LEGACIES:

Willie Brown -- a 'piece of living art' -- leaves little as legacy (Dan Walters, January 9, 2004, Sacramento Bee)

Bedazzled by Brown's larger-than-life demeanor, those who attempt to assess his official career are missing both his true genius and his most debilitating weakness. The former is his uncanny ability to exploit the vulnerabilities of others with whom he deals, and thus bind them to him. Brown practiced Godfather-like patronage politics in Sacramento and San Francisco, dispensing favors and then collecting debts when he needed to.

Brown cultivated those loyalties, one suspects, because he never felt secure enough, personally or politically, to apply his talents to larger causes. His very flamboyance -- one writer once referred to him as a "piece of living art" -- is, in its own way, a clue to Brown's insatiable need for validation. He needs repetitive confirmation that he's the smartest, hippest, coolest politician around. He needs the spotlight, needs -- much like an actor -- the applause that accompanies each new performance.

Fatefully, Brown's departure from office coincides with the advent of Schwarzenegger, another born-poor, fortune-seeking immigrant to California, and the state's only political figure who could match, and even surpass, Brown's swagger and panache. Just as Brown was the sun around which lesser beings orbited during his many years in the Capitol, so Schwarzenegger has come, in just a few weeks, to dominate the consciousness of the building. And with Schwarzenegger's love of the spotlight, his deal-making and his somewhat devious tactics, one wonders whether Brown has been his tutor.

Could Arnold Schwarzenegger be Willie Brown's true legacy?

He does leave behind one other, odd, legacy--this one actor-connected too. Apparently, he played a key role in renaming California's Route 118, in Simi Valley, the Ronald Reagan Freeway. The two had been friends and adversaries since Mr. Reagan was governor and Mr. Brown a young assemblyman. This prompted one of the very last letters the President wrote:

Willie Brown
Sacramento, California
September 6, 1994

Dear Willie:

I couldn't let a day go by without thanking you for all you did to make the Ronald Reagan Freeway a reality. I'll admit that while people have "tried to drive over me" for years, this is the first time I'll actually welcome it!

Please know how touched I was by the gesture and that I shall always be grateful for the relationship we shared through the years.

Sincerely,
Ronald Reagan

If nothing else, Mr. Brown earned the applause of a master.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 10, 2004 7:17 AM