Editing Jerry Brown (section)

===First term===
{{Main|1974 California gubernatorial election}}
[[File:Gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown speaking at political rally, 1974.jpg|thumb|Brown speaking with supporters in 1974.]]
In 1974, Brown ran in a highly contested Democratic primary for Governor of California against [[speaker of the California Assembly]] [[Bob Moretti]], San Francisco mayor [[Joseph L. Alioto]], Representative [[Jerome R. Waldie]], and others. Brown won the primary with the name recognition of his father, Pat Brown, whom many people admired for his progressive administration.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kotkin |first=Joel |url=https://blogs.forbes.com/joelkotkin/2011/01/03/californias-third-brown-era/ |title=California's Third Brown Era – Joel Kotkin – New Geographer|work=Forbes |date=December 30, 2010 |access-date=January 21, 2011}}</ref> In the General Election on November 5, 1974, Brown was elected Governor of California over California state controller [[Houston I. Flournoy]]; Republicans ascribed the loss to anti-Republican feelings from [[Watergate]], the election being held only ninety days after President [[Richard Nixon]] resigned from office. Brown succeeded Republican governor [[Ronald Reagan]], who retired after two terms.

[[File:Jerry Brown 1974 Plymouth Satellite.jpg|thumb|left|Jerry Brown selected two frugal 1974 Plymouth Satellites from the state motor pool for his use in Northern California and Southern California. This is one of them, on display at the [[California Automobile Museum]].]]

After taking office, Brown gained a reputation as a [[fiscal conservatism|fiscal conservative]].<ref name="ABC1">{{cite news |title=Gov. Brown, California |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |date=August 23, 1975|author=Shoemaker, Dick}}</ref> ''[[The American Conservative]]'' later noted he was "much more of a fiscal conservative than [[Ronald Reagan|Governor Reagan]]".<ref name="AC1">{{cite news |title=Five Faces of Jerry Brown |url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/five-faces-of-jerry-brown// |work=[[American Conservative]] |date=November 1, 2009|author=Walker, Jesse |author-link=Jesse Walker}}</ref> His fiscal restraint resulted in one of the biggest budget surpluses in state history, roughly $5 billion.<ref name="SJMN2">{{cite news |title=Brown, Whitman prepare for gubernatorial debate |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16188880 |agency=Associated Press |work=[[San Jose Mercury News]] |date=September 27, 2010 |author=Young, Samantha }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> For his personal life, Brown refused many of the privileges and perks of the office, forgoing the newly constructed 20,000 square-foot governor's residence in the suburb of [[Carmichael, California|Carmichael]] and instead renting a $275-per-month apartment at 1228 N Street, adjacent to Capitol Park in downtown Sacramento.<ref>{{harvnb|Bachelis|1986|p=68}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Schell|1978|pp=80–81}}</ref> Rather than riding as a passenger in a chauffeured [[limousine]] as previous governors had done, Brown walked to work and drove in a [[Plymouth Satellite]] [[Sedan (car)|sedan]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Jennifer |last=Steinhauer |title=4 Ex-Governors Craving Jobs of Yore |date=December 5, 2009 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/us/politics/06govs.html|access-date=January 25, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Jerry Brown Meets Sgt. York & Flavor Flav|date=December 10, 2009|publisher=CalBuzz|url=http://www.calbuzz.com/2009/12/jerry-brown-meets-sgt-york-flavor-flav/|access-date=January 25, 2010|archive-date=January 9, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109082417/http://www.calbuzz.com/2009/12/jerry-brown-meets-sgt-york-flavor-flav/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Schell|1978|p=82}}</ref> When [[Gray Davis]], who was chief of staff to Governor Brown, suggested that a hole in the rug in the governor's office be fixed, Brown responded: “That hole will save the state at least $500 million, because legislators cannot come down and pound on my desk demanding lots of money for their pet programs while looking at a hole in my rug!”<ref name=BL_2020-01 >{{ cite web | url=https://update.lib.berkeley.edu/2020/01/23/governor-gray-davis-on-jerry-brown/ | title=Governor Gray Davis on Governor Jerry Brown | last=Davis | first=Gray | author-link=Gray Davis | date=2020-01-23 | access-date=2020-10-20 | quote=Another example of the governor’s frugality occurred about three months into his administration. We were just finishing our morning meeting, when I mentioned to the governor that I had asked General Services to come over and not replace, but repair a 10-inch hole in the rug adjacent to his desk. “Why would you do that?” he asked. “Because it’s unseemly to have a hole in the governor’s rug.” The Governor answered: “That hole will save the state at least $500 million, because legislators cannot come down and pound on my desk demanding lots of money for their pet programs while looking at a hole in my rug!” }}</ref>

