CA-Gov: Whitman Dodges Questions at Press Event
Hilarious but insightful coverage from the San Francisco Bay Area's CBS affiliate, KPIX, and political editor, Hank Plante, and Meg Whitman's continued attempts to dodge questions from the media.
In a report from the San Jose Mercury News, Whitman's meeting with Union Pacific (a big-time corporate donor to her campaign) sounded like it was a field trip for elementary schoolchildren.
During that brief chat, Whitman said it had been "a really good morning for me" with "a couple of 'a-ha's'" as she learned "how important Union Pacific is" to California's economy by virtue of the huge volume of freight it moves in and out of the state.
Whitman voiced support for rolling back clean air protections. A move in which public relations director for Union Pacific, Wes Lujan, agreed with and "later said Union Pacific will be contributing to Whitman's campaign 'in the near future.'"
CA-Gov: Brown Announces
Jerry Brown, former governor and the state's current attorney general, announced his candidacy via web video yesterday.
Per Brown's "lean campaign" model, the lone Democratic hopeful inexplicably had no scheduled events on the day he announced. He did, however, appear on Larry King Live.
The strongest argument Jerry Brown and California Democrats can make this fall is that Meg Whitman is more of the same. A political novice with no prior elected office experience. Californians know where that leads. Just look at the last seven years under Arnold Schwarzenegger's governance. The state is in shambles.
Read more from Calitics, including the Brown press release on the announcement.
CA-Gov: Whitman Paying Blogger?
The gubernatorial campaign of Meg Whitman paid $20,000 for advertising on the conservative blog, Red County, that another advertiser only paid $300 for the same ad space. NBC Bay Area writer Jackson West:
Twenty thousand dollars will buy you a lot of advertising online. A lot. Especially on a site with a limited readership -- like Chip Hanlon's right-wing blog Red County.
But that's how much the former eBay CEO Meg Whitman's gubernatorial campaign paid to Green Faucet, the investment firm owned by blogger Hanlon and parent company of Red County.
Hanlon told Calbuzz that the money was for advertising, however other advertisers seem to be much better at negotiating than Whitman's campaign -- another advertiser is only paying $300 a month.
Chip Hanlon, the blog's proprietor, recently fired a blogger from his site that was found to receive payments from Whitman's campaign rival, Steve Poizner. Jackson West wondered if this means Hanlon will fire himself?
If the Republican primary for governor has shown anything it is that either of these candidates will do anything -- pay others under the table, spend mountains of their own cash, bribe others to get out of the race -- to win.
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.
CA-Gov: Meg Whitman’s “Proud Racist” Supporter
Bob Kellar: proud racist and Meg Whitman supporter.
Earlier this week, Santa Clarita City Councilman Bob Kellar pronounced himself a "proud racist" at a January 16th anti-immigration rally.
Kellar first referred to a statement from President Theodore Roosevelt that says the United States only has room for one flag and one language. He said he had quoted it at a past City Council meeting.
"The only thing I heard back from a couple of people was `Bob, you sound like a racist.'
"I said, `That's good. If that's what you think I am because I happen to believe in America, then I'm a proud racist. You're darn right I am."'
It is rhetoric like that that has led to hate crimes against Latinos reaching record highs.
Apparently Bob Kellar is a Meg Whitman supporter listed on her endorsements page. Curious what that "Latino coalition" thinks.