Source Document

I was forwarded a document for a recent California Federation of Republican Women's Southern Division meeting.

It is apparent that Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman are on completely different tracks.

In the wake of the discovery that Whitman is an elitist NIMBY and a fringe-left environmentalist (evidenced by her donations to protect the delta smelt)... we have further evidence that her campaign is attempting to veer to the left of Arnold.

Take a look at these quotes from their bios and decide for yourself:

"On September 15,2008 Poizner announced his candidacy for Governor of California. Poizner's campaign is based on strong in-state grassroots suppoer. The election will take place November of 2010. Poizner has worked for government reform, education reform, women's rights, and restoring California's position as a family-friendly, business friendly state."

and Whitman:

"On February 9,2009 Whitman announced her candidacy for Governor of California. Senator John McCain endorsed Meg Whitman for Governor of California. The election will take place November of 2010. Whitman supports Abortion Rights, same-sex civil unions and adoption rights for same-sex couples, but not same-sex marriage. Her views on same sex rights have created controversy related to her political aspirations."

Is it possible that Whitman thinks Republican women are obsessed with Abortion rights? Or is it quite simply that she is reaching out to Maria Schriver Republicans?

Poizner - Government Reform, Education Reform...

Whitman - Abortion Rights, Same Sex (insert issue here)... (Omitted: anti-gun, open borders, taxing the rich, donations to left-wing enviros, her huge fan list, etc etc etc)

I do believe that Republicans for Boxer (Clinton, Kerry, Gore, Obama) will enthusiastically endorse Whitman.

Meg Whitman is the Eco-Poster Child candidate for governor. When Arnold ran for governor, people told me that Arnold was to the left of Gray Davis on the environment.

Now, Meg Whitman is the latest "Republican" that has gone of the Left Green end of a cliff.

I have been roundly critical of her Megness on a variety of issues and her reliably liberal stances on them. Since she refuses to debate, we are left to ask, "Who is Meg Whitman?"
 
1. She is a Huge fan of Van Jones - the communist that had to be retired due to his embarrassing behavior and its' reflection on Obama.
 
2. She gave not $100K, but $200K (or was it 100K then 200K?) to the EDF. The Environmental Defense Fund spearheaded the lawsuits against the farmers of the Central Valley in favor of the Delta Smelt. Whitman's donations to them were in 2007 - around the time of their court case and around the time she first Registered Republican.
 
3. This article details the recent discovery of her donation of $1.15 million to a land-grabbing organization in Colorado. They won a court case (again) brought by a bunch of residents of Telluride (where Whitman has a horse ranch) aimed at stopping development.
 
The land owner in the case was stripped of his land and paid $50Million for it. The foundation solicited donations from the NIMBY's in the area to pay the guy after he was stripped of his rights by an activist court.
 
Her Spokesman Tucker Bounds says she gave the money after the court case was settled. For those of you scoring at home - Poizner is getting criticized for actions in 2004 - but now we have Whitman in 2008 giving money to leftist environmental causes.
 
Mr. Bounds. - that makes it worse. Now, Whitman is supporting a land-grabbing organization formed by a bunch of rich people that have theirs and wanted to keep others out. And, now Whitman is trapped in the vice-grip created by her actions vs her words.
 
I'm a huge fan of Steve Poizner. Meg Whitman keeps making it easier.

This weekend - I posted a story about Whitman's foundation donating $100,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund. The donation and its' significance are starting to catch fire.

The FlashReport picked up on the significance and a posting there is hitting the search engines.

Meg Whitman's $100,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund occurred in 2007 through a foundation she funded.

Again - someone whose money was used to assist in the lawsuit that shut the pumps off had the audacity to criticize someone else's checks. The timing of the donation is roughly the same timeline as the EDF Lawsuit that led to the smelt being ruled more important than feeding America.

Meg Whitman could really be to the left of Jerry Brown on the Environment. Recently, Congressman George Miller (D-Martinez) helps the Bay Area and worked to kill water legislation for the valley. But Meg Whitman goes for the whole enchilada.

Whitman talks about getting water for the farmers of the Central Valley--but she is caught financing the lawsuits to protect the delta smelt over the needs of the farmers and families of California.

