Meet Your Governor

No. 5 in line suddenly becomes governor

Capitol Weekly brought something interesting to our attention today: Attorney General Jerry Brown is California's acting governor this week. An unusual set of circumstances made it so.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Washington, D.C. this week. That normally means the lieutenant governor takes over, but California doesn't have one of those right now.

John Garamendi resigned from the post when he took over Rep. Ellen Tauscher's seat in Congress. Schwarzenegger has appointed Sen. Abel Maldonado to take over, but he has not been confirmed just yet. That should mean the title of governor would fall to the heads of the state senate or house, but those two leaders are with the governor in D.C.  

Believe it or not, one more domino had to fall in order to give Brown the temporary top title. Secretary of State Debra Bowen would be next, but she is out of the state on a family matter

So, it falls to Jerry Brown.

No big deal for Brown. He's been governor before. And although he hasn't officially declared, it's all but assumed he's running again this year to take over the state for real. But Wednesday's development means he will have the reigns of the state during a statewide rain storm. 

Arnold and the rest of the gang will be back on duty Thursday night.

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