Poizner attacks Whitman's donations to Boxer in 2003 while trying to explain away his donations to Gore in 2000.
Steve Poizner’s efforts to delegitimize primary opponent Meg Whitman as a secret Democrat backfired when Communications Director Jarrod Agen spoke with TPM DC reporter Eric Kleefield.
Agen laid into Whitman on her thin voting record and donations to Barbara Boxer in 2003 when the question came back around regarding Poizner’s donations to Al Gore during the 2000 campaign.
“Back in 2000, Al Gore had come to California for a couple of separate events. Commissioner Poizner’s wife wanted to go see Gore at those events, so they went to go see them,” Agen explained.
So this means that Poizner wrote the checks, but in spirit it was really his wife making the donation? “Well yeah, it was his wife who wanted to see Gore at these events, when he came to their area. So they attended the fundraisers. But because they had a joint checking account, it was Steve who was the one who wrote and signed the checks.”
So if it was really his wife who was truly making the donation, and not Poizner himself, why didn’t his wife write the checks herself? Agen answered: “Because it was — he was the one who, if any political donation was made at the time, he was the one who was handling those.”
Swing State Project wins the evening with this quip:
CA-Gov: Maybe this explains why alleged Republican Meg Whitman is running for governor and not for senate: turns out she endorsed Barbara Boxer in 2004 as part of Technology Leaders for Boxer, and gave her $4,000. No word yet on whether Whitman actually got around to voting for her, though.