Whore

“Someone in Brown camp suggests calling Whitman a 'whore'

VIDEO

 

Listen to the audio as someone in Brown camp calls Whitman a slur

In a private conversation inadvertently captured on voice mail, Jerry Brown, California's Democratic candidate for governor and his aides discuss their intention to portray his GOP opponent, Meg Whitman, as a "whore."

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By Karen Tumulty

Washington Post Staff Writer 
Friday, October 8, 2010; 1:31 PM

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 voicemail, California's Democratic candidate for governor and his aides discussed the possibility of portraying his GOP opponent, Meg Whitman, as a "whore."

The conversation among Brown and his aides was picked up on a voicemail recording that Brown left for a police union official in early September, apparently after Brown believed he had hung up.

(Listen to audio of the exchange here)

Brown and his aides can be heard discussing 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 - it is not clear whether it was Brown or, as his campaign says, another person - asked: "What about saying she's a whore?"

Brown can then be heard saying: "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."”