Cal-ee-for-nya; pick your complaint

Sadly, President Trump Is Not the Inventor of Governor Brown's Latest Nickname   . . . "The line stems from Gov. Brown’s plan for a satellite over

California in 1976 when he was running for governor at the time. The idea was outrageous due to limitations in technology and cost. Still, the idea is ludicrous considering the extraordinary amount of debt California is in. But, back then a Chicago journalist decided to call Brown "Gov. Moonbeam" to highlight his far out there ideas.

From the LA Times: 

"In 1976, a Chicago newspaper columnist wrote that Jerry Brown would get "the moonbeam vote."

The writer was Mike Royko, who then started referring to the then-38-year-old Brown as "Gov. Moonbeam." Royko was suggesting that Brown was attracting California's New Age crowd. 

Brown was a strong supporter of space exploration and many of the earliest statewide green initiatives. Yet he also gained a reputation as a fiscal conservative, refusing many perks that came with the governorship. . . .