December 28, 2015

"What’s here? There’s no swimming pool, no basketball court. There are rattlesnakes and wild boar, and it’s 110 degrees."

"In the middle of nowhere. Wind gusts blowing. Dust getting in your mouth. It’s not for the faint of heart."

Governor Jerry Brown describes his 2,514-acre property, where he and his wife stay in what definitely deserves the term "tiny house." And it's not poshly tiny like those NYC apartments in the news today. There's an outhouse and no electricity.
“You know what I like?” Mr. Brown asked. “You get up in the middle of the night, the stars are very bright, the moon shining on the barn. It makes for a good balance between the intensity of the political and the serenity of the land.”

29 comments:

rwnutjob said...

The article is crap, but the comments predict the apocalypse. Oh, good Lord.

Wince said...

It's nice to see the picture of Gov. Brown and his wife take the NYT and the WaPo out for a walk.

rcocean said...

Now you know why Jerry brown loves immigration and open borders. What does he care if 50 million or 60 million people live in California? He's got a 2,514 acre ranch.

Fuck you losers.

David Begley said...

1. Hire a title company if you want to know what's in the public records. That's what they do.

2. Jesuits are not monks. They talk all the time except during the thirty days of the Spiritual Exercises.

3. Glad to know Jerry is rich. Over 2,000 acres is worth plenty. Forget about that tiny house crap.

4. Given the fact that his ranch - and the entire state - needs water, his complete failure to build any dams is even stupider than I first thought. He could have helped himself and voters by leading on the issue, but that's not part of the Green religion.

5. Since he and wife are childless, I'm sure Santa Clara University would accept the ranch as a gift.

6. Did his sister get cheated out of her share of the ranch or did he buy her out?

bwebster said...

But apparently state employees were checking to see if there was oil and/or natural gas there. :-)

damikesc said...

So, he can afford 2,500 acres of land. Has he ever had a real, non-government job?

jr565 said...

Why is his description bringing up evocations of the Eagles?
Oh yeah:
"I like the way your sparkling earrings lay
upon your skin so brown.
And I want to sleep with you in the desert tonight
with a million stars all around.
Cos I got a peaceful, easy feeling....:

The Eagles were bringing chicks out to Jerry's place for some midnight fornication!

jr565 said...

Ok, here is Jerry Brown's digs in CA as of 2010.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/22/jerry-brown-house-worth-1_n_620523.html

its worth 1.8 million dollars. Jerry Brown does not sleep in a shack with no electricity all the time.


Also, he visits his ranch on 2500 acres (!) 2500 is a lot of acreage.
AND it says "They sleep in the tiny cabin many weekends, rebuilding barns piled with garbage and pockmarked with bullet holes, organizing family reunions and laying plans to create a library here documenting the history of the ranch and this politically storied family."
So this is a fix me up type situation. The fact that the cabin doenst have electricity is not by choice. It's that they are still in the infancy stage of the plans to turn the place into a palace.
I bet the library will have electricity and plumbing.

There are also barns and other buildings on the premises that need to be fixed up which the governor can also stay in.
I dont' get how he can get away with his "man of the people" routines when the only reason his house has no electricity is because he hasn't built the house yet.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

So if my math's right (and I didn't double check) when he and his wire are there the density is 1 person per 1257 acres. Sure sounds like we could fit a LOT of refugees in there, no? I'll call the container-house people, you get the sustainable solar/wind/biomass people started, let's bring these people in now--the world is watching!

Marty Keller said...

Breaking news from 1974: blah, blah, blah.

Nancy Reyes said...

a cabin with an out house and no electricity?

A small generator costs 500 dollars. I know, because mine kept us going during our many typhoon emergencies here in the Philippines.

But the outhouse makes me wonder about his wife. HELLO. Bugs anyone? He can spritz in the open, but she is the one who needs to use it in private several times a day.

By the way: What is the water level? Does the outhouse contaminate their water supply? Who cleans out the outhouse? Why not a composting toilet? Why not a G--D---- Septic tank, which is more environmental friendly.

and prey tell, where does he get his water? You need power to pump it from a well, and carrying in water to bathe and wash clothing is a big chore. True, in the desert you can go days without bathing, but again, what about his wife? my New Mexico home was on a small stream, but I wouldn't drink it unless I filtered it...

and unless he lives in a adobe house or hogan, both of which have thick walls to keep out the heat, they are risking heat stroke without proper air conditioning.

The dirty little secret is that living a primitive life is fine for men...not so fine for women.

jr565 said...

rcocean wrote:
ow you know why Jerry brown loves immigration and open borders. What does he care if 50 million or 60 million people live in California? He's got a 2,514 acre ranch.

I just solved the illegal immigration issue. build a bunch of compounds there and put all illegals and refugees into the buildings on his land.
Forget the library. Build refugee housing. Or a new Gitmo. We could move Gitmo from Cuba to Jerry's place.

