Attorney general rivals split on touchy social issues

Sacramento Bee ^ | 10/23/6 | Herbert A. Sample

[SmithL]

Brown, Poochigian say they'll carry out controversial laws.

OAKLAND-When it comes to crime, both major candidates for California attorney general want voters to believe they are the best man to keep streets safe.

But the similarities end when Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Chuck Poochigian turn to four touchy social issues that voters have faced over the years and that the next attorney general will handle.

The two disagree on how aggressively the state Department of Justice should pursue environmental objectives and whether the state should regulate more firearms.

They come close to conformity on the concept of stem cell research, though Poochigian opposed on fiscal grounds a 2004 ballot measure that established a state research program. Neither endorses the idea that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, though Brown supports laws that allow gay couples to enter into domestic partnerships and reap many of the benefits of marriage.

Both stress they will carry out laws that apply to each of those controversial topics, regardless of their personal views.

"Everyone that knows me sees me as a guy that moderately goes after issues (and) has common sense," Poochigian said at a recent debate sponsored by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Brown countered that he is the one with common sense: "You want as your lawyer somebody who knows the law but also somebody who understands the practicality -- how to interpret the law."

The attorney general's office employs hundreds of lawyers and sworn peace officers who enforce criminal statutes and hundreds more who deal with civil litigation filed by and against the state.

For example, Democrat Bill Lockyer, the current attorney general, recently sued automakers over their products' carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming. Separately, his office is fighting a lawsuit filed by carmakers that would nullify a state law requiring a reduction in vehicle...emissions.

[SmithL]

Chuck Poochigian

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Jerry Brown

[fhlh]

Jerry Brown! The Savage Weiners man!!!

[SDGOP]

All hail the weiner nation