Author Jim Newton discusses his new book on Jerry Brown

Ani Gasparyan: Why were you inspired to write Man of Tomorrow?

Jim Newton: I knew [Former Gov. Jerry] Brown a little bit from my time as editorial page editor at the LA Times. We had him in a couple of different times to talk to him about different propositions. I, of course, grew up in California, so he was actually governor when I was in high school. So in a certain way, it feels like he’s been governor forever for me. I also had written a previous book about Earl Warren, who until Jerry Brown was the longest serving governor in the history of California. And I’m interested in California and politics. So all of that kind of led me to Brown.

AG: You have an upcoming virtual event with Writer’s Bloc on May 12, in which an interview between you and Brown will be live streamed to the public for free. Tell us a bit about that.

JN: This initially started as an in person event, we were going to do something at the Frost Auditorium in Culver City to announce the book and for me to do this with an audience of 1,000 people or so. Obviously, that’s gone by the wayside given virus issues. So we’ve moved it online.

The governor will be joining from Colusa, where he lives. I’ll be signing in from here in Pasadena. Last I checked, we were approaching 1,000 people signed up for it so I’m hoping for a good audience. Give people a chance to talk about leadership, in a time I think a lot of people are thinking about leadership, talk about California and ask questions to both me and the governor.

AG: You’ve reported on Brown in the past as a journalist and have interacted with him on several occasions throughout your career. How did this influence how you wrote your book?

JN: It gave me a sense of him, at least in a public context. In addition to working as editor of the editorial pages and interacting with him in that job, I also wrote a column for many years for the Times and wrote about him on a couple of occasions for that. I was a member of the panel that participated in the debate when he ran for re-election for the fourth term against Neel Kashkari. All those gave me a sense of him and his personality.

What I didn’t have going into it was any kind of inside look at him, all my interactions with him had been purely from the outside. I met his wife Anne Gust, but didn’t know her well. I didn’t really know the close circle around him. He personally gave me a lot of time, I interviewed him maybe 15 times, sometimes for four or five hours at a time. So we spent a lot of time together.

While I knew enough about him to be intrigued by him going into the book, most of what you see in the book is material that I learned over the course of it because all the interviews and all the time with him took place after I launched the book. In fact, my understanding with him when I launched the book is that the interviews would be for the book [and] that I wouldn’t use them for stories or columns until the book was published.

AG: What made Brown unique as a governor, compared to those who came before him?

JN: First of all, of course, he’s the longest serving governor in the history of California. He is the only governor to have had terms separated by such a long period. He served for two terms in the 70’s and then there’s a 28 year gap before he returned to the governor’s office in 2011. So there’s the opportunity to see a lot of growth in him. The arc of his career is unlike any person I’ve ever known in politics and I know a lot of people in politics. He went straight from LA Community College Board to Secretary of State, to two terms of Governor then gone for a long time. Then this unusual climb back where he was mayor of Oakland, Attorney General and then Governor again.

One of the things I think is fascinating to look at in him is the second two terms compared to the first two and see what a difference 28 years of experience meant. I think he was much more effective in certain ways in the second two terms. He’s also the son of a governor. That too, is unusual. So there’s the opportunity to see him through the lens of his father’s career and how his career compares to that of his father.

Another thing that’s very unusual about him, certainly in politics, is that he trained to be a priest. That was his initial impulse, even though his father was a politician, in fact partly because his father was a politician, he headed in a different direction as a young person and only came around to politics later. So all those give him a genuinely unusual perspective on the governorship. He’s a very individual person. He’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met in our lifetime of covering politics, in California locally and nationally. So there’s a lot about him I think that’s instructive and fascinating.

He approaches politics in a way that’s not conventional in terms of our ideological alignments. I’d say he’s a liberal Democrat, in some respects. [He’s] very interested in climate change [and] a supporter of the environmental movement. On the other hand, he’s very committed to balanced budgets and to the idea that not every problem should be solved by the government – which is a much more conservative perspective on politics. So he’s unconventional in almost every respect, partly by virtue of his background and partly by virtue of his beliefs.

AG: How was Brown different in his first term than his other terms?

JN: He served two terms in the 1970’s. He served from ‘75 through early ‘83, then left for 28 years and then returned in the 2000’s. I think his first terms were more novel, more unusual. He was an unknown character, he was only 36 years old. People really didn’t know what to expect from him. He was nicknamed “Gov. Moonbeam” in those days. He was unusual, unexpected, people didn’t know where he was headed.

In the final two terms, he was much more seasoned, much more disciplined. Whereas in the first terms, he was seen as sort of a young, untested son of his father – many of the legislators he dealt with had grown up with his father. There are some through lines that are consistent between the first two terms and the second two. The commitment to environmentalism, the commitment to balanced budgets. A willingness to lead the electorate and trust the electorate to be there for him.

He passed a significant tax extension in the third term that helped set California’s economy right.

There’s real consistency of principle throughout them, but he was a very different person I think in the first terms. Also, by the way, a bachelor in the first two terms and [in] the second two terms he was married. He was a much more rounded person.

AG: Brown’s father, the late former Gov. Pat Brown, lived in Beverly Hills after he left office. Is that correct?

JN: Yes.

AG: Compare and contrast Brown and current Gov. Gavin Newsom?

JN: I think in their politics, they’re fairly similar. In certain respects, Liberal Democrats. I think Newsom is a more conventional political figure. Gavin Newsom is a Liberal Democrat and all that that connotes. He’s had a sort of more conventional political life. He was a mayor, then lieutenant governor, then governor. Jerry Brown – much more unusual career and a much more unusual blend of conservative and liberal. Yet I suspect they probably agree on nine out of 10 issues when they get right down to it.

AG: How do you think Brown would combat the pandemic if he were still in office?

JN: I think first and foremost, with a response really rooted in science. I think if you see Jerry Brown on climate change, that gives you a sense of how he would deal with the pandemic. He believes firmly in being guided by science, he was the leading voice on climate change of any elected official in the United States over the last 15 or 20 years. He’s very much led California to a position of international leadership on climate change by trusting science and by creating public policy that does its best to effectuate that science. I’m confident he would do the same with a pandemic.