Brown Hits General Election Campaign Trail

The day after the election, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown conducted a whirlwind tour of California with stops in Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield, Sacramento and Fresno. At each stop Brown met with law enforcement organizations who are supporting his candidacy.

The trip was highlighted by Brown’s stop in Fresno—right in his opponent’s back yard—at the headquarters of the Fresno Police Officers Association. The Fresno Bee reported:

Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown touched down in Fresno on Wednesday to soak up support from the local police union, the day after winning the Democratic primary election for attorney general.

Brown, the former two-term governor of California and a three-time presidential candidate, said he wanted to make a statement by making a pit stop in the backyard of his opponent, Chuck Poochigian, the Republican state senator who calls Fresno home…He held a news conference at the Fresno Police Officers Association headquarters north of downtown Fresno…"I've got the experience, I've got the will and I've got the energy to back up local police," said Brown, 68. "The Fresno police are behind me because I'm behind them. And that's true for police up and down the state…I have a daily relationship with police people," he said. "Poochigian's a senator. He's been a staffer, a lawyer and then a legislator. Those are not positions where you have daily contact with cops on the beat."

Jacky Parks, president of the FPOA, said Brown sought out the union, asking for its endorsement. Brown came to Fresno for a 30-to-45-minute interview with the union's political action committee. On the day of the interview, Poochigian got word that Brown had asked for the FPOA's endorsement and called the union, saying that he wanted it, too. But the senator couldn't clear his schedule to come to Fresno that day, Parks said…Still, Parks said the union considered Poochigian for the endorsement despite his inability to interview…But the FPOA gave the nod to Brown, in part because as governor he signed two major pieces of pro-police legislation into law, including the Peace Officers Bill of Rights. (Fresno Bee, June 8, 2006)

During the statewide tour Brown repeatedly said that the contrast in the race was between “my hands-on experience working with local law enforcement to get things done versus my opponent’s record as an extreme partisan member of state legislature who has no experience working with law enforcement.”