Our View: We’ve got a to-do list for Gov. Brown’s 4th term

There’s an adage about everyone deserving a second act in life. Gov. Jerry Brown is finishing Act 3 and about to embark on a curtain call. If the polls are any indication, his reviews are better now than they’ve ever been.

Jerry Brown has once again re-categorized, if not reinvented, himself. Instead of Governor Moonbeam or Oakland’s mayor, he’s become the state’s chief fiscal pragmatist and a realistic environmentalist insisting on a balance between sustainability and profitability. His voice – more Will Rogers than Rodgers & Hammerstein – is music to most people’s ears. That’s why we endorsed him in June.

Even a lot of Republicans agree. Republican Neel Kashkari, underfunded and inexperienced, has not waged a credible campaign. The former Wall Street banker tried to make Brown the engineer of the “crazy train” but instead became the caboose of the “gravy train.”

On the cusp of receiving an almost unprecedented mandate, what do we want Gov. Brown to do with it? A lot.

The problems plaguing the San Joaquin Valley are so formidable, so entrenched, that it will take an immensely popular governor to address them. And he’ll need help, which we hope our Valley contingent – Sens. Anthony Cannella, Cathleen Galgiani and Tom Berryhill and Assembly members Kristin Olsen and Adam Gray – will deliver.

First, jobs. Unemployment has been so bad for so long that 10 percent feels good. But even that high number hides some terrible realities. First, many people have simply stopped looking for jobs. Many more are underemployed or trapped in low-paying jobs far below their capabilities. Too often, it’s both. Without more and better jobs, we cannot hope to break the cycle of poverty that has gripped our valley for decades. One study said 23 percent of our population lives in poverty. Crime, violence, sickness, drug abuse, ignorance all have their roots in poverty.

Second, education debt relief. We need better-funded schools, that’s a given. But sadly, many of our college and technical-school students graduate with enormous debt. Then, all they find are those low-paying, no-benefit, part-time jobs that don’t allow them to even make payments. Making college affordable goes beyond tuition help; it includes not ignoring the graduates toiling in dead-end jobs. Whether that help comes in tax breaks, employment credits or debt forgiveness doesn’t matter. Young adults need help.

Third, confronting violence. Most people don’t realize it, but crime rates are falling. Still, violence continues. Simply put, guns are too easy for criminals to get and the societal cost of gun violence is never borne by those who sustain it. From the medical costs of shootings to the monetary losses from armed robbery, our communities need help dealing with those costs and diminishing their cause. It’s time for a real accounting.

Finally, and most importantly, water security. The governor is an environmentalist; we get that. But so are most of us who live in the Valley, though many eschew the label. A few try to exploit our water and soil for quick profits, but the vast majority of people farming here learned how to do it from their fathers and mothers. They care more about this environment than anyone who lives in far-away big cities. We remain vitally concerned that the governor’s appointees to the State Water Resources Control Board will side with those whose only priorities are ensuring the well-being of fish instead of the well-being of every Valley species – including humans.

That doesn’t mean all water should be used for crops or our aquifers can be sucked dry; pollution is unacceptable. But changes in how much water we are allowed to use from the reservoirs our forefathers created must be based on fact, not biased studies. And then it must be negotiated.

The state cannot capriciously choose winners and losers – which is what construction of the governor’s twin tunnels will do. This ill-conceived plan to “save” the Delta will siphon off the much-larger Sacramento River and send it south, then use virtually all of the flows from the Tuolumne, Stanislaus and Merced rivers to push back saltwater incursion from the Delta. Any such plan is guaranteed to be met with vigorous resistance. More than 1.5 million people depend on those three rivers. We applaud Proposition 1, but that alone won’t provide water security for our region.

There are other priorities – overhauling business and property tax codes, encouraging businesses, investing in our cities. All are worthy. So is preparing for the worst. Being California, we know there will be forest fires, earthquakes, floods and more drought. For once, it would be nice to hear a governor say, “We got this covered.”

Jerry Brown has the political capital, goodwill and clout to become one of the most effective governors the state has ever seen. Hopefully, when he takes his final bows four years from now, we’ll be among those applauding the loudest.

This story was originally published October 24, 2014 at 11:44 PM with the headline "Our View: We’ve got a to-do list for Gov. Brown’s 4th term."