Brown: "Never have so many gathered for so little…"

And with that, Jerry Brown sat down to - as he put it - "fence" with reporters in his own trademark way.  For example, on speeding up the state's complex environmental review process for development projects, he'd like to, but:

Brown: "It's like getting the Vatican to alter its views on birth control."

On signing 85 percent of the bills lawmakers sent him, despite warning that "not every problem needs a law:"

Brown: "Just because a bill is useless doesn't mean I should veto it (laughter), because there's a certain comity required, that's the word - comity - between the two branches."

And on how history might view him for closing state parks because of a budget shortfall, he remembered something he told his father, former Governor Pat Brown:

Brown: "I said, Dad, history doesn't pay attention to former California governors."

Asked to grade himself on his first year back in the governor's office after two previous terms decades ago, Brown said students don't grade themselves.

Brown: "I think I took this semester on pass-or-fail anyway, so in that case, I've clearly passed."

But the California Republican Party put out a statement criticizing Brown for what it calls "weak leadership" and a lack of "significant first-year achievements."