Brown Challenges Whitman To Ten Town Hall Meetings

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown proposed today that he and his Republican opponent Meg Whitman hold at least 10 joint town hall appearances throughout the state to discuss job creation, schools and the budget and take questions from voters.

“Partisan bickering and attack-dog politics have created an awful mess in Sacramento, and I think Meg and I now have an opportunity to change the tenor of politics in California by conducting a responsible campaign that shows the politicians that there is a better way to do business,” Brown said at a downtown Los Angeles news conference, a day after defeating six little-known candidates to secure the Democratic nomination.

“I’m inviting Meg Whitman to join with me to run a campaign that will put the focus on town halls where each of us, in an unscripted manner, will discuss our positions and answer questions,” he said. “Let’s tell people how we’ll manager their tax dollars, how we’ll hold down taxes, how we’ll make government work better and more efficiently, how we’ll fix our schools and how we’ll create jobs.”

Whitman, speaking at a rally in Anaheim, responded that before calling for debates or town halls, Brown should give some specifics about his plans for closing the state’s budget gap.

“There will be plenty of debates, … but what I would say to Jerry Brown, instead of calling for debates he should lay out his plan for California,” Whitman said. “You know, his website has virtually nothing on it. I have put out a 48-page policy book that details the plan that I have to turn around California, so I would call on Jerry Brown to lay out a plan for California and then at least we’ll have something to debate about.”

Brown, the state attorney general who was governor from 1975-83, said the series of town halls would give voters a “full picture” of the two candidates and make television advertising less important.

“If I never see another political ad in my life, I’ll be happy and I’ll bet that most people feel the same way,” Brown said.

“The town halls will show the voters that we can act as adults and actually treat each other with respect,” he said. “Meg and I may not agree on many issues, but we can at least tell the truth and explain how we would approach the job of governor.”

An attempt to lessen the importance of television commercials would likely benefit Brown. Whitman, the billionaire ex-chief executive officer of the auction website eBay, has donated $68 million to her campaign since last year and is expected to substantially outspend Brown, as she did during state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner’s bid to win the GOP nomination.

Brown is expected to receive a boost from an independent campaign financed by labor unions and billionaire investor Ron Burkle.