Meg Whitman Called 'Whore' in Jerry Brown Phone Message

— October 8, 2010 -- California Attorney General Jerry Brown, the state's Democratic candidate for governor, left a phone message in early September for a union official whose endorsement he was seeking, but apparently forgot to hang up -- because a lively discussion between him and some staffers afterward is caught on tape. And either Brown or a staffer -- there is some dispute -- uses the word "whore" to describe his Republican rival Meg Whitman.

The recording, obtained by the Los Angeles Times from the L.A. Police Union, is muffled and hard to hear. But the word "whore" is definitely thrown around several times at the notion of Whitman making a special deal with union officials to protect their pensions.

"Do we want to put an ad out? … That I have been warned if I crack down on pensions, I will be – that they'll go to Whitman, and that's where they'll go because they know Whitman will give 'em, will cut them a deal, but I won't," Brown said.

Then someone says, "What about saying she's a whore?"

It is not entirely clear if that last part is said by Brown or an aide. Listen to the audio here.

"Well, I'm going to use that," Brown responds a moment later. "It proves you've cut a secret deal to protect the pensions."

Whitman's campaign quickly jumped on the leaked recording and the use of such a derogatory term.

"The use of the term 'whore' is an insult to both Meg Whitman and to the women of California. This is an appalling and unforgivable smear against Meg Whitman. At the very least Mr. Brown tacitly approved this despicable slur and he himself may have used the term at least once on this recording," said Whitman spokeswoman Sarah Pompei.

Brown's spokesman apologized.

"At times our language was salty. We apologize to Ms. Whitman and anyone who may have been offended," Brown's campaign manager Steven Glazer said in a statement Thursday night.

Beyond the use of the bad word in the recording, Brown seems to be saying that if he won't give the union pensions special treatment in pension reform plans, they will send their endorsement to Whitman. Brown says on the call that it seems who he says has told the unions she will cut them a special deal on their police pensions.