Why Jerry Brown Wants to Be California’s Next Governor

We’ve known for years that Jerry Brown would run to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010, but the former two-term governor waited until Tuesday to make it official. In his announcement video, Brown promised not to raise taxes without voter approval, to transfer power from Sacramento to local governments and to generally restore California to its former glory.

Brown also took a stab at Schwarzenegger and his main rival, Republican Meg Whitman: “Some people say that if you’ve been around the process, you can’t handle the job, that we need to go out and find an outsider who knows virtually nothing about state government. Well, we tried that, and it doesn’t work. We found out that not knowing is not good.”

Brown, 71, is currently California’s attorney general. He was previously the mayor of Oakland and served as governor from 1975 to 1983. Brown’s father also was a California governor, and his sister unsuccessfully sought the office. — PZS

Sources: San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Jerry Brown, Wikipedia, the Economist