From: dean@vexcel.com (dean alaska)
Newsgroups: alt.activism
Subject: Re: jerry brown ruining something?
Date: 6 Apr 92 22:31:50 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: VEXCEL Corporation, Boulder, CO


> Jerry Brown and his agenda for the
> destruction of America
> by Brian Lantz 

Although I am not familiar with all of these charges, the accuracy of 
the ones that I am familiar with does not leave the author with a
lot of credibility, IMO.  A few examples.

> 
                 > - Record as governor -
   > Is this a new Jerry Brown? Absolutely not. In eight
> years as governor of California between 1974 to 1982,
> Brown carried forward and amplified the devastating
> economic policies begun under the Ronald Reagan
> governorship of 1968-74. As governor, Brown endorsed
> California's Proposition 13 populist tax revolt, which
> wrecked local and county government and school board

Brown was stronly against prop 13 during the campaign but
became a supporter after it passed.

   > Jerry Brown's environmental policies are better
> known, such as his protection of the Mediterranean
> Fruitfly. The ``Medfly'' is now endemic, and costs

Brown wasn't "protecting" the medfly, he resisted the
indiscriminate spraying of pesticides over urban areas. 
I well remember warnings to residents to keep pets indoors,
cars in garages, etc., on spray days.  Car covers always sold
out in the stores since the stuff left a sticky film on your car
and would dull the paint job.  And Browns resistance to the
sprayings was overruled so they happened anyway.  The medfly
problem is much more broad than this.

> California agriculture millions of dollars a year. Brown's
> ``Small is Beautiful'' philosophy was used to sell a package
> of policies to Californians which wrecked the
> infrastructure of the state. Brown personally killed the
> construction of the Sundesert nuclear power plant and
> sabotaged completion of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power
> plant for years. In the decade encompassing Brown's
> governorship, industry energy costs skyrocketed by as much
> as 900%. As a result, industrial jobs shrank and energy
> consumption, even with a growing state population, grew at
> less than 2% a year, compared to projections of 6-8%. 

Some of California's utilities "brag" about the lack of growth in
energy usage.  Conservation has removed the need for costly new
power plant construction.  Do we measure our wealth by per capita
energy consumption?  Browns tenure in CA included some of the oil
shocks so it isn't surprising (nor his fault) that energy costs
went up.

   > The same insane policies were applied by Governor
> Brown to other areas of California's basic infrastucture.
> Under Brown and President Jimmy Carter, dam projects came
> to a standstill, contributing to today's much-publicized
> water crisis. Highway and road construction and

I believe there has been a drought.  Virtually all of CA's rivers
are already dammed.  And he certainly wasn't fighting public
sentiment in the few that did get blocked.

> maintenance ground to a halt. California under Governor
> Brown built only a quarter as many miles of highways and
> freeways as it did under Reagan--2,110 miles versus 8,788
> miles. (For the record, Governor Reagan had already begun
> disinvesting through neglected road maintenance and
> non-existent investment on mass transit--$508,000 in eight
> years.) For example, in 1978-79, California ranked {last}
> per capita among all states in expenditures on streets,
> roads, and freeways. In short, there was a total net
> disinvestment in vital ``hard'' and ``soft'' infrastructure
> during the Reagan-Brown years. 

Most Californians don't want a freeway near them so construction lags
even when government tries to build them.  Beverly Hills defeated a
freeway in its area.  There isn't room for more freeways in many
parts of LA.  

   > Today, on the presidential campaign trail, Jerry
> Brown advocates the same policies, proposing, for example,
> that he will save $300 billion a year by cutting national
> energy consumption. This, he slyly states, will create 7
> million jobs. Where? Brown proposes minimum wage jobs in a

Conservation technologies have tremendous growth protential and tend
to be much more labor intensive than current industries.  Although solar
is not ready yet, it is close (see sci.environment).  Many other
conservation technologies are ready now and their use would pay for
the investment quickly, not to mention huge decreases in pollution
and foreign energy dependence.

> 
> ----
> Please respond by e-mail as I get very far behind in reading this 
> newsgroup.

I did.
> 
         > John Covici
          covici@ccs.covici.com

Considering that California's economy has only recently hit the doldrums
after a wildy succesful (too much for many) 1980's, the general comments
that Brown destroyed the economy in CA doesn't hold water.  Although I am
not the strongest Brown supporter and have objections to many of his
ideas, this polemic is an inaccurate representation.
-- 

		dingo in boulder	(dean@vexcel.com)