The Debate That wasn't

On September 28th 2010, UC Davis held the first debate in the hotly contested Governors Race between former Governor Jerry Brown and one time CEO Meg Whitman.

Responding to questions from a media panel Brown and Whitman laid out their respective visions for California.

Citing his prior experience Brown said that, "there is still a lot of fat in the budget” and that programs like the California Public Employees Retirement System will need to be reformed.

While agreeing with Brown on such ideas Meg Whitman characterized Brown as a career politician who embellishes his record while overlooking shortcomings.

Whitman quoted a national statistic that ranks California third behind Michigan and New York as having the nation’s highest Un-employment.

In keeping with Republican beliefs Whitman High-lighted what she called “the start- up tax” and “factory tax” as hindrances to business that make job creation difficult in Calif. Whitman suggested streamlining regulation as a way to save the state money.

Brown defended his record as Governor by stating that the state’s budget was “never later than a day or two”.

Brown also said that he would fight Corruption such as the officials of Bell Calif. who have been charged in federal court.

Brown also tried to delineate himself from his pervious record by quoting that he has been endorsed by Howard Jarvis who wrote Proposition 13, which Brown opposed as governor.

While Jerry Brown remains the outspoken, shoot-from-the-hip politician he was in the 70s, it remains to be seen if he can offer bold new solutions to the current fiscal mess.

While Whitman projected a calm professional appearance she did not give any proposals on how she would avoid the problems that have plagued current republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who also campaigned as an outsider.

The real failure of this evening seems not to be from either candidates but rather from the media, which avoided asking any questions that might make the candidates go off script and show some problem solving ability in a hostile environment.