Gay marriage
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 14, 2010Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for Brown's campaign, said at first Wednesday that Brown "is of the opinion that (Protect Marriage) will ultimately be able to defend" Prop. 8. He referred further questions to the attorney general's office, where spokeswoman Christine Gasparac said the office has not taken a position on the right of Prop. 8's sponsors to appeal Walker's ruling and does not intend to do so. Brown's comment Tuesday was only an observation that Protect Marriage has filed an appeal and that the court will decide its fate, Gasparac said. Clifford then said that he had misconstrued Brown's position and that legal interpretations were up to the attorney general's office.
Source: San Francisco ChronicleTags: Courts, Gay marriage, Policy or issue position
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 5, 2010GQ: Legalizing pot is a serious issue in California these days. In 2008, the state arrested 60,000 people for possession. Brown: You know, the number one drug on the street is marijuana. The cartels are increasingly taking over. This is a serious problem. GQ: Do you think legalization would make that better or worse? Brown: I've given you my position. GQ: Yes, you have. I'm asking you why it's your position. Brown: I think it's more prudent for California not to embrace a legalization strategy. GQ: Why? Brown: I don't think fostering chemicals is a smart move. GQ: Should we illegalize alcohol? Brown: I think the advertising and the excess of alcohol is a serious problem, and even legal drugs in the form of prescriptions is a serious problem. GQ: I've never heard of a cartel killing somebody over ambien. Brown: I understand you like pot. I don't. GQ: I'm not saying I like pot. I'm saying nobody wants to illegalize alcohol, and I'm asking why pot is different. Brown: What do we call that? A noble experiment. GQ: If Prop 19 passes, will you challenge it? Brown: Generally speaking when a law is passed, the Attorney General defends it. GQ: But you managed to find a "novel theory" to challenge Proposition 8. Brown: I did, but that's unusual. GQ: So, would you find a novel theory to challenge Proposition 19? Brown: You know, I'd want to look at that.
Source: GQ MagazineTags: Gay marriage, Marijuana, Policy or issue position, Quotable
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 5, 2010GQ: But that language has become very important again. Do you think the language should say "two persons" now? Brown: I think the debate has evolved, and marriage is of far more significance in the gay community than it was 30 years ago, 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. So it definitely is embedded in the sense of a fundamental right. GQ: What will you do as governor to help gay couples marry? Brown: We'll see what happens. Maybe an initiative comes up, and I would certainly support some measure to change the law. GQ: Are you willing to fight for gay marriage? Brown: Certainly if the initiative comes up, I would be counted as a supporter. GQ: Will you propose an initiative? Brown: I don't know. My first goal is the budget. Budget and jobs are my first objectives. But we're out of time.
Source: GQ MagazineTags: Gay marriage, Policy or issue position
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 5, 2010GQ: Let me ask you another question about Prop 8, since we just stumbled back onto it. In 1977, you signed a law that illegalized gay marriage. Brown: No, I didn't. GQ: You changed the law from allowing "two persons" to get married, to saying "a man and a woman." Does it bug you that you signed that? Brown: No. GQ: Come on. Brown: Don't impute your subjectivity to mine. GQ: I'm trying to understand yours. Brown: Well, I'll tell you. Before I was governor, the law was de-gendered. So where we had "workman's comp," it became "worker's comp." Where it was "firemen," it became "firefighters." And when it came to marriage, it was between "a man and a woman," and it became "two persons." But when the legislature did that, they did not intend to legalize same-sex marriage. That was not the intention of the governor, nor was it the intent of the legislature. So I felt that I was upholding the law, and effectuating what the legislature intended.
Source: GQ MagazineTags: Gay marriage, Assertion of fact, Policy or issue position
Jerry Brown
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Oct. 5, 2010GQ: (You said) that you didn't challenge Proposition 8 on Constitutional grounds. But you did. Brown: This is. . . relatively. . . I don't think so. What I said was this. I'm going to say it, and you can disagree if you want. I said I didn't believe it violated the, uh — I didn't believe that it was a revision. Then, as our office did more and more research, some of the lawyers said it violates a fundamental right created by the Supreme Court. Based on that, we articulated a pretty novel theory that a fundamental right cannot be swept aside by a mere majority. I hadn't thought of that when I said it didn't constitute a revision.
