Jerry Brown should be California’s next governor, not only because of the future he promises to provide for California, but also for the past accomplishments which he has already demonstrated as California’s governor from 1975 to 1983. He is a proven fiscal conservative with a liberal heart. While he was governor, he ran the state efficiently and generated a $5 billion surplus, while freezing property taxes and adding a two-thirds vote requirement for local governments to raise taxes.

In Oakland he earned the title of mayor, using his political clout to restructure the position. He breathed life back into the city by drawing in $1 billion in business investments, attracted more than 10,000 new residents into Oakland and created two new charter schools which today are some of the best schools in the area.

Jerry Brown leads by example, cuts government fat from the top not the bottom and promotes both liberal and progressive causes, while at the same time balancing the budget.

On the contrary, this is Meg Whitman’s first time running for political office. The former eBay CEO has no experience in office and has had little opportunity to prove herself to voters. Worst of all, she seems to lack interest in politics; she neglected to vote for 28 years in a row. Furthermore, she has spent a record-breaking $163 million of her own personal $1.3 billion fortune to run her campaign.

The only thing that is clear from her campaign is that she wants to wield the office to further business interests, but seems rather ambivalent with regards to everything else. She wants to suspend the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, but opposes Prop 23. She supported Prop 8 but believes gay marriages prior to Prop 8 should be recognized. She wants to prohibit undocumented students from attending state-funded institutions of higher education, but ran a bilingual ad stating “The Latino kids attending public schools in California today will be tomorrow’s doctors, engineers, businessmen and teachers.”

Her ambiguous stances on different issues should call into question her adherence to any particular ideology. Rather, it seems that she just wants to get elected.

Similarly, the race for the senate has carried another well-known democrat and a little-known businesswoman to battle. Barbara Boxer, a proven fighter for progressive causes and a strong voting record in the senate, has always stood up for California and fought for the environment as chair of the environment and public works committee. She has scored extremely high in her congressional scorecard for the American Civil Liberties Union, National Organization for Women, AFL-CIO and the Secular Coalition for America.

On the other hand, Carly Fiorina has no voting record and has had little involvement in politics until now. She holds many conservative positions, opposes abortion, same-sex unions and has likened Boxer’s fight against global climate change to worrying about “the weather.”

The democratic ticket embraces candidates who fight for the average citizen under a tent that includes all minorities and fights to protect the interests of its constituents, while the republican ticket pushes candidates who have proven themselves on the DOW Jones but not in office — truly a party that protects the interests of the top one percent, in essence the Richie Rich party.