Patterico's Pontifications

8/3/2014

Governor Brown: Welcoming the Stranger, Then And Now

Filed under: General — Dana @ 5:38 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Governor Brown of California took a trip to Mexico last week for private meetings with business leaders to advance California’s climate change agenda. But there was more to the visit than just weather:

At a time when Republicans fret over their lack of Latino support, the governor is cementing ties that could benefit him and fellow Democrats in this election year.

While in Mexico, Brown announced a new effort to protect the rights of migrant workers and signed agreements aimed at increasing economic, educational and environmental cooperation with California’s southern neighbor.

“Anything the governor can do to show empathy to the Mexican community helps Democrats here,” said Allan Hoffenblum, a former Republican strategist who publishes a nonpartisan election guide.

Brown, running for an unprecedented fourth term this year, demurred when asked about the political ramifications of his visit to Mexico.

“To the extent that there are any important issues in this campaign, this probably won’t be one of them,” he said.

Still, Brown repeatedly included references to California’s liberal view of immigrants in his public events this week.

“Some people are trying to keep them out,” Brown said at the announcement of a tourism partnership with Mexico’s largest airline. “And here we are, on the side of bringing more people in.”

Of course, it’s all about politics:

Every vote counts, and driving the Latino vote in those … races is extremely important,” said Roger Salazar, a Democratic political consultant.

Brown was not originally scheduled to talk about illegal immigration but the vexing issue was added to his schedule. In his talks, he stated that he would support California building more shelters for the unaccompanied minors:

“Certainly I’d do everything I could to make sure California will do its part to shelter any young children that are in need of protection,” the Democratic governor told reporters after meeting with José Horacio Gómez, the Mexico-born archbishop of Los Angeles, and several other religious leaders. “There are already a number of young immigrants, or young refugees, in Ventura, and I certainly would support additional shelters to deal with the particular immediate challenge we have.”

Brown also took a shot at Texas Governor Rick Perry:

In fewer than 48 hours in Mexico, Brown criticized Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s ordering of 1,000 National Guard troops to the border, and he appealed to politicians to adopt the “call of all religions to welcome the stranger.”

It should be noted that back in 1975, then Governor Brown did not want to welcome the stranger, quite the opposite. Brown objected to the Fed’s plan to dump the South Vietnamese war refugees on California, in spite of the war refugees fleeing a tyrannical dictatorship and that brutalized its people:

“We can’t be looking 5,000 miles away and at the same time neglecting people who live here.

Further,

“The new governor of California, Jerry Brown, was very concerned about refugees settling in his state. Brown even attempted to prevent planes carrying refugees from landing at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento. . . . The secretary of health and welfare, Mario Obledo, felt that this addition of a large minority group would be unwelcome in California. And he said that they already had a large population of Hispanics, Filipinos, blacks, and other minorities.”

In fact, then Senator Joe Biden complained about the Ford administration’s move to bring Vietnamese refugees to the U.S., saying the White House “had not informed Congress adequately about the number of refugees.”

In a 2007 interview with NPR, Julia Taft, who had been the head of President Gerald Ford’s Inter-Agency Task Force on Indochinese Refugee, related the following re Brown:

TAFT: At first, it was politically difficult. Our biggest problem came from California.

ELLIOTT: Why?

TAFT: Jerry Brown.

ELLIOTT: Then the governor.

TAFT: Then the governor. And Mario Obledo, who was the – I guess he was called the secretary of welfare or something. They were very difficult. They didn’t want any of these refugees, because they had also unemployment. They had already a large number of foreign-born people there. They had – they said they had too many Hispanics, too many people on welfare, they didn’t want these people. And we spent a lot of effort trying to ease their concern and really established for the whole country programs where the federal government would compensate states.

–Dana

53 Responses to “Governor Brown: Welcoming the Stranger, Then And Now”

  1. There was some uncertainty whether Vietnamese immigrants would vote illegally for Democrats. Other than that, it wasn’t of much concern to those who guide our country.

    bobathome (4c87a1)

  2. The South Vietnamese have been loyal Republican voters since arrival, Of course we don’t want them in California. Especially since they have been self supporting and many have become quite well off. We’ve even had one valedictorian at West Point. Horrors !

