PROFILE: Jerry Brown: The anti-Schwarzenegger in California

By Andy Goldberg Jan 3, 2011, 17:25 GMT

Sacramento - It says a lot about the success - or lack of it - of Arnold Schwarzenegger's seven years as California governor that Jerry Brown, the man picked to replace him, is in many ways his polar opposite.

Whereas the former Austrian muscle-man came to politics via his famous Hollywood career, Brown, 72, was born into the world's second oldest profession. He is the son of Edmund 'Pat' Brown, the former governor who is credited with building California's interstate highway network and renowned university system.

Brown's inaguruation on Monday marks another step in his life in public service. Thanks to his two previous terms in the governor's office beginning in 1975, Brown also enjoys the unusual record of being both the youngest and oldest governor in the history of the state.

Between those stints he has also worked in one of Mother Teresa's hospices, travelled to Japan to study Buddhism and ran three but ultimately unsuccessful underdog campaigns to become the Democrat's presidential nominee in 1976, 1980 and 1992.

He also took on the unenviable job of the mayor of Oakland, regenerating the crime-ridden city in eight years from 1999 and re- launching his state-wide political career when he became Attorney- General in 2007.

During his first two terms in the state capital Sacramento, Brown was given the name Governor Moonbeam. This was a pejorative picked up by his opponents to scoff at his outlandish ideas of the time - which now seem prescient - such as strict environmental laws, a state space academy, gay rights and a satellite to provide emergency communications.

He eschewed the governor's mansion and limousine, in favour of a rented studio flat with a mattress on the floor and his own second- hand car.

This didn't stop him from becoming the darling of the hippie- Hollywood set and his girlfriend was singer Linda Ronstadt. His frugal ways were also reflected in the state budget where he racked up a record surplus.

That approach will come in handy as he takes office after defeating eBay billionaire Meg Whitman, who spent a record 141 million dollars on her Republican campaign compared to Brown's 30 million dollars.

California faces a record 28-billion-dollar budget deficit built up during Schwarzenegger's reign, reflecting the larger economic crises, but also the 'Governator's' inability to navigate the state's treacherous political jungle.

Brown's experience and wily sense of the possible should give him a better chance of righting California's ship and restoring the world's sixth largest economy to its former glory. Brown has already told voters that the transition will be painful and plans a referendum in which they will have to choose between agonizing cuts, painful tax increases or a mixture of the two.

'The crisis is going to open a way to a solution,' Brown said at a recent economic forum, 'because really our backs are to the wall.'

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