Now, which is it Meg? AB32 or Not?

This is why those who have never participated in government or public policy (except to protect their own narrow interests) need to stop thinking they can learn after they get into office.  First, she thinks Van Jones is great, then she donates to help close down the water for the Central Valley.  Does she know who she is?  Obviously Whitman is not ready for prime time.

Hat Tip - SJ Mercury News and Hat Tip to the FlashReport for stoking the fire.

Arnold really is Meg Whitman in a Suit... I have whiplash.

Assemblywoman Audra Strickland will soon announce her intention to become Ventura County’s next treasurer-tax collector, according to a source very close to her office.

Larry Matheney, who currently holds that position, announced yesterday that he will not seek a third term.

Strickland maintains a high degree of positive name identification in Ventura County, where voters elected her to the Assembly in 2004, reelecting her in 2006 and 2008. Term limits prevent her from running for reelection in 2010. Due to her local popularity and strong fundraising capabilities, I'd be surprised if she faced any serious opposition.

The treasurer-tax collector oversees a staff of approximately 36 employees and is responsible for the collection of the various taxes that fund the activities of local government, including the school system.

Multiple, reliable sources in the Capitol have told me that Senator Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto) will be announcing that he is not seeking reelection to the Senate in 2010, as he will be Lieutenant Governor.  This comes just hours after the Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert reported that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger himself unexpectedly told the Fresno Bee that Cogdill is on his short list for Lieutenant Governor.

I have previously blogged on the appointment of the new Lieutenant Governor describing Stan Statham as a potential Lieutenant Governor here and about nine possible candidates here.  Although Cogdill was not on my list, I trust my sources pointing to Cogdill.

Cogdill has been a great help to Schwarzenegger in 2009 working with the Governor to negotiate the two biggest legislative packages of the year.  Cogdill was the lead Republican negotiating last week's major water deal that Schwarzenegger pushed for and was by his side speaking about the passage of the water deal, as can be seen by this release from the Governor's office celebrating the water deal.  Cogdill was also deposed as Senate Republican Leader for his role in carrying the Governor's tax-hike budget deal in February 2009.

Assuming Cogdill is appointed and confirmed, that opens his Senate seat up in 2010.  (Due to the timing of the legislative session, Cogdill would not be confirmed until early 2010.  Under the California Elections Code, there would be no special election since the vacancy would occur the same year that a regular election was scheduled for the seat, so the SD-14 seat would simply wait until the regular election to be filled.)  Since Cogdill had been expected to run for reelection, no major candidate was planning to run for the seat, but this opportunity will allow one or more Republican legislators to seek the seat.

Although Cogdill is from Stanislaus County, that county only has 15% of the district's registered Republicans.  Fresno County is the big dog in this seat, with 52% of the district's registered Republicans.  San Joaquin County has 17% of the district's registered Republicans, Madera County has 7%, Tuolumne County has 6%, and Mariposa has 2%.  Republicans also wield a 13% registration advantage in the district.

Republican Assemblyman Mike Villines represents 40% of SD-14 while fellow Republican Assemblyman Tom Berryhill represents 30%.  The remaining 30% is split among six other Assemblymembers: Republican Bill Berryhill (9% of SD-14) and Danny Gilmore (2%) along with Democrats Alyson Huber (8%), Joan Buchanan (less than 1%), and Cathleen Galgiani (less than 1%), as well as Independent Juan Arambula (10%).

Clearly, the natural front-runners are Mike Villines and Tom Berryhill, but Villines has already spent a fortune on the Insurance Commissioner's race, raised substantial sums of money that would not be legally transferrable to a Senate campaign, and seems unlikely to abandon that race.  Tom Berryhill becomes the prohibitive front-runner to replace Cogdill, upon Cogdill's confirmation as Lieutenant Governor by both houses of the Legislature.

Does Meg Whitman know what Meg Whitman believes?  She thinks that AB 32 is not well thought out and needs to be stopped.  Yet, she gives $100,000 to an organization that believes AB 32 does NOT go far enough.

Van Jones. Remember him - Whitman is a "Huge Fan" of his. I guess she is a "Huge Fan" of the Environmental Defense Fund - a co-plantiff in the lawsuit that created 40% unemployment in the Southern Central Valley.

That's right - the people who think the Delta Smelt are more important than the livelihoods of farm workers (legal or not, including CD-11 Candidate Brad Goehring's employees)... and those of us that buy food, and all the farmer's whose livelihoods have been destroyed.

Enter the Article in the San Jose Mercury-News.

"The Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation in 2007 contributed $100,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund, which is now at odds with Whitman over water policy. The foundation also invested $3 million in hedge funds based in the Cayman Islands — a Caribbean tax haven that's been tthe subject of political controversy."

Let's See... Stock Spinning, Stock Dumping, and now off-shore investments in the Cayman Islands. Nice. I'd lose my securities license if I ever had knowingly had clients send their money there.

"The foundation has operated lawfully, and many tax and foundation experts say it's not unusual for young foundations to give away little in their infancy. But Whitman's foundation will face a stiff penalty if it didn't give away far more money in 2008. Those tax returns are due next week, and Whitman aides Friday would not comment on what they will show."

"aides... would not comment". For those of you counting at home - that's about the 1,000th time we have seen that one. I predict an over/under of 3500.

"When you're a billionaire, you will do things with money that don't look so good when you're a political candidate," said John Pitney, a government and politics professor at Claremont McKenna College. "Even if they're totally ethical and lawful, they can still be embarrassing."

He added: "Anytime you mention large sums of money and the Cayman Islands in the same sentence, political eyebrows will go up."

Ethical? I could lose my securities license for having the Cayman Islands in my vocabulary.

"Tucker Bounds, Whitman's assistant campaign manager, was quick to note that many charitable foundations — even ttop-rated universities such as Stanford — invest in offshore hedge funds."

Leadership is being above reproach - not doing what everyone else does. Remember - Mark McGwire used substances that were legal while he was playing - but they were later banned... and he may never enter the Hall of Fame.

"Poizner, the state insurance commissioner who made a fortune as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, has no exotic investments in his charitable fund and has given thousands of dollars to schools with disadvantaged children..."

"Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University-Sacramento, calls such tax documents a window into the candidates' value systems. And she argues that if "there's a big shift in that value system" as someone moves from business person to politician, "then it's reasonable to question the shift."

Thank you Professor O'Connor - I am. $100K to an extremeist environmentalist organization coupled with Whitman's Macaca moment has me wondering if she is to the left of Jerry Brown on the environment.

It sounds like Meg needs to Meet Meg.

"In the case of Whitman and Poizner, exposing the details of the charitable trust documents will probably lead to calls to release their personal tax returns."

"It's something worth considering," Bounds said. Poizner spokesman Jarrod Agen said, "We'd be open to it."

"But it's the $100,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund's Center for California Rivers and Deltas that likely will raise the most eyebrows. That's because one of the first public positions Whitman took as a candidate was in direct contradiction to EDF's efforts to save the delta smelt and other endangered fish. In June, she called for increasing pumping from the environmentally fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to help drought-stricken farmers in the Central Valley. Bounds denied that the contribution to the Environmental Defense Fund was inconsistent with her water or environmental policy. "Meg has been the only candidate consistently on the side of jobs, people and common-sense resource policies," he said."

She is a Huge Fan of H1-B Visas and Van Jones. (Who she met on a Cruise to Alaska to discuss climate change.) If that is job development - then I must have eaten a special Brownie with my lunch.

"The foundation's tax returns also show $3 million invested in Cayman Island hedge funds and $1 million in another fund in Ireland."

"If I were her investment adviser, I would have told her to avoid the offshore investment until she had figured out her political future," said Morris, the accountant. At the same time, he said, observers shouldn't be too quick "to make the leap from international investments to clandestine international activities."

"The Caymans have been a target of politicians in recent years. U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, recently introduced legislation seeking to rein in tax shelters in places such as the Caymans."

Here's the problem - this hedge-fund business when combined with her $1.4 Million profit from Stock Spinning, dumping $35 Million of EBay Stock before quitting (and EBay's shareprice is a fraction now of what it was then) and