Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 10, 2006 8:42:25 GMT -5
Brown vows to enforce death penalty if elected
By Herbert A. Sample
SACRAMENTO BEE
OAKLAND - For most of his adult life, and now in the midst of his bid to become California's next attorney general, one political issue has hovered over Jerry Brown: the death penalty.
In 1960, Brown helped persuade his father, then-Gov. Edmund "Pat" Brown, to temporarily delay the execution of convicted murderer Caryl Chessman.
As governor in the late 1970s, Jerry Brown vetoed a bill reinstating the death penalty but exerted little effort to block a legislative override that subsequently enacted the law. Almost a decade later, his appointee as state Supreme Court chief justice, Rose Bird, was removed from office by voters angry in part because of her handling of death penalty cases.
In the years before he became mayor of Oakland in 1998, Brown railed at capital punishment on his radio show, describing it as "state murder."
Now, as the Democratic nominee for attorney general, Brown remains morally opposed to the practice but insists he will follow the law.
Brown brings that history to the contest against Republican Chuck Poochigian, whose views on the death penalty are much less nuanced. A state senator from Fresno, Poochigian unabashedly supports it as a deterrent and a measure of justice for perpetrators and their victims.
"No one should take pleasure in the loss of anyone's life," Poochigian said in an interview. "But in those cases in which the death penalty is applicable, given the heinous crimes being committed against innocent people, it is in my mind imperative that we have it."
The death penalty was once a potent topic in California campaigns of the 1970s and '80s, particularly in gubernatorial and attorney general races. Since then, however, some political observers say the death penalty has faded as a campaign issue.
Poochigian hopes his campaign can benefit from Brown's personal aversion to capital punishment. Brown has much wider name identification among voters and a 21-percentage-point lead in a month-old Field Poll.
As a candidate for attorney general, Brown has appeared less fervent in his criticism of the death penalty.
"I think we'd do better without it, but a majority of Californians disagree with that," Brown said in a wide-ranging interview in March. He added that he would "strongly carry out the law of California."
His campaign staff declined several recent invitations for Brown to discuss the subject.
Brown's position disturbs death penalty opponents, who once counted him as an ally because he often described the sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole as a more humane and equally effective deterrent as capital punishment.
"It's somewhat tiresome when somebody gives me that excuse," said Mike Farrell, an actor and president of Death Penalty Focus. "I would love to see him sort of put his career, if you will, where his mouth is."
www.contracostatimes.com
By Herbert A. Sample
SACRAMENTO BEE
OAKLAND - For most of his adult life, and now in the midst of his bid to become California's next attorney general, one political issue has hovered over Jerry Brown: the death penalty.
In 1960, Brown helped persuade his father, then-Gov. Edmund "Pat" Brown, to temporarily delay the execution of convicted murderer Caryl Chessman.
As governor in the late 1970s, Jerry Brown vetoed a bill reinstating the death penalty but exerted little effort to block a legislative override that subsequently enacted the law. Almost a decade later, his appointee as state Supreme Court chief justice, Rose Bird, was removed from office by voters angry in part because of her handling of death penalty cases.
In the years before he became mayor of Oakland in 1998, Brown railed at capital punishment on his radio show, describing it as "state murder."
Now, as the Democratic nominee for attorney general, Brown remains morally opposed to the practice but insists he will follow the law.
Brown brings that history to the contest against Republican Chuck Poochigian, whose views on the death penalty are much less nuanced. A state senator from Fresno, Poochigian unabashedly supports it as a deterrent and a measure of justice for perpetrators and their victims.
"No one should take pleasure in the loss of anyone's life," Poochigian said in an interview. "But in those cases in which the death penalty is applicable, given the heinous crimes being committed against innocent people, it is in my mind imperative that we have it."
The death penalty was once a potent topic in California campaigns of the 1970s and '80s, particularly in gubernatorial and attorney general races. Since then, however, some political observers say the death penalty has faded as a campaign issue.
Poochigian hopes his campaign can benefit from Brown's personal aversion to capital punishment. Brown has much wider name identification among voters and a 21-percentage-point lead in a month-old Field Poll.
As a candidate for attorney general, Brown has appeared less fervent in his criticism of the death penalty.
"I think we'd do better without it, but a majority of Californians disagree with that," Brown said in a wide-ranging interview in March. He added that he would "strongly carry out the law of California."
His campaign staff declined several recent invitations for Brown to discuss the subject.
Brown's position disturbs death penalty opponents, who once counted him as an ally because he often described the sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole as a more humane and equally effective deterrent as capital punishment.
"It's somewhat tiresome when somebody gives me that excuse," said Mike Farrell, an actor and president of Death Penalty Focus. "I would love to see him sort of put his career, if you will, where his mouth is."
www.contracostatimes.com