We the People... An Index of Issues Excerpts from the Record and Speeches of Governor Brown Our cause is clear. We must restore commitment to our nation, vitality to the values of our society, vigor to our economy, real democracy to our government, and purpose to our national life. Above all, we must secure our childrens birthright of a greater America than we ourselves inherited. At the heart of my campaign is a Family Bill of Rights with this commitment: Every person has the right to a living wage. Every person has the right to health care. Every person has the right to shelter. Every person has the right to an education. Every person has the right to be free from economic insecurity in their old age. That is my commitment and if you join, it will be our commitment. And it will be done. Agriculture/Farm As governor, created Farm Workers Health Services Program to increase health care to migrant workers and their families. We have to design policies that recognize the stewardship of the land, the continuity of families, and that means cooperatives, marketing orders, expert assistance, and a recognition that there is a value in making the same kinds of assistance available to our own family farmers as we do to places like Poland, or Egypt...where [loans are renegotiated, not foreclosed]. When times get tough on the farm, its foreclosure. I think we have to have a policy that...treats American citizens and family farmers [better than] we do so many foreign countries. AIDS Recently assisted Mother Teresa in opening AIDS hospice in San Francisco. I think it ought to be at the top of the national health care agenda. The President barely mentions it. Youve got a million and a half people dying of AIDS; youve got good research projects that are not even being funded; youve got people who, while we're waiting for one or the other of these health care plans, can't get covered. They are suffering, and no other country, at least developed countries, would let that happen. I think the Presidents got to stand up and say, `Look, we've got a plague on our hands. We've got to talk about it- how it's transmitted. We've got to warn people and we've got to pay the money so that we don't abandon people who are suffering and dying in every community in America. Bush/Reagan Era There has been unfair and unequal gain of wealth by the few at the expense of the many. The stunning gains by the very rich did not result from the success of hard work or a reward earned by creative enhancement of the nation's prosperity. No, to the contrary, this result reflects a decade of unfair tax breaks for the privileged disguised as relief for all, the looting of the National Treasury, the rigging of our free market economy, and a host of successful scams and rip-offs best exemplified by corporate take-overs on Wall Street and savings and loan disasters on Main Street....The richest 1% increased their share of the National income by almost $200 billion a yearand they took it from the poor and the middle class without apology. Truly, we have seen a class war and the redistribution of income...by the self-interested and greedy who have manipulated the tax codes for their own benefit. Business I believe the corporations should be encouraged to plow back more of their money into what they're doing. What we need to do is have an industrial...economic strategy like the Japanese have to target areas of opportunity for environmentally sound, resource efficient growth. And I would see that in space, in bioscience, in electronics, in telecommunications, in materials science. Campaign Financing The chokehold which campaign contributions have on the political process must be broken. We need real and meaningful campaign reforms, and not just regarding campaign finance. Equally imperative, candidates must have free access to the means of mass communication in a modern society. In terms of executive orders...I'd find people for the Federal Communications Commission who will develop a program of free television time so candidates dont have to spend so much of their campaigning raising huge [sums of] money to buy time on television to manipulate voters. (Every Presidential campaign, hundreds of millions of dollars go to consultants, advertising firms, and the media.) Crime/Punishment As governor, mandatory prison terms for use of gun in a crime, for repeat felons, for crimes against elderly and handicapped, for heroin pushers; signed legislation creating Victim/Witness assistance program and Rape Crisis Centers. We've tripled the prison population...Every prison causes the need for another prison two-thirds as large because of the 60% recidivistic rate. But if you took that money, and you invested in children, and child care, and Head Start, and jobs...you will see this country prosper and flourish. You're never going to stop crime unless there is an adequate opportunity for jobs and income for every person. Opposes capital punishment. Defense - See Military/Defense Domestic Policy We have to be prepared to knit together a governing coalition of labor, business, minorities, and people who represent environmental concerns in a way that will allow investment in our own people. I put that investment in three categories: in human capital, which is education, job training and the acquisition of skills; in technological capital, which provides the competitive edge while allowing us to maintain our position in the world; and in environmental capital, which will maintain and enhance our forests, fisheries, agricultural land and air. We need real reform. I think we have to reform the politics, the tax code, the industrial policy, our health system. And as we do that, we will be not only on the verge, but in the beginning and the duration of a golden age. Drugs Decriminalized possession of less than one ounce of marijuana in California. Favors drug treatment on demand. Would not legalize marijuana. Economy Number One, I would cut payroll taxes so that the withholding on the people of America would go down in the next two weeks. Secondly, I'd move off the backlog every single public works project in America to put people to work. Number three, I would take some of the money were now spending abroad and invest it here at home in things that will create efficiency and a more innovative economy. One more thing, I would fully fund Head Start. Youve got to put an income floor under those families that are under stress...