Brown has a long term friendship with Jacques Barzaghi, his aide-de-camp, whom he met in the early 1970s and put on his payroll. Author Roger Rapaport wrote in his 1982 Brown biography California Dreaming: The Political Odyssey of Pat & Jerry Brown, "this combination clerk, chauffeur, fashion consultant, decorator and trusted friend had no discernible powers. Yet late at night, after everyone had gone home to their families and TV consoles, it was Jacques who lingered in the Secretary (of state's) office."
Barzaghi and his sixth wife Aisha, lived with Brown in the warehouse in Jack London Square and was brought into Oakland city government upon Brown's election as mayor, where Barzaghi first acted as the mayor's armed bodyguard. Brown later rewarded Barzaghi with high-paying city jobs, including "Arts Director."
Brown dismissed Barzaghi in July 2004.
In March 2005, Brown announced his engagement to his girlfriend since 1990, Anne Gust, former chief counsel for The Gap.They were married on June 18 in a ceremony officiated by Senator Dianne Feinstein in the Rotunda Building in downtown Oakland. They had a second, religious ceremony later in the day in the Roman Catholic church in San Francisco where Brown's parents had been married.
Brown and Gust live in the Oakland Hills in a mansion purchased for $1.8 million, as reported by The Huffington Post.
============================================
July 20, 2004
By Steve Rubenstein, Janine DeFao, SF Chronicle Staff Writers. Chronicle Staff Writer Jim Zamora contributed to report.
OAKLAND Barzaghi leaves Jerry Brown's staff; Departure follows police response to domestic dispute at his warehouse home
Jacques Barzaghi has been Jerry Brown's right-hand man for nearly 30 years. Barzaghi, the controversial longtime aide to Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, has left the mayor's staff as of Monday, six days after police were summoned to his Oakland home in connection with a domestic disturbance between him and his wife. "He has left the staff but, because it's a personnel matter, I cannot discuss it," said Brown's press aide Gil Duran. Duran would not say whether the 66-year-old Barzaghi resigned from his $114,000-a-year post or was fired. "People can draw their own conclusions," he said. Barzaghi could not be reached for comment.
Barzaghi's wife, Aisha, called police and complained that her husband had pushed her during a quarrel in their home at 200 Harrison St., the converted warehouse near Jack London Square that was the former home and headquarters of the mayor. When police officers -- including Oakland Police Chief Richard Word -- arrived, Barzaghi said his wife had pushed him first. There were no injuries. Husband and wife declined to press charges and no one was arrested.
Duran did not say whether Brown was sorry to see his old friend depart but that Brown "didn't seem to be upset." A source close to Brown said the domestic disturbance directly led to Barzaghi's departure.
For nearly 30 years -- from Brown's days as governor to his three presidential campaigns and his trips to Japan to study Zen Buddhism -- Brown and the French-born Barzaghi had been inseparable. The aide was known for dressing in black, sporting a shaved head, uttering enigmatic statements in a thick French accent -- and attracting controversy. His duties have reportedly included vetting potential appointees, picking out drapes for Brown's offices, approving his campaign commercials and selecting the mayoral clothes.
One of his quips from Brown's third run for president in 1992 became a favorite quote of the campaign: "We are not disorganized. Our campaign transcends understanding." Barzaghi, a former French soldier, actor and director, met Brown at a party in Los Angeles in 1971 after he had mistaken Brown for someone else. His prickly personality made him no shortage of foes at Oakland City Hall.
In 2001, the city of Oakland agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a sexual harassment claim against Barzaghi, whose alleged comments to a female employee led to a three-week suspension. During an investigation into the complaint, several female employees reportedly complained about Barzaghi, who was ordered to undergo counseling.
Word said Aisha Barzaghi declined to seek a restraining order against her husband following the disturbance call, or to receive counseling. Aisha is Barzaghi's sixth wife. Barzaghi said he left his fifth wife in New York when she would not follow him to Oakland to help Brown run for mayor.