Fernandinande said...

https://shastalantern.net/2015/11/10000000-land-deal-discovered-on-governor-brown-colusa-ranch-property/

Researching further into public land documents, it has been discovered that the ranch in question has been held as a private trust, Rancho Venada Inc., since 1962 with Ann Gust Brown listed as the primary trustee. The company lists only one officer, a Chris B. Brown and an operating address of 2355 Broadway #407 Oakland, CA. 94612. Coincidentally the address is also registered to Brown for Governor, We the People Foundation Inc., The Brown Family Foundation for Education and the Arts, the Corona-Norco Democrat Central Committee and several temporary ballot organizations. It is believed the Rancho Venada Trust is comprised of beneficiaries Jerry Brown as 27% share holder, another 27% Brown family share member, believed to be Kathleen Brown (former treasurer of the State of California who has ties to Royal Dutch Shell Oil through her father “Pat” Brown) and an as yet still elusive 46% minority shareholder.

Colusa County records show that the 2,700 acre family ranch is divided into 6 separate parcels. 2 of the parcels (016-100-002, 016-100-003) show recent monetary activity. Parcel# 016-100-002 listed as 40 acres with an assessed tax value of $3,412.00 was transferred to a secondary entity in 2005 for $5,078,000.00. Parcel# 016-100-003 listed as 640 acres with an assessed tax value of $54,597 as well shows transfer in 2005 for $5,078,000.00.

David Begley said...

Good work Ferdinandinande!

Who bought out a portion of Jerry's and Kathleen's interest and left them with majority ownership?

More importantly, what did they pay? My guess it was someone like Tom Steyer or George Soros and they paid WAY more than fair market value. What did the buyer get from these two government officials in return? Official favors? Something to do with that stupid train proposal?

Maybe the MSM should do its duty and find out the facts.

This could be a GIANT scandal. It could ruin Brown's reputation.

But knowing how things work, the investigation will never happen and he would stonewall all questions.

What a bunch of fakes.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

This reporter was strangely disinterested in the state-funded oil exploration Brown ordered for the property. Guess there was nothing to see there...

rcocean said...

BTW, just for those with poor math skills. 2500 hundred acres is approximately 4 square miles.

cubanbob said...

Looks bleak and desolate. Can't imagine why anyone would want to travel to get there. Maybe its the stars at night or a full moon. Maybe that is why in part he's call Governor Moonbeam.

traditionalguy said...

That part of California was never any good for ranching but was totally good for Rich California Entrepreneur's Hunting Lodges to entertain their rich friends way out in the woods. Good times.

Mary Beth said...

It looks like a it was a decent size place before it burned down. Wasn't it insured?

I do not want to be trotting out to an outhouse when there are rattlesnakes around. Actually, you can leave off the last five words and it's still true. I love indoor plumbing.

SukieTawdry said...

It was Jerry Brown's executive order that permitted state employees to unionize. California hasn't been the same since. He deserves 2500 acres of rattlesnake-infested dust bowl.

WVFarmLife said...

It looks absolutely gorgeous. If you like the outdoors
that's a wonderful place and I can understand wanting to
spend a lot of time there.

2500 acres is so large that I suspect that if you had to
walk it there would be huge portions that would never be
touched.

The tiny house seems pretentious.

The land looks like it has no economic value other than
recreation. The land document data, that Fernandinande found
above, is hard to make sense of. How could 40 acres have sold
for 5 million dollars?

Or again, how could 640 acres for that matter have sold for
5 million dollars?

It doesn't make sense and I wonder if this land was used to
hide a 10 million dollar political contribution from a donor.

Skeptical Voter said...

Nancy you dig the hole for the outhouse big enough---say 20 feet deep; you make it big enough to support a two hole seat and surrounding "house" with room to keep plenty of Paul Krugman columns folded up in a rack, and you get yourself a sack of lime. You won't have to empty that outhouse sump for five years or more.

Long ago but not so far away (in a small town in Arizona) my grandfather and grandmother did just fine with such an outhouse. Ultimately they got themselves a septic tank that got pumped from time to time, but for many many years that outhouse sufficed. Of couse Krugman hadn't started writing his columns at the time, so they had to make do with the Sears catalog.

Lance said...

When they're not roughing it in the desert, the guv and his wife live in the old governor's mansion. They only just moved in last year, apparently it needed some renovation, about $4.1 million dollars' worth.

And jr565 already linked their $1.8 million pied-a-terre in San Francisco.

And there's the $3000/month apartment they rented in Sacramento. Quite the bargain, by comparison.

David said...

Forget about it, Jake. It's Chinatown.

The Digital Hairshirt said...

He could offer it as a resettlement camp for Syrian refugees. Corgis optional.

David Begley said...

WVfarmlife

The sales were probably way above market value. It was a BRIBE.

Why isn't the LA Times interested?
MSNBC?
CNN?
NYT?

F said...

The comments in the LATimes article are mind-numbing in their adulation: what a wonderful man, to be interested only in contemplation and solitude! As juxtaposed to those selfish bastards Trump and Cruz. Run for President, Brown! Oh gag.

JimT Utah said...

A friend of mine has a ranch just up the road from the governor. Sitting there under the trees in the evening is delightfully peaceful. If you have the eyes to see, it's a beautiful place, especially in the spring when the trees are blossoming. Another friend lives in the next canyon over, also beautiful, and very popular with those the locals disdain as "flower-sniffers."

City-billy ignorance (credulity?) notwithstanding, it is not off the grid. Unless you choose to be.

Unknown said...

Jerry's dry, dusty ranch is not far from the proposed Sites Reservoir so he might need a jet ski to go with that 4 wheeler.
http://bit.ly/1VnYvab