Hot dog! At least one Jerry Brown inaugural event planned

After he won election four years ago, Gov. Jerry Brown set up a committee to fund his inaugural ceremonies and raised more than $500,000 from private donors with a range of interests before the state.

He spent less than one-fifth of that amount on low-frills events, and he has been using leftover funds – through donations to the Governor’s Residence Foundation of California – to pay his rent at his loft in Sacramento.

But the inaugural committee remains open, and as of June 2013 it still held assets of more than $220,000.

That would be more than enough to finance a day of events in January like the one Brown held in 2011. That year, Brown was sworn in at Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium, and he hosted a reception at the California State Railroad Museum.

When asked about the Democratic governor’s plans for a historic fourth inauguration, spokesman Evan Westrup would say only “stay tuned.”

But one feature will be the same. The Orange County Employees Association said it will once again host a picnic on the Capitol’s north lawn.

“It will be the same program as last time,” association spokeswoman Jennifer Muir said.

In 2011, Brown nibbled on a hot dog but did not speak at the event, and there were boos when the crowd learned he wasn’t planning to.

This story was originally published November 26, 2014 at 10:16 AM with the headline "Hot dog! At least one Jerry Brown inaugural event planned."