CUPERTINO -- The morning, The Washington Post published an article on Jerry Brown's problems gaining women votes. The issues was highlighted today when the Los Angeles Times released an audio recording that captured members of Brown's campaign using highly offensive and derogatory language to describe Meg Whitman:
The Washington Post: In California, Jerry Brown's Woman Problem By Karen Tumulty
Jerry Brown has developed a woman problem - specifically, the fact that he doesn't seem to grasp what it means to be running against one.
The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that in a private conversation inadvertently captured on voice mail, California's Democratic candidate for governor and his aides discussed their intention to portray his GOP opponent, Meg Whitman, as a "whore."
The conversation between Brown and his aides was picked up on a voice mail recording that Brown had left for a police union official in early September, apparently after Brown believed he had hung up.
As the recording continued, Brown and his aides discussed the pressure that police unions were putting on him to follow Whitman in pledging not to reduce their pensions.
"Do we want to put an ad out? That I have been warned if I crack down on pensions, I will be - that they'll go to Whitman, and that's where they'll go because they know Whitman will give 'em, will cut them a deal, but I won't," Brown said.
At that point, someone - the newspaper reported it was not clear whether it was Brown or another person - asked: "What about saying she's a whore?"
According to the paper, Brown said: "Well, I'm going to use that. It proves you've cut a secret deal to protect the pensions."
In a statement by spokeswoman Sarah Pompei, Whitman's campaign said: "The use of the term 'whore' is an insult to both Meg Whitman and to the women of California. This is an appalling and unforgivable smear against Meg Whitman. At the very least Mr. Brown tacitly approved this despicable slur, and he himself may have used the term at least once on this recording."
Brown's campaign manager Steven Glazer acknowledged to the Los Angeles Times that "at times our language was salty. We apologize to Ms. Whitman and anyone who may have been offended." Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford told the newspaper that the person who used the term "whore" was not Brown.
In a race whose outcome may well depend on Whitman's ability to appeal to women voters, it was not the first time that the California attorney general has spoken of his female opponent in terms that could be interpreted as sexist.
A September Field Poll suggested that Whitman has managed to erase the Democratic Party's traditional advantage among women, which is a rare feat for a Republican in California.
In response to a question about that surge in female support in a radio interview last month, Brown suggested that women had been swayed by a deluge of negative advertising by Whitman's campaign.
"You wanna say bought, or paid for, or as she likes to say, 'invested,'" Brown said on KGO radio. "Buying 125,000 commercials, 90 percent of which are negative, that has to have an impact."
And during an appearance on the talk show "Good Day LA," Brown suggested to the hosts - two of whom were female and blond, as is Whitman - that staging a debate would bring "another blonde on the show."
The controversy over Brown's latest comments comes as Whitman is trying to tamp down a furor that could alienate Latinos, another crucial constituency with which she has been making inroads.
For more than a week, Whitman has been struggling with a controversy over the fact that she had employed for nine years a housekeeper who was not in the country legally. The former eBay chief executive, who has advocated stiffer enforcement of penalties against employers who hire illegal immigrants, said she did not know of the housekeeper's status until her employee admitted it, at which point Whitman fired her.
Read The Article Jerry Brown's woman problem.
MEDIA CONTACT Sarah Pompei 408.457.1369 Communications@MegWhitman.com
TEXT CREDIT: Meg Whitman For Governor 2010
AUDIO CREDIT: washingtonpost.com
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