POLITICS: Is Meg Whitman a Whore?

Sensitivity is apparently not the strong suit of Jerry Brown’s inner circle. The California Democrat was recently caught on tape chatting with aides about the possibility of referring to Meg Whitman as a “whore” because of her willingness to cut a deal on law enforcement pensions. According to the LA Times, Brown had just left a voicemail for union official Scott Rate. He thought he’d hung up the phone, but hadn’t, so Rate’s phone recorded the ensuing conversation.

“Do we want to put an ad out?," asks Brown. "That I’ve been warned that if I crack down on pensions, they’ll go to Whitman, because they know Whitman will give ‘em, will cut them a deal, but I won’t.” Then another voice breaks in and suggests, “What about saying she’s a whore?” Brown seems enthusiastic about the idea. “Well, I’m going to use that,” he says. “It proves you’ve cut a secret deal to protect the pensions." But a Brown spokesman says that the candidate's response was simply referring to the idea of attacking Whitman on the pension issue, not calling her a whore.