Gov. Jerry Brown endorsed Rep. Bob Filner's San Diego mayoral bid during a campaign rally Tuesday for Proposition 30 at a Barrio Logan elementary school.
Brown called Filner, D-San Diego, an "independent guy" who has disagreed with him several times.
"He's been around," Brown said at the event at Perkins Elementary School. "He knows what's going on. You gotta know local, and you gotta know Congress and you gotta know the state. I think he'll add a definite note of experience and common sense."
Filner, who is running against Councilman Carl DeMaio in the Nov. 6 general election, said he was humbled to receive Brown's support.
"The governor has demonstrated exceptional, effective, independent leadership throughout his career and I, like many Californians, have a deep respect for his contributions to our state," Filner said. "When I'm elected mayor, I look forward to working with the governor to move the city of San Diego forward."
Filner has been endorsed by most of the Democrats holding major state offices.
Asked to comment on the endorsement, K.B. Forbes, a spokesman for DeMaio's campaign, said the councilman was proud of his bipartisan endorsements, including Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders and Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs, a prominent Democrat who is one of President Barack Obama's biggest donors.
Brown was in San Diego on the first day of a statewide tour to push his ballot measure, which would increase income taxes on Californians who earn more than $250,000 for the next seven years, and bump up sales levies by one-quarter percent for four years.
"This is third-grade arithmetic," Brown said. "It's a lot of money to our schools, teachers, or it's a lot of money to people who already have more than you can even imagine."
Chris Cate, of the San Diego Taxpayers Association, told NBC7/39 that Proposition 30 does not guarantee that the new revenue will go to schools. He also said spending on education in California will go up whether or not the ballot measure passes.
-City News Service