[Create] enterprise zones. Take 50 of the hardest-pressed areas in America, cut out the taxes to any business that will go in there and hire people. [For] people who are on public assistance, let them take their government check and turn it into a voucher so they can turn it into a job, so that the employer adds more to it. Anything that will make sure that every American has a living family wage... Education As governor, tripled K-12 education budget; opposed charging tuition at state colleges and universities; raised standards for high school graduation and college entrance; Worksite Education and Training Act to put people to work in skilled labor positions; MESA Program to motivate women and minorities to complete college degrees in math, engineering, and the sciences. The public school is the major integrating institution in our society...I want to make sure its fully funded. We can put a computer in front of every school child...and have learning programs from Kindergarten through the 12th grade. The same people who are designing the Star Wars defense....that level of commitment and skill and money...can revolutionize American education. Energy Our current energy policy...depends on foreign oil, on squandering resources, on promoting nuclear power and wrecking the environment both offshore and in wilderness areas. I say its time for the President to say `no to future nuclear power and `yes to solar, biomass conversion, synthetic fuels, wind powerto a whole array of energy sources that are safer, more economically secure, that will not lead to the disaster that nuclear is now taking us. If we commit ourselves to an energy system no more wasteful than in Germany and Japan, we would save more money than were spending on the entire defense system....you can invest in new engines, lights, retrofitting buildings. And...youll reduce the energy spending that will free us from dependence on foreign oil, protect the environment and put millions of Americans to work. Environment/Ecology As governor, led the nation in creating and enforcing clean-air laws, enacting legislation to curb toxic wastes, and promoting environmental awareness. Despite opposition from special interest groups and Federal Bureaucracy, his administration accomplished much in the area of environmental protection and preservation by instituting a strict climate of regulatory compliance. Favors clean renewable alternate energy sources; i.e. wind, solar, cogeneration, geothermal. Equal Opportunity As governor, strongest commitment to affirmative action anywhere in country; prohibited payment of different wages for jobs requiring equal skill, effort and responsibility; promoted training of women for job classifications in which 70% of employees were men; prohibited sex or marital status as factor in denial of credit; designated sexual harassment as unfair employment practice; banned mandatory retirement; made age discrimination illegal. Brown appointed 287 Asians, 435 African-Americans, 549 Hispanics, and 46 Native Americans to government positions. Federal Spending As governor, reduced government costs and the growth of government while saving money for taxpayers and delivering exceptional service to citizens. Every year the federal government takes at least half a trillion dollars and, essentially, dumps it in the trash. There is enough money to do what is needed to be done, and what must be done, and the dying of cities and the destruction of a whole generation of Americans right before our eyes is every bit as much a threat to each of us and to our society as the collapse of the banking system. Foreign Policy We ought to be able to find ways where people have the sense and the power of their own national identity, but are harmoniously integrated in regional economic and federal units...I would do everything I could to bring together parties that are so far apart and so different as the people there in the Middle East, Israel, and its Arab neighbors...There is real fear and insecurity and we have an historic relationship with Israel that we must maintain.... Supports loan guarantees (the assurance that Israel's loans will be repaid.) Foreign Trade Will we prosper as a virtual colony to the rest of the world by supplying raw materials in exchange for imported, finished goods of high value such as cars, TVs, steel and calculators? No, a hundred times no. We will prosper by consciously setting forth an economic agenda that will build for the future, not steal from it. We have got to have better products...so the people want it and have to have it. Then we'll go to Japan and we'll open up their markets. How do you do trade? Not like we did in the Gulf War 70% of the goods that we shipped over there for that war were in foreign ships. You first build up your ports; 36 states in this nation have access to navigable waters. You link it with trains, with rail...and then youre prepared to enter into the vast growth of world trade, which can generate the wealth. Gay/Lesbian As governor, repealed criminal penalties from private sexual acts between consenting adults; signed executive order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. Favors passage of the Gay Rights Bill. Global Ecology Global warming indicates