When it comes to the recent surge in violent crime in Oakland, California Governor and Oakland Hills homeowner Jerry Brown told his told his home city to just deal with it, basically. Oakland "has to solve its own problems," Brown told reporters in San Jose yesterday.

Governor Moonbeam was responding to Oakland Vice Mayor Larry Reid's call for a state of emergency, when he shot over to the dark side. Reid's plan would have freed up state funds to help the city fight their recent crime wave, but was rejected by Mayor Jean Quan and other city officials who say the city is already getting a significant level of outside aid. "We understand it's an emergency," Quan said at a press conference Monday after an especially violent weekend. "We have called for assistance and gotten assistance from everybody we have asked so far, and we'll be asking for more over the next few weeks."

Brown, meanwhile, softened a bit yesterday saying with "everybody working together, we can drive that crime in Oakland down, I'm confident." Brown later went on PBS NewsHour for a victory lap last night, telling the public access channel that "the budget is fixed."

[SacBee]
[Oakland Tribune]
[LATimes]