    Mike K (b5c01a)

  3. Israel sits astride another tectonically active site but between the two I think Kali’s more nearly baked.

    gary gulrud (46ca75)

  4. One must wonder if Jerry Brown’s real problem with the Vietnamese refugees was that those refugees supported the United States in the Vietnam War.

    Joe (33fd9a)

  5. Jerry Brown “…signed agreements aimed at increasing economic, educational and environmental cooperation with (Mexico)…”
    Did Moonbeam violate Art-I, Sec-10(3), of the U.S. Constitution?

    askeptic (efcf22)

  6. Moonbeam has always been a moron…and very partisan.

    that’s a bad combo, a major portion of why #Failifornia is so screwed up.

    of course he wouldn’t want people fleeing communism to come to where he was, and still is, trying to establish exactly that sort of regime.

    redc1c4 (abd49e)

  7. Did Moonbeam violate Art-I, Sec-10(3), of the U.S. Constitution?

    we should ask Eric Holder… 😎

    redc1c4 (abd49e)

  8. The closest Eric “The Pardon Bag Man” Holder has ever been to the Constitution was staying at a Holiday Inn Express in DC.

    askeptic (efcf22)

  9. “Certainly I’d do everything I could to make sure California will do its part to shelter any young children that are in need of protection,” the Democratic governor told reporters

    i don’t get how herding these urchins into filthy american tuberculosis camps is protecting them exactly

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  10. This country has lost all common sense.
    People suck.

    mg (31009b)

  11. Run ads telling mexicans that they will be deported if they vote democrat and it will make no difference if they were born here. Vote democrat adios amigo!

    Mr.gop (fd8ee9)

  12. Marvelous Dana – These big wig Dems were against providing aid and shelter to refugees before they were for it.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  13. Our first grandchild born this evening… a beautiful little girl. We thank the Good Lord for all our blessings!

    Colonel Haiku (b67cf7)

  14. Congrats and best wishes to all, Colonel.

    Gazzer (e04ef7)

  15. Fret they may, but the Rs aren’t going to gain more than token Latino support regardless of what they do. If they keep doing stupid things like rewarding people who have no respect for our laws and sovereignty though, they’ll lose even more of their base.

    AZ_Langer (a65cb5)

  16. Congratulations, Colonel. Enjoy spoiling her!

    AZ_Langer (a65cb5)

  17. Congrats Grandpa!

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  18. Col Haiku,

    Oh, that is so wonderful! A big congratulations to you and yours.

    Dana (4dbf62)

  19. My only consolation is that when CA hits the fan, the idiots who ruined this state will be hurt as much as me.

    Patricia (5fc097)

  20. Col.–I think a haiku is in order:

    Little baby girl
    you have a goofy grandpa
    as you will soon learn!

    elissa (cacdc9)

  21. why are honest-to-goodness failmerican citizens changing the rules what apply to their high school, junior high, elementary school bake sales exactly?

    cause they weak-ass momos what let a sleazy harvard trash whore like michelle obama push them around

    and this is who you americans is any more

    and

    and it’s more than a little sad

    (what with all that iwo jima and et cetera shining beacon of light on the hill nonsense poor addled reagan was so apt to babble about)

    oh and btw

    that’s MR. governor brown to you, american citizen

    get it together

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  22. Thanks, all!!!

    Colonel Haiku (3ad45c)

  23. Brown figured that the Vietnamese were never going to be a large enough voting bloc to be concerned about. It’s just political expediency, and Brown is no different than any other politician.

    Hadoop (f7d5ba)

  24. i don’t get how herding these urchins into filthy american tuberculosis camps is protecting them exactly

    happyfeet (8ce051) — 8/3/2014 @ 7:01 pm

    Good point. Maybe some enterprising pro-life Republican can market these kids into some kind of adoption central resource.

    I don’t love Jerry Brown, but his views on immigrants 40 years ago aren’t really going to strike a chord with anyone who isn’t partisan.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  25. Governor Moonbeam has always been about 30 degrees off of center. Sometimes he governs to the right–as he did in Oakland–but usually to the left. Of course I’ve always thought he was a sort of useless dolt after he took Linda Ronstadt on safari to Africa back in the late 70’s and didn’t know what to do with her. Any redblooded 21 year old male could have told Jerry the answer, and I suppose Ms. Ronstadt would have been receptive at the time.

