Brown returns to lead a troubled California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Democrat Jerry Brown was sworn in Monday as California's 39th governor, returning to the office he left 28 years ago but inheriting a much different and more troubled state than the one he led then.

The man who once was California's most famous bachelor took the oath of office after being introduced by his wife of five years, former Gap Inc. executive Anne Gust Brown, inside Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.

As California Supreme Court Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye administered the oath, Gust Brown held a Bible that had belonged to her grandfather and was used during her wedding with Brown.

Brown has predicted a grim future for the financially beleaguered state. Where his predecessor, Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, expressed optimism at every turn, Brown has been realistic since winning the Nov. 2 election. California has faced several years of deep budget deficits and is confronting another estimated at $28 billion through June 2012.

Its general fund is $15 billion less than it was just three years ago, reflecting a sharp drop in tax revenue from a recession that has battered the economy of the nation's most populous state. Brown, 72, said the choices facing California's 38.8 million people are painful.

"The year ahead will demand courage and sacrifice," he said.

Brown noted how the recession has taken a toll on California and referred to polls showing most voters believing the state is on the wrong track. He urged lawmakers from both political parties to get out of their comfort zones and rise above ideology for the good of the state, asking them to embrace a "philosophy of loyalty" to California.

"We can overcome the sharp divisions that leave our politics in perpetual gridlock, but only if we reach into our hearts and find that loyalty, that devotion to California above and beyond our narrow perspectives," he said.