Source: GQ MagazineTags: Courts, Gay marriage, Assertion of fact
Meg Whitman
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Sept. 15, 2010"Regardless of where you are on this issue, the attorney general and the governor of the state of California actually have a legal obligation to give that ruling standing to go through the court process," Whitman said.
Source: San Francisco ChronicleTags: Gay marriage, Assertion of fact, Candidate attack
Jerry Brown
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Sept. 9, 2010Brown said he took an oath to uphold state and federal law, including the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which says that no person shall be denied equal protection of the law. “The federal law is supreme and takes precedence over state law,” Brown said.
Source: PolitiCal (Los Angeles Times)Tags: Gay marriage, Policy or issue position
Meg Whitman
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Aug. 29, 2010Well, there’s no choice really. The governor and the attorney general have a constitutional duty to defend the constitution, to defend the will of the people of California. Regardless of what your point of view is on gay marriage, my belief is that the two most senior leaders in California have to define that so that it can get a fair hearing through the judicial process. It’s not up to the attorney general to decide what he thinks is constitutional and not constitutional. That’s not his job. That is the job of the judicial process. And my belief is he needs to defend that so it can get a fair judicial hearing.
Source: KNBC (Los Angeles)Tags: Gay marriage, Assertion of fact, Policy or issue position
Meg Whitman
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Aug. 21, 2010"I think the governor of California and the attorney general today have to defend the Constitution and have to enable the judicial process to go along ... and an appeal to go through," Whitman said. "So if I was governor, I would give that ruling standing to be able to appeal to the circuit court."
Source: San Francisco ChronicleTags: Courts, Gay marriage, Policy or issue position
Meg Whitman
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Aug. 20, 2010"The issue right now is, as I understand is 'Will Proposition 8 have the appropriate support to actually make an appeal to the circuit court of appeals?' " Whitman said. "And I think the governor, the attorney general today has to defend the constitution and has to enable the judicial process to go along and has to enable an appeal to go through. So if I was governor, I would give that ruling standing to be able to appeal to the circuit court."
Source: Sacramento BeeTags: Gay marriage, Specific policy point or details
Meg Whitman
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Aug. 20, 2010Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman said this afternoon that if elected governor, she would defend Proposition 8, which prohibits same-sex marriage, by appealing a recent federal court ruling declaring the proposition unconstitutional.
Source: Sacramento BeeTags: Gay marriage, Specific policy point or details
Meg Whitman
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Aug. 20, 2010The governor of California, the attorney general today, has to defend the constitution and has to enable the judicial process to go along and has to enable an appeal to go through. So if I was governor I would enable - I would give that ruling standing to be able to appeal to the circuit court.
Source: KCBSTags: Courts, Gay marriage, Policy or issue position
Jerry Brown
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Aug. 17, 2010"This is a big decision. I don't think there's anything like it anywhere in the country. So when you break new ground, plaintiffs and parties have to expect that the higher court will keep things status quo until they've had a chance to hear the arguments and render their own opinion," said California Attorney General Jerry Brown.
Source: ABC NewsTags: Courts, Gay marriage, Policy or issue position
Meg Whitman
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Aug. 11, 2010Darius is right, I am not in favor of gay marriage, but I am in favor of our civil union laws, and I want the courts to take its normal course here. You know, the ruling is likely to be appealed, but that is why we have a judicial system, so I will let the courts go forward.
Source: KTLATags: Courts, Gay marriage, Specific policy point or details
Meg Whitman
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Aug. 9, 2010So, I am not for gay marriage. I am for strong civil union laws, which we have here in California, and my view is the process needs to go on here. We should not have an administrative action that creates uncertainty at this juncture, so my advice is let's let the legal process continue.
Source: KSWB (Fox 5-San Diego)Tags: Gay marriage, Specific policy point or details
