Thursday, November 9, 2006
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Brown Plans to Build Team, Enforce Global Warming Law
By a MetNews Staff Writer
California Attorney General-Elect Jerry Brown said yesterday he is looking forward to working with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to create regulations for the enforcement of California’s new Global Warming legislation.
Brown, who defeated state Sen. Chuck Poochigian, R-Fresno, by a decisive margin in Tuesday’s election, told the MetNews he wants regulations that are “practical, defendable and effective.”
Noting that the California Department of Justice—which the attorney general heads—has sent six officers to Oakland to help with its crime problem Brown said he is also looking forward to expanding the program to help other cities in need. Poochigian focused on Oakland crime rates in the campaign, blaming Brown, who has been the city’s mayor for eight years.
He said he has not chosen a chief deputy attorney general yet, and will meet with current members of the department before making any staff decisions. “Building a team is my number one priority,” he added.
When asked to explain his large victory margin—he won by more than 18 percentage points—Brown responded:
“People believed me, and didn’t believe him.”
Poochigan has not called to congratulate him, Brown noted, adding that he thinks the Republican “may have taken it personally.”
Brown said he expects nothing to come of a lawsuit filed by state Republican leaders, and financed by the California Republican Party, challenging his eligibility to be attorney general.
“I bet not one in a hundred lawyers would agree” with the plaintiff’s claims, he said.
In the lawsuit, plaintiffs Thomas G. Del Beccaro, Contra Costa County Republican Party chairman Adam C. Abrahms, head of the Los Angeles chapter of the California Republican Lawyers Association and others allege that Brown fails to qualify to be attorney general under Government Code Sec. 12503, which says:
“No person shall be eligible to the office of Attorney General unless he shall have been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the state for a period of at least five years immediately preceding his election or appointment to such office.”
The plaintiffs contend the statute requires one to be an active member of the State Bar throughout the five-year period. Brown’s attorneys argue that anyone who has been a member of the State Bar, even if on voluntary inactive status, during the period qualifies under the statute.
Brown was initially admitted to the State Bar in 1965, but was on inactive status from 1997 to May 2003.
Poochigian could not be reached for comment. A call to the attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit was not returned.
Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company