Gov. Brown stumps in Modesto for water bond

Democrat Jerry Brown picked a farm owned by Republicans just west of Modesto on Wednesday to wrap up three days of campaigning – not for himself and an unprecedented fourth term as California governor, but for next week’s ballot initiatives touching on water and money.

Someone questioned the wisdom of stumping for Propositions 1 and 2 and barely mentioning his re-election race against Republican Neel Kashkari. Brown responded, “No one else has run as many campaigns as I have. Saving water and saving money is fundamental to strengthening California.”

The governor, wearing an orange and black necktie shortly before the San Francisco Giants’ final World Series game, arrived one hour, 50 minutes late at the farm owned by California Farm Bureau President Paul Wenger. His son, Modesto Irrigation District board member Jake Wenger, said he was “excited and honored” to see prominent local leaders from both major parties hobnobbing near the walnut trees he finished harvesting only the day before.

“This is not good (just) for Republicans or Democrats; it’s good for everyone,” Jake Wenger said. “It’s a chance for everyone to come together. That’s what everyone has always hoped we’d get in California politics.”

Proposition 1 is a $7.5 billion water bond to pay for new dams and other water projects. Proposition 2, called a rainy-day fund measure, would force legislators to put aside money in good years for spending in bad.

Most of the attention Wednesday focused on water, an issue close to the Valley’s heart near the tail end of a drought stretching three years.

Asked whether Proposition 1 could help Brown’s vision of building giant twin tunnels to carry south water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta – an idea opposed by many in Northern California – the governor insisted that the initiative is “tunnel-neutral.” People laughed when Brown added, “I don’t want to complexify these propositions” with tangents.

He gave a fuzzier response when asked about senior water rights, saying, “It’s a matter of law.” That issue could be critical to farmers relying on water from the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers, where irrigation districts’ historic water supplies are being threatened by state water officials.

For Proposition 2, Brown drew on a water metaphor, saying, “We’re trying to avoid the storms of fiscal turbulence.”

Polls suggest rather strong support among California voters for Proposition 1, while Proposition 2 could go either way.

Wednesday’s crowd was a Who’s Who of candidates and elected officials, including four mayors, two Stanislaus County supervisors, several irrigation board members, three state Assembly members, state Sen. Cathleen Galgiani and former U.S. Rep. Gary Condit, who watched quietly from the rear. Three members of the Modesto City Council, a panel that has coveted fertile Wood Colony for future retail and industrial development, also dared to show up.

“We’ve been living off that credit card of infrastructure for far too long,” said Assemblyman Adam Gray, a Merced Democrat, of infrastructure investments made a generation or two ago. Moments later, Republican Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen of Riverbank took the microphone and called nearly unanimous bipartisan legislative support of Proposition 1 “nothing short of remarkable.”

Brown sang a similar tune. “That’s a level of unity that people in Washington (D.C.) would die for. We’re noticing that we’ve got to rise above party.”

The governor campaigned for Propositions 1 and 2 on Monday in Pleasanton, Tuesday in Torrance and Orange County, and Wednesday in San Diego and Bakersfield before wrapping up near Modesto. He has drummed up support for the initiatives in television commercials, as has Wenger.

Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at gstapley@modbee.com or (209) 578-2390.

This story was originally published October 29, 2014 at 6:57 PM with the headline "Gov. Brown stumps in Modesto for water bond."