Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for Brown, said the campaign pays for trips that mix official business and campaign activities, such as an outing to Los Angeles on July 8 where Brown attended a news conference about the Grim Sleeper case before hosting a campaign event highlighting his ties with Latino voters.
Clifford added that the campaign works around Brown's scheduled activities as attorney general.
"It's obviously important for people to see the work he's done and see the work he continues to do," he said. "Obviously, we're not going to have any objection when those things happen in the [attorney general's] office."
Even at events that are purely about state business, Brown is inevitably asked about the campaign.
After all the politicians finished their remarks at the San Diego event, reporters began asking Brown about the race for governor. The candidate demurred.
"I don't want to confuse the message here," he said. "We got to separate church and state here. This is church. We'll do our state business later."
After the event concluded, Brown met reporters in the parking lot and condemned Whitman as a billionaire who is saturating the airwaves with deceptive messages.
"This election is very close," he said. "I am up against a juggernaut."
seema.mehta@latimes.com
