he refused to take contributions larger than $100 and used an “800” number to raise funds.

Despite limited financial resources, Brown defeated Bill Clinton in Maine, Colorado, Vermont, Connecticut, Utah and Nevada during the 1992 Presidential primaries and was the only candidate other than Clinton to receive enough voter support to continue until the Democratic National Convention.

In 1998, Brown ran for mayor of Oakland against 11 other candidates and won in the primary with 59% of the vote. Before taking office, he successfully passed a voter initiative, changing the ceremonial office of mayor to that of a “Strong Mayor” form of city government. Brown was reelected in 2002 with 64% of the vote.

As Mayor, Brown spearheaded the revitalization of a downtown that had been dormant for decades.  During his 8 years as Mayor, the number of serious crimes was reduced by over 30% compared to the previous 8 year period.

On June 18, 2005, Brown married Anne Gust in a ceremony officiated by Senator Diane Feinstein. Later the same day, they had a Catholic ceremony at St. Agnes, the San Francisco church where Jerry was baptized and his parents were married. The marriage is the first for both.

Jerry Brown was elected California’s 31st Attorney General on November 6, 2006. Brown’s margin of victory, 18-points, was greater than that of any other candidate for statewide office.

As Attorney General, Brown focused on protecting working families and consumers, pursuing mortgage fraud and real estate scams, championing worker’s rights and cracking down on violent crime.

Following the California Supreme Court’s finding of a state constitutional right to same-sex marriage, Brown refused to defend Proposition 8 in court.  In May of 2009, the Court ultimately upheld Proposition 8 while providing that those who were wed prior to its passage remained married. Brown then filed a brief arguing that Proposition 8 should be overturned on the basis of federal law.  In August 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Proposition 8 violated the Due Process and the Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Governor Brown was elected for his third gubernatorial term in 2010. Since taking office he has dramatically cut the state budget deficit, improved California’s credit ratings and cut waste and inefficiencies throughout government. Governor Brown also enacted historic public safety realignment, raised the state’s clean energy goal to 33 percent and is seeking the public’s support for new revenues to protect education and public safety funds.   Bio from http://gov.ca.gov

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