November 1, 2012, San Francisco

With less that a week to go before the election, California Governor Jerry Brown appeared at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco to make his case for Proposition 30, which would provide funding for public education at a time when the state is facing major education cutbacks. This video features Governor Brown’s opening statement, which was followed with answers to audience questions read by the moderator Joseph Fink. The crowd appeared to enjoy the Governor’s varied and entertaining oratory, one moment speaking as a passionate political spokesman, the next as a blunt hard nosed budget negotiator, occasionally joking and providing comic relief, and at other times speaking with a sermon-like quality, referring to his time in seminary and making the moral case for a more equitable society.

“We face not only a political question, not only an economic question, but a moral question. Our society is held together by the contributions of all of us.” ~ Jerry Brown

“We don’t stay on top by disinvesting in our schools, by disinvesting in our colleges and great University of California. The case for proposition 30 is crystal clear. Invest in the California dream. Keep the creativity and the innovation alive and well, and expanding and intensifying”

“This is a vibrant, creative place. One of the most extraordinary pieces of real estate and collection of human beings in the whole world. Our exports are up 17% to 108 billion. Venture capital investment in California is half of what the rest of the country gets and of course we’re leading it in the clean tech investment and the clean tech production. Patents are issued in California at four times the rate of the next state which is New York.” ~ Governor Jerry Brown

“California’s on the move again, adding jobs and investment in our state at a higher rate. We have to build for the future to insure that growth. This means temporary revenue to invest in our schools.” ~ Governor Brown

“Looking back to my seminary education, I refer to Saint Luke who said in his gospel, chapter 12, verse 48, ‘to those to whom much is given, much is required’. We face not only a political question, not only an economic question, but a moral question. Our society is held together by the contributions of all of us, all 38 million. We all do what we can so each of us, do what we can, and for those who have been most blessed, we’re going to ask you for seven years. The biblical seven years. Lean years, fat years, you’ve had ’em both. So now as we face this difficult period ahead, I believe proposition 30 comes at just the right time with just the right formula. That’s the case for prop 30. It’s pretty simple. ”
“I can reduce it even more summarily, and that is, money into the schools and colleges, into the California dream, or out. In or out, yes or no, on or off, there’s no middle way. Or, if I can quote my Latin, tertsium non datum. A third way is not given. It’s yes or no.”

“In sum, we cleaned up a big budget mess, and now we have a structurally balanced budget for the first time in a decade. By California putting our fiscal house in order, we’ve been upgraded by the rating agencies. They’re now saying we’re positive. We’ve lowered our borrowing cost, and California’s on the move again, adding jobs and investment in our state at a higher rate. We have to build for the future to insure that growth. This means temporary revenue to invest in our schools.”

report by James George