CA-Gov: Poizner Accuses Whitman of Intimidation
A campaign consultant, working on behalf of Meg Whitman, threatened to spend "$40 million-plus" to tear down Steve Poizner and offered to clear the Republican field for U.S. Senate in 2012 if the state's insurance commissioner dropped out of the governor's race.
The explosive allegations, if corroborated, threaten to upend Whitman's campaign for governor.
In a letter to law enforcement officials, gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner today charged that Mike Murphy, a key consultant to Meg Whitman's campaign, threatened to drive him out of the GOP primary.
Poizner, the state's insurance commissioner, contended that Murphy crossed an ethical line by threatening to "tear me up" by spending "$40 million plus."
The alleged threat was sent by Murphy on Wednesday in an e-mail, Poizner said at a Sacramento news conference this morning. He also claimed Whitman's staffers have been calling his own staff in an attempt to pressure him to step aside.
"They're trying to cancel the election effectively," Poizner said.
Jackson West of NBC noted the sign off in consultant Mike Murphy e-mail:
Murphy signed off with, "Thought I'd try one more time before it's 1914," alluding to the start of World War I and its deadly trench warfare.
The overture by a Whitman campaign consultant marks a striking attempt at bullying political opponents. To boil it down, the demand was "Get out, or we will crush you in an avalanche of slime." Poizner called it "criminal" and Whitman's team "laughed off" the allegations. Read their full response here, which has Murphy worrying about Poizner's "mental condition."
Murphy tweeted that Poizner was becoming "unhinged" and wanted the FBI to "lock me up."
Poizner's team posted their referral letter, and Murphy's e-mail, to their website. Read more from Robert Cruickshank at Calitics.
The battle between these two began with questioning the Republican bona fides of the other candidate and Whitman's refusal to face public scrutiny. This latest development has turned the campaign into a bitter, personal battle between Whitman and Poizner that will only get more vicious.