As governor, Brown took a strong interest in [[environmental issues]]. He appointed [[J. Baldwin]] to work in the newly created California Office of Appropriate Technology, [[Sim Van der Ryn]] as State Architect, [[Stewart Brand]] as Special Advisor, [[John Bryson]] as chairman of the California State Water Board. Brown also reorganized the [[California Arts Council]], boosting its funding by 1300 percent and appointing artists to the council,<ref name="AG Bio">{{cite web|url=http://ag.ca.gov/ag/brown.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119094345/http://ag.ca.gov/ag/brown.php|archive-date=November 19, 2009|title=Edmund G. Brown Jr.|publisher=California Office of the Attorney General|access-date=April 17, 2013}}</ref> and appointed more women and minorities to office than any other previous California governor.<ref name="AG Bio"/> In 1977, he sponsored the "first-ever tax incentive for rooftop solar", among many environmental initiatives.<ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news|author=COLIN SULLIVAN of Greenwire | url=https://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/10/08/08greenwire-jerry-browns-environmental-record-runs-deep-44334.html | title=Jerry Brown's Environmental Record Runs Deep |work=The New York Times |date=October 8, 2010 |access-date=October 13, 2010}}</ref> In 1975, Brown obtained the repeal of the "[[Depletion (accounting)|depletion allowance]]", a tax break for the state's oil industry, despite the efforts of [[lobbyist]] [[Joseph C. Shell]], a former intraparty rival to Nixon.<ref>The decisive vote against the allowance was cast in the [[California State Senate]] by the usually pro-business Republican Senator [[Robert S. Stevens (judge)|Robert S. Stevens]]. Shell claimed that Stevens had promised him that he would support keeping the allowance: "He had shaken my hand and told me he was with me." Brown later rewarded Stevens with a judicial appointment, but Stevens was driven from the bench for making salacious telephone calls.{{cite news |url=http://www.sacbee.com/walters/story/844451.html |title=For Joe Shell, character trumped ideology in California politics |last=Walters |first=Dan|date=April 8, 2008|work=The Sacramento Bee |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423035846/http://www.sacbee.com/walters/story/844451.html|archive-date=April 23, 2008}}</ref>

In 1975, Brown opposed Vietnamese immigration to California, saying that the state had enough poor people. He added, “There is something a little strange about saying ‘Let's bring in 500,000 more people’ when we can't take care of the 1 million (Californians) out of work.”<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-jerry-brown-tried-to-keep-immigrants-out-of-california-1520634989|title=When Jerry Brown Tried to Keep Immigrants Out of California|first=Joseph|last=D’Hippolito|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=9 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/01/17/williams-why-dems-changed-course-on-illegal-immigration/|title=Williams: Why Dems changed course on illegal immigration|date=January 17, 2019}}</ref>

Brown strongly opposed the [[death penalty]] and vetoed it as governor, which the legislature overrode in 1977.<ref>{{Harvnb|Schell|1978|pp=232, 248–249}}</ref> He also appointed judges who opposed capital punishment. One of these appointments, [[Rose Bird]] as the chief justice of the [[Supreme Court of California|California Supreme Court]], was voted out in 1987 after a strong campaign financed by business interests upset by her "pro-labor" and "pro-free speech" rulings. The death penalty was only "a trumped-up excuse"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cschs.org/02_history/images/CSCHS_2007-Brown.pdf|title=California Supreme Court History|work=California Supreme Court Historical Society|access-date=2018-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105014051/http://www.cschs.org/02_history/images/CSCHS_2007-Brown.pdf|archive-date=2013-11-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> to use against her, even though the Bird Court consistently upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty.<ref name="SFBG1">{{cite news |title=Jerry Brown and the Rose Bird factor |url=http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2010/03/02/jerry-brown-and-rose-bird-factor |newspaper=[[San Francisco Bay Guardian]] |date=March 2, 2010 |last=Redmond |first=Tim}}</ref> In 1960, he lobbied his father, then governor, to spare the life of [[Caryl Chessman]] and reportedly won a 60-day stay for him.<ref name="rivals question">{{cite news |url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/CAMPAIGN-2006-State-attorney-general-Brown-s-2517600.php |title=Brown's rivals question commitment to death penalty |last=Zamora |first=Jim Herron |date=June 2, 2006 |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |access-date=November 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623112947/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2006%2F06%2F02%2FBAGOTJ685P1.DTL |archive-date=June 23, 2006 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/20/books/he-was-their-last-resort.html |title=He Was Their Last Resort |last=Lewis |first=Anthony |date=August 20, 1989 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=November 19, 2009}}</ref>

Brown was both in favor of a [[Balanced Budget Amendment]] and initially opposed to [[California Proposition 13 (1978)|Proposition 13]], the latter of which would decrease property taxes and greatly reduce revenue to cities and counties.<ref name="LAT2">{{cite news |title=The parable of 'Jerry Jarvis' |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-mar-04-la-me-cap4-2010mar04-story.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=March 4, 2010 |last=Skelton |first=George}}</ref> After Prop 13 passed in June 1978, he changed course and declared himself a “born-again tax cutter.” He heavily cut state spending, and along with the Legislature, spent much of the $5 billion surplus to meet the proposition's requirements and help offset the revenue losses which made cities, counties, and schools more dependent on the state.<ref name="SJMN2"/><ref name="LAT2"/> His actions in response to the proposition earned him praise from Proposition 13 author [[Howard Jarvis]] who went as far as to make a television commercial for Brown just before his successful [[California gubernatorial election, 1978|re-election bid in 1978]].<ref name="LAT2"/> The controversial proposition immediately cut tax revenues and required a two-thirds [[supermajority]] to raise taxes.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/us/14calif.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |first=Jesse |last=McKinley |title=A Candidate Finds Much Changed, and Little |date=March 13, 2010}}</ref> Max Neiman, a professor at the [[Institute of Governmental Studies]] at University of California, Berkeley, credited Brown for "bailing out local government and school districts", but felt it was harmful "because it made it easier for people to believe that Proposition 13 wasn't harmful".<ref name="nytimes1"/> In an interview in 2014, Brown indicated that a "war chest" would have helped his campaign for an alternative to Proposition 13.<ref name=buildon>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-jerry-brown-20141019-story.html |title=An experienced Jerry Brown vows to build on what he's already done |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=October 19, 2014 |access-date=October 21, 2014}}</ref>