Jerry Brown: Acorn, Suspicion and the Rule of Law

According to the legendary Greek Historian Plutarch, when asked why he divorced his wife, Caesar stated that: “All women shall be as Caesar would have his wife, not only free from sin, but from suspicion.” At the time, Caesar’s wife, Pompeia, was loosely associated with the commission of a sacrilege by someone else. As recent events have confirmed, Attorney General Jerry Brown is hardly burdened by suspicions – let alone high ethical standards.

As most everyone in the political world now knows, ACORN is under investigation in many states, and by the federal government, for a host of crimes. The same holds true in California – or does it?

Notwithstanding the purported investigation of ACORN by the California Attorney General’s Office, according to David Lagstein, ACORN’s chief organizer in the San Diego: the Attorney General Jerry Brown is a “political animal” and that “certainly every bit of communication we have had with them has suggested that the fault will be found with the people that did the video — not with ACORN.”

So much for investigating the supposed target of the investigation – ACORN – not to mention that it should be well beyond suspicious that an investigative unit of the government would tell an entity under investigation, i.e. ACORN, what will be found about others.

Perhaps, you say, the ACORN official was taking liberties with what was said to him and it can’t be attributed to the actions of Jerry Brown? Unfortunately for Jerry Brown, his cavalier association with the rule of law precedes him and gives rise to real questions as to what really is going on with the ACORN investigation.

Consider, if you will, these brushes with the rule of law that Jerry Brown has had as Attorney General – the official charged with upholding our laws:

• Attorney General Brown’s “spokesman” recently was given the boot for illegally taping telephone conversations with reporters – ironic yes? That Brown will find someone illegally taped ACORN while his office does the same?, or

• Brown’s blatant mischaracterization of Senator George Runner’s upcoming Voter ID initiative as the: LIMITS ON VOTING. INITIATIVE STATUTE. [which] Prohibits citizens from voting at the polls, unless they present a government-issued photo identification card. Under similar circumstances, Brown’s Democrat predecessor dubbed the Voter ID initiative he reviewed as “VOTER IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENT. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Requires that voters present one of four types of picture ID before voting.” Brown was sued by Senator Runner for such misconduct; or

• Attorney General Brown’s decision to file lawsuit against San Bernadino County for “failing to consider how growth and new development will impact climate change” – even though the regulations related to AB32 had yet to be written at the time of the lawsuit.

If that is not bad enough, we can go one step further back to note that Jerry Brown never should have been seated as Attorney General because he was not legally qualified to be Attorney General.

I was the lead Plaintiff in a lawsuit to stop the seating of Jerry Brown for Attorney General because California Government Code Section 12503 states that: “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.” Jerry Brown did not meet that requirement. Prior to his election, Brown had an inactive law license for 10 out of the last 14 years, and his license has been active only for three and a half of the preceding five years. As any attorney will tell you, an active license is required to practice before the Supreme Court of California.

Jerry Brown, however, was able to convince an activist Judge that he came close enough for government work and therefore the will of the people should not be thwarted. And you thought our nation was founded on the rule of law not men?

In this day and age, it would rather appear that that antiquated notion is under more suspicion than Jerry Brown. Sad as that is, it’s time that a formal investigation of Jerry Brown was undertaken.