Governor Jerry Brown speaking at an event at the University of Texas at Austin on November 7, 2018, moderated by Mark K. Updegrove, president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation | Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Part VI of “A Socioeconomic Co-optopia” Series
Gov. Jerry Brown left California with a significant budget surplus, projected at around $14.8 billion after signing his final Budget in mid-2018. It included building up the state’s rainy-day fund to more than $9 billion and paying down debt. Jerry Brown left a strong financial foundation for his successor, Gavin Newsom. It contrasted with the large deficits Governor Brown inherited in 2011.
Final Budget (2018-2019): Jerry Brown signed a $201 billion budget with a nearly $9 billion surplus, which grew to a larger figure by the end of his term. Governor Brown inherited a $27 billion shortfall in 2012, but he left California’s coffers with a surplus of more than $18 billion in 2019.
Rainy Day Fund: Mr. Brown significantly boosted the state’s Rainy Day Fund (Budget Stabilization Account) to around $9.4 billion, a major increase from when he started.
Debt Reduction: He also prioritized paying down substantial accumulated budget deficits and short-term debts.
The Jerry Brown Legacy: California historians have documented how Governor Brown transformed California’s finances from deep deficits to a significant surplus, a dramatic turnaround for the state’s economy and credit rating.
“Browns for Brown”. Californians of Filipino descent came up with a witty slogan: “Browns for Jerry Brown.” They borrowed the term “Brown Americans” that 6,000 Black American (Buffalo) soldiers coined for Filipinos in 1899-to-1902, when they were sent to the Philippine Islands during the Filipino-American War. Mr. Brown was first elected governor of the Golden State in the general election on November 5, 1974, succeeding Republican Ronald Reagan. Mr. Brown took office in January 1975 for his first of two non-consecutive terms. He was re-elected in 1978 and later returned to the governorship in 2011, serving until 2019. In his four campaigns for governor, Jerry Brown always earned the support of an overwhelming majority of “Brown Californians” of Filipino descent.
“The Jerry Brown Legacy: California historians have documented how Governor Brown transformed California’s finances from deep deficits to a significant surplus, a dramatic turnaround for the state’s economy and credit rating.”
This columnist has written articles that suggested back-to-basics projects that a new governor could initiate. For California’s 2018 election to replace retiring Jerry Brown, this journalist chose to support then-California Treasurer John Chiang, whom he first met at a Filipino-American function in the late 1990s. Unfortunately, Mr. Chiang lost in the primary election.
Aside from his suggestions to John Chiang, this columnist continued to discuss topics for the Golden State, such as the “Greening of California’s Deserts,” which he included in his book on the “Biden Back-to-Basics Doctrine”.
In 2023, this wordsmith started a series about Saving the 155-year-old Holy Names University (HNU) of Oakland, CA. He appealed to the city officials of Oakland, as well as county and state officials in California, including the Office of then-Vice President Kamala Harris (who was raised in Oakland, CA). But his appeals were ignored. They also did not act on his suggestion to turn HNU into a cooperative, and that saving it as a Public-Private Partnership of a co-op would not violate the doctrine of separation of church and state. The HNU alumni, their faculty members, and their in-laws likely comprise a million or more voters in California, given 155 years of operation as an educational institution. In a crowded field of gubernatorial aspirants in the 2026 elections, City of Oakland voters, especially HNU alumni and others, may deliver the swing votes in the primary and general elections.
Thus, this column discussed Cooperative Economics (versus Crony Capitalism), Project FRED (First Responders for Emergency and Disasters), How to Solve Homelessness in Los Angeles, Oakland, and other California cities, and other topics that may help the new governor address some of California’s pressing socioeconomic problems.
This column even brought the issue of homelessness in Los Angeles County and other areas in California to the first American pontiff. It started a series called “Fourteen Letters to Pope Leo XIV”. It discussed solutions for ending homelessness and other social cancers by turning church congregations into cooperatives. And turning some parishes’ huge parking spaces into sites for multi-level parking buildings, with half of the floors composed of condominiums for homeless parishioners, especially military veterans who require shelter.
In Part VII, this column will discuss how the leading contenders for California’s governorship may be informed of the past articles written in “The Straphanger” column about said suggestions. And more, like the candidates signing a “Covenant with the Voters of California” to implement them.