that we have to reduce our fossil fuel use dramatically...we have to get about the business of alternative energy. As a small minority of the world's basic resources for but a few percent of its people, but we can learn to place quality above quatity and caring above consumption. Gun Control Believes in the right to bear arms but that automatic weapons and Saturday Night Specials should be rigidly controlled. Favors waiting periods, at least in accordance with California laws. Handicapped As governor, instituted $25,000 tax deduction for remodeling for handicapped access; created more than 25 living centers for the disabled. Health Care As governor, developed health ed programs for students and seniors; created Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse; created many programs for prevention, education, training, etc.; funded program of preventive health care for seniors. As governor, I signed bills to let people compete with managed health care plans, health maintenance organizations; there's 13 million people in California that are now in them. I believe health care should be available to all Americans, and...I believe that should be a top priority for the next US Senate, and I would make it mine. We should have a single payor, universal health care, emphasizing wellness and prevention and including the choice of different healing arts whether it's acupuncture or chiropractic. In Canada, people are spending $500 less per capita than we are, and they're living two years longer, and they are covering every single citizen...[The Canadia system would] save over $100 billion a year. A man standing out in the street, homeless, and President Reagan ought to all be in the same health care system. You bet it will be a good one. Homelessness Homelessness is a social phenomenon created by neglect. Available housing, a mental health system that really takes care of people, reducing alcohol and drug dependency, and providing jobs and income among those people in society that are increasingly in the backwater - all these things have to be done to really get at homelessness. [We] would state as a premise that every American has a right to shelter, and then we go from there...we talk about the $10 billion loan guarantee for Israel. [I would] link in the same legislation, a loan guarantee for every single American...so we take care of our first responsibility. Jobs The World Watch Institute has said that if you weatherize every house in this country, you would cut energy consumption by enough to pay for...that work and create 7 million jobs. [In the Pentagon Budget there is] $300 billion a year of unnecessary, wasteful and polluting envergy consumption...by spending $300 billion to accomplish the goals of fuel efficient homes, motors, refrigerators, fuel efficient cars, high speed trains...you dont have to raise taxes one penny...If there was a commitment, and if the oil companies...and the power companies would stand aside...you would have seven million new jobs. We need to make the commitment to make sure people have jobs...whether it be building the infrastructure for high-speed trains, or creating things like the Civilian Conservation Corps to get young people out of adverse circumstances and give them an opportunity. Military/Defense Favors cutting the defense budget by half the first year. Examine the absurdity of what's happening: When the Soviet Union agreed to pull troops out of Germany, the Germans [agreed to] pay the Russians $5 billion over the next several years to [care for the] troops...And we're spending tens of billions to defend Germany against those same soldiers. Minorities I picked...the first black appointed to the California Supreme Court. And then I appointed the second African-American...to the California Supreme Court. And I appointed the first Hispanic...and the first woman...to be Chief Justice of that court. Native Americans As governor, provided financial assistance to health care programs; appointed 46 to government positions. PACs/Lobbying I will tell you who is supporting the anti-term limits. Phillip Morris gave $25,000 and the National Rifle Association is the second biggest giver...if every 6 years there's a new Congressman, somehow the clout is going to be gone. `The clout - well, is that the clout for the tobacco company so more kids can learn to be addicted to a Cancer causing substance? Is that the clout we might lose? Then I say great, the sooner, the better. Pay Raises That form of legalized bribery [honorarium] was something that the individual senator took or not. And you took it, and now you've given yourself a $40,000 pay raise in order to give up $30,000 in honoraria. Now, you explain that one to me. I disagree with you, I disagree very strongly...As governor, I fought a pay raise eight out of eight years. Privacy As governor, signed legislation ensuring comprehensive right to privacy for Californians. Qualifications I have the experience of being the chief executive of the largest state in the country. That economy in California is equivalent to the 8th largest country in the world. Just in our medical budget alone we spent $5 billion a year. All the problems we're talking about -- national service--we started. The California Conservation corps--50,000 young men and women have gone through it. Wellness and prevention--the first state Wellness Commission, we did it there. Pioneering in controlling toxics--the best environmental record anywhere in the country. So I think there's a record there. for the future, I would say the essence of what I'm doing here is reform. reform of the tax code, reform of the politics. Of all the candidates, I have more experience...and I have the message for 1992...What I am trying to do is to transform the party that I belong to and transform the country. Anything short of that is just going to compound and continue the decline and the suffering and the injustice that is spreading all around the country. Secrecy Believes that for the people to govern, they must be informed. Favors opening the JFK files. Space We should be investing in projecting human beings into space; it ought to be done on a multinational basis...as we create more shared working and experimental opportunities for human beings. Space research can break down political barriers as well as push back scientific frontiers. And it's a crucial part of the investment strategy of this nation. Taxes As governor, reduced tax burden, moving Californians from 3rd highest to 24th ranking among states. Eliminated longstanding oil and insurance company tax breaks. The tax code is a veritable feast of fundraising, corruption, lobbying, and activities...a moneymaker for the people down in congress. I know if we were to abolish the income tax, the Social Security payroll tax, the gasoline tax, the airline ticket tax, the corporate tax, and the estate and gift tax, we can replace it with a simple 13% flat tax on gross income and business added. With that, you'll get economic efficiency, you'll see the stock market go, you'll see jobs being produced, and I believe with that we'll be able to afford a national health care system modeled on the Canadian variety. If you apply [the 13% flat tax] on the business value added and the personal adjusted gross income, it equals about $8 trillion. You multiply something about 12.5% and you will come out with what was collected last year...Three deductions only--rent, charity, and home mortgage. That's it. (Federal excise taxes to remain on cigarettes and alcohol.) Term Limits The problem is not that the president serves two terms, it's that senators are down there for 30...for 40 years. That's not right, and especially it's not right when you look at the judiciary panel and you see those men there. Is that America? Voting As governor, signed into law the postcard registration procedure. Bills to allow people to vote ought to be passed forthwith...Let's have same-day voter registration...an election holiday...so that every citizen in this country is invited and empowered to vote. Welfare As governor, program assisted families to move from welfare to self-support; provided job search assistance; Project Intercept to collect child support payments; adoption programs. Favors voucher system for promoting employment of welfare recipients by private business. [The problem isn't] some Welfare Queenmaking a few thousand dollars a month...The Welfare King' is the former president of General Motors...[He helped] drive General Motors into the ground, and he gets $1.2 million for the rest of his life. That's the kind of privilege that is at the heart of what's ailing America." Women's Issues As governor, supported women's right to personal choice concerning her body and her reproductive system; extended child care and unemployment disability benefits to all working women; granted state employees one year of leave for purposes of pregnancy, childbirth, and recovery; mandated against discrimination in hiring based upon pregnancy; empowered enforcement for child support payments; named women to fill nearly one third of appointed posts, including 131 judges, 5 cabinet members, 22 department directors, and 10 deputy directors; appointed the first woman Chief Justice of Supreme Court, the first African-American woman to the men's prison system...the first woman in charge of the Highway Department, the Business Department, the Finance Department, the Health Department, the Veteran's Affairs Department. Regarding abortion: "I support the right of a woman to make this decision totally free from any pressure or inducement from the federal government." Supports Roe v. Wad, the Freedom of Choice Act, overturn of the "Gag Rule," Medicaid funding; opposes Constitutional amendment outlawing abortion, mandatory parental notification/consent laws. Workers As governor, increased unemployment insurance benefits; collective bargaining for farm workers; collective bargaining for teachers; Occupational Carcinogen Control Act required registration of carcinogens; increased benefits for employment disability; increased minimum wage above the federal minimum; tripled job training programs, including health and vocational apprenticeships; provided Californians 25% of all the new jobs in the nation. "Banning the replacement of people who go out on strike is nothing more than giving reality to the strikers ultimate weapon--to withhold one's labor...when management can just replace strikers, you've essentially destroyed organized labor...a pillar of progressive politics since the '30s." What Would This Cost? Debate Moderator: "OK, you become president...What is the cost of your program, of transforming it?" Governor Brown: "I'd say three things: On defense...[I could] show a $700 billion saving between now and the next ten years...The second point is that the tax amnesty...could recapture 1%. You tell people in the underground economy...who've not paid their taxes, that if they come back in...we'll work out an installment plan. There have been about $8 trillion in taxes paid in this country in the last six years. If we could get 1% of that, that's somewhere in the neighborhood of $80 billion. The third thing is that I recommend that you eliminate the gasoline tax, the social security tax, all these federal taxes and replace them with a simple, stable flat tax, that's fair, that'll give stability over time, that will give that longer horizon for investment and saving that every economist says is needed if we're going to produce the productivity that we need." Authorized by Brown for President/Labor Donated 2121 Cloverfield, Suite 120 Santa Monica, CA 90404-5277 Voice: (310) 449-1992 Fax: (310) 449-1903