    Skeptical Voter (12e67d)

  26. Criticizing Brown for dealing with Mexico directly seems ridiculous. GWB appointed his secretary of state as a sort-of ambassador to Mexico and the border region. They had direct relations with all of the border states, as do AZ and CA.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  27. @13 Welcome to the club, COL. Wishing you many Oak Leaf Clusters.

    Gramps, the original (6ff9d4)

  28. . Of course I’ve always thought he was a sort of useless dolt after he took Linda Ronstadt on safari to Africa back in the late 70′s and didn’t know what to do with her.

    That is so sad. Governor Brown – You’re no good, you’re good, you’re good, baby you’re no good.

    😥

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  29. carlitos,

    This isn’t criticism about Brown dealing directly with Mexico. Rather, it’s rich to see the motivation of the visit admitted, as well as knowing he was against welcoming the stranger before he was for it – and that generosity occurred when it became politically expedient for both Brown and his party.

    Dana (4dbf62)

  30. Difficult to say what’s going on here.

    In 1975, Governor Jerry Brown complaining probably was cynical.

    The existence of refugees from the fall of South Vietnam were a political embarassment to Democrats. Democrats really didn’t want refugees. They implied there was something bad about the fall of South Vietnam, and Democrats in Congress had greatly contributed to the fall of South Vietnam by cutting off or limiting military aid. I think they set a deadline and that precipitated everything. It was not a question at that time of U.S. troops. Vietnamization had been completed in 1973.

    A lot of the opposition to the Vietnam War had been based on the idea that the war was immoral or unnecessary and wars were bad and should end.

    It was also a freebee. There was no real constituenecy for accepting them. Agitation of illegal immigration had started the year before. Calling them refugees implied something was wrong woith the overall view of many Democrats about the Vietnam war, which was very strongly based on the idea that the cause was wrong.

    …Plus complaining could be used as a device for extracting money from the federal goverpnment. Money was also extracted from the federal government for placing military bases there. (that program started in the days before base closings. Congress appropriated money to cover the impact of bases, with pretty liberal definitions of impact.)

    But I’m kind of surprised at some of the language quoted here.

    Gov Brown may also have remembered the internment of the Japanese during World War II, very popular in California.

    There was no downside. He wouldn’t stop anything, but he could extract money.

    Sammy Finkelman (db7fea)

  31. “I don’t love Jerry Brown, but the radical change in his views on immigrants 40 years ago aren’t really going to strike a chord with typical Democrat low information voters.”

    carlitos – FTFY

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  32. Linda Ronstadt, best head of state of the ’70s.

    nk (dbc370)

  33. nk, I was in college when Jerry Brown and Linda Ronstadt were dating. Brown came to give a campus talk/rally (he was trying to run for President). He took questions from the crowd. I asked where he was taking Linda Ronstadt out to dinner.

    The audience laughed like crazy. Brown said, “Why do you want to know?”

    “We are all just curious about you two,” I said and sat down.

    Probably the most productive and honest question and answer session he has ever had.

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  34. Oh, and fabulous news, Colonel! Best wishes.

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  35. carlitos (c24ed5) — 8/4/2014 @ 6:48 am

    carlitos, have you read Art-I, Sec-10(3), of the United States Constitution?
    Presidents, who are Constitutionally empowered to conduct foreign-policy,
    can appoint any damn one he wishes to represent him in the conduct of that policy.

    askeptic (efcf22)

  36. #33, SJ, Jerry Brown campaigned for the ’76 Democrat nomination for President in ’75 at my CA campus too. I recall sitting on a grassy sward at noon in the bright sunlight out behind the Student Center in what was then designated as the campus free speech area. He had hair then and wore a double-breasted blue blazer with shiny brass buttons. He was overdressed for a mid-70s CA college campus, even the professors didn’t dress like bellboys. His costume made him look silly and maybe a bit too much like a tight ass. Back then he presented himself as a fiscal conservative, he disdained the Governor’s mansion, rented an apartment in Sacramento near the Capitol, and either walked or drove himself to work in a Plymouth sedan.

    Jerry lost his initial presidential bid on the first ballot to Jimmy Carter, he ran unsuccessfully for POTUS again in ’80 and ’92, and he also ran for the Senate in ’82 but lost out to Republican Pete Wilson. Early on Jerry seemed to have promise but his personal peculiarities and his eventual descent into partisan silliness doomed him.

    ropelight (add328)

  37. James Brady dead at age 73.

    askeptic (efcf22)

  38. Mike Royko labeled him Governor Boonbeam. Brown’s line was “Protect the planet, balance the budget, explore space”. Royko suggested, “Let’s give him a pocket calculator and a globe and put him on a rocketship”.

    nk (dbc370)

  39. The Dems are having a lot of problems with Asians lately.

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  40. rope, Jerry might have claimed to drive himself, but he had a CHP driver (plainclothes) who drove that Plymouth.

    askeptic (efcf22)

  41. Slightly off topic…

    Brown talks about “climate change” yet the state is pushing to increase CO2 in the state through the destruction of lawns. Destroying stuff that eats CO2 is just as bad as creating extra CO2 (for those that believe, anyway).

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  42. carlitos (c24ed5) — 8/4/2014 @ 6:48 am

    carlitos, have you read Art-I, Sec-10(3), of the United States Constitution?
    Presidents, who are Constitutionally empowered to conduct foreign-policy,
    can appoint any damn one he wishes to represent him in the conduct of that policy.

    askeptic (efcf22) — 8/4/2014 @ 10:39 am

    Yes. What is your point? I was discussing then-Governor George Bush.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  43. Is it not within the purview of Presidents to appoint special representatives (who in this case happened to be the Secretary of State – a person singularly designated to deal with foreign governments) to reach agreements with those foreign governments on matters of interest to both nations, and is that not what George W. Bush did?
    My question is:
    Where is the authorization from the Congress for the Governor of California to enter into any agreement with the Government of Mexico?

    askeptic (efcf22)

  44. Jesus Christ.

    GOVERNOR George Bush appointed his Secretary of State as a sort-of roaming ambassador to Mexico and the border states. He did this when he was GOVERNOR of Texas. GOVERNOR. Of Texas. A state.

    Bitching about Jerry Brown doing so is hypocritical. Capisce?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  45. “GOVERNOR George Bush appointed his Secretary of State as a sort-of roaming ambassador to Mexico and the border states.”

    carlitos – Were any treaties or immigration agreements negotiated?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  46. What treaty or immigration agreement did Gov. Moonbeam negotiate?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  47. “What treaty or immigration agreement did Gov. Moonbeam negotiate?”

    carlitos – Did not say he has. What is he proposing to do?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  48. “What treaty or immigration agreement did Gov. Moonbeam negotiate?”

    carlitos – From the article:

    While in Mexico, Brown announced a new effort to protect the rights of migrant workers and signed agreements aimed at increasing economic, educational and environmental cooperation with California’s southern neighbor.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  49. And?

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  50. GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT WITH MEXICO AND BRAZIL TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE

    Gov. Schwarzenegger and Gov. Osuna Millán Sign MOU to Increase Collaboration Between California and Baja California

    Obviously, this is all about politics. Kudos to Gov. Brown for taking a shot at Rick Perry, who is a tool of the first order.

    carlitos (c24ed5)

  51. Of course we’ll all hold our breath while the terms of any agreements Governor Moonbeam negotiated with representatives of Mexico (and points South) are exposed to an extended period of open public debate before submission to the CA legislature or to the State’s voters for ratification.

    ropelight (add328)

  52. carlitos – What was your point about Governor Bush’s Secretary of State? Exactly what did he or she do compared to Moonbean for comparison, since you brought it up?

    MOU – Not an agreement

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  53. carlitos, my apologies, I misread your comment to be about GWB when he was President.
    Sorry.
    But, that begs the question:
    Did the Governor’s representative negotiate any “agreements” that were formalized between the
    Government of Mexico, and the Government of Texas*? Or, are they MOU’s?

    *of course, many would say that the Government of Texas has a closer – and longer – relationship with Los Pinos than it does with DC.

    askeptic (efcf22)


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