CA-Sen: Fiorina’s Hiring, Father’s Ruling Questioned in Book
A book due out on Tuesday notes a potentially troubling window between the time Carly Fiorina's father, a federal judge, ruled on a case heavily lobbied by the high-tech industry, and Fiorina's hiring as CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
In July 1999, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Joseph Sneed, Fiorina’s father, issued a ruling that made it far more difficult for class-action lawyers to file securities lawsuits. Breaking with two other courts of appeals, Sneed said a legal reform Congress passed in 1995 at the urging of high-tech executives besieged by such suits meant plaintiffs needed solid evidence of wrongdoing before they went to court.
Seventeen days later, Fiorina was named as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard with a compensation packaged valued at the time at between $80 million and $90 million.
The proximity in time of Fiorina’s hiring and Sneed’s ruling is laid out in a book released Tuesday, “Circle of Greed,” by Patrick Dillon and Carl Cannon. The book chronicles the rise and fall of one of America’s most successful plaintiffs’ lawyers, Bill Lerach, who was a target of Congress’s 1995 reform effort but continued to win billions in settlements even after it passed.
CA-Sen: Fiorina’s Web of Failures
Carly Fiorina's campaign web operation is a series of absolute failures that turn into red meat for internet mockery. Fred Davis, former adman for John McCain's presidential campaign, produces the Fiorina campaign's advertisements, including the "demon sheep" video. Becki Donatelli, president of Campaign Solutions, is the campaign lead on the campaign's web presence.
Apparently they are bad at what they do.
It started with the roll out of her Senate exploratory committee website. Visitors were greeted with an unusual flash animation that culminated in the introduction of the term "Carlyfornia." The roll out was a disaster with many observers calling it "the worst political website ever." (Leading the DSCC to mock her with a fantastic microsite.)
Fiorina's web operation reached epic levels of ridicule both in the press and online courtesy of Fred Davis' web video that took on a life of it's own. Literally. It quickly became known as the "demon sheep" video and sparked yet another Twitter hashtag of the same name that reached coveted "trending" status.
Her campaign released, under the direction of Donatelli, "deceptive" web ads that used -- without permission -- the image of, and gave the impression of support from, the Senate's newest Republican member, Scott Brown. He doesn't. (See them here.)
Fiorina's team rolled out their latest web hit -- presumably a Donatelli product -- this week. It looks like a Geocities website from the late 1990s. The sign up doesn't even collect zip code data -- an error that couldn't even be described as a "rookie mistake." Just plain awful and one of many signs that some people don't know what they are doing.
The biggest irony, of course, is that Fiorina once led HP, and drove it into the ground before her firing with a $21.4 million golden parachute. An independent attack site, which uses Fiorina's name as the domain address, questions Fiorina and her team's understanding of technology and the web, in general.
Does Carly "Get" Technology? [...]
Note: we registered the domain name carly-fiorina.com two days after she announced her run for the US Senate; the domain had not been acquired by her campaign team!
It seems as though failure is contagious.
Updated A source with the Campbell campaign noted a tweet from Fiorina's campaign and submitted it as her latest web failure.
A few problems with that: 1. The diarist at RedState is not a front-page editor, but an irregular poster with only two posts to his name. The post she's referring to hasn't been recommended even once.
2. However, his one other diary did get a few recommendations. In that post back in November, he attacks the "McCain wing" of the party, specifically saying that they should "push out Carly Fiorina in California for Chuck DeVore." He said RINOs "infecting" the Senate "need to die."
3. Both of his posts so far have called McCain, who's backing Fiorina, a RINO.
Remainders
San Jose Mercury News trashed the infamous "demon sheep" web video produced by Carly Fiorina's campaign.
Hounded by rumors of coordination, Tom Campbell denied any deals were made between himself and Meg Whitman.
Carly Fiorina suggested bankruptcy be on the table to deal with the state's financial mess. In reality, however, states cannot seek bankruptcy protection.
Right-wing publication, The American Spectator, attacked Campbell and his "anti-Israel" voting record.
It appears Carly Fiorina believes we are living in 1994 because she offered a series of "reforms" that were implemented fifteen years ago.
California Accountability Project, a product of the Democratic Governors Association, launched. Other groups formed separate committees to boost Jerry Brown and other candidates in the state.
Huffington Post and New West writer William Bradley examined the "machinations of Meg Whitman" on her campaign's efforts at intimidation of other candidates and bogus claims on how long she's lived in California.
Jeff Denham leads Richard Pombo, according to the former's internal polls, by a margin of 28-12, and 38-12 when voters are informed that outgoing Congressman George Radanovich endorsed Denham. A pollster for Denham says their data shows Pombo is bad for the party.
The looming battle over AB 32 makes the state a prime target for the next climate fight. Read more on AB 32 from the state's former controller, Steve Westly.
Remainders
Carly Fiorina defended and promised more of the wildly popular (and widely-mocked) "demon sheep" advertisements.
In a video released on the web, Meg Whitman received flack from the conservative base for disavowing a supporter that said they were a "proud racist." Whitman released a television ad that begins airing today.
Fresno Bee: Steve Poizner backed a voter initiative that led to $40 billion in more taxes.
A new poll showed Gavin Newsom leading the field of Democrats -- Janice Hahn and Dean Florez -- for lieutenant governor. Newsom "shot down" such a run a month ago but the San Francisco Chronicle believes the San Francisco mayor ain't out yet.
Jackie Speier ruled out running for the state's top cop job. Kamala Harris raised $1 million in the last six months but Chris Kelly leads the field in cash-on-hand, while Republican Steve Cooley is getting hammered by conservative activists.
Republicans collectively raised several hundred thousand to unseat Jerry McNerney in CA-11 while most lent themselves a huge chunk of their campaign cash.
Richard Pombo raised $260,000 campaigning for a return bid to Congress in CA-19.
San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson (R) outraised the AD-15 Democratic incumbent, Joan Buchanan.
CA-Sen: Fiorina Web Video Includes Man in Sheep Costume
Offered without comment.
Update The web video was mercilessly and almost universally mocked and derided online as the "wildest," "weirdest," and perhaps "worst political video ever." And they probably paid $15k for it. Need more evidence that the video is an epic failure? National Review loved it, calling the ad "genius."
Tom Campbell, seizing on the opportunity to rub Carly Fiorina's face in yet another failure, is fundraising off the video. His team even embedded the video on their contribution page.