The California Chamber of Commerce has jumped into the gubernatorial campaign fray by airing a TV ad blasting Democratic candidate Jerry Brown for his record as governor from 1975 to 1983 and as mayor of Oakland from 1999 to 2007.
The ad criticizes Brown for at first opposing the 1978 voter initiative Proposition 13, which restricted the growth of property taxes and required a two-thirds majority for voters to raise local taxes for special purposes and for the state Legislature to pass new state taxes. Brown embraced Prop. 13 after it passed, describing himself as "a born again tax cutter."
The ad also slams spending by the city of Oakland during Brown's mayoral term.
In a news release, chamber President and CEO Allan Zaremberg said, "We want to ensure that we integrate the issues that are critically important to our members and Californians into the election debate. The goal of these ads is to press the candidates to articulate how their views about taxing and spending are likely to impact our job climate in the future."
Union-backed independent expenditure committee Level the Playing Field 2010 has run some ads attacking Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's tenure as CEO of online auction firm eBay. Whitman herself has so far focused on GOP rival Steve Poizner in her TV and radio ads.
UPDATE: Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford responded:
This is a shamefully deceptive ad that distorts Jerry Brown's record of lowering taxes on small businesses and creating more than 1.9 million new jobs for Californians. The hyper-partisan attack is an utter betrayal of the Chamber's mission to represent the business community,not just one billionaire running for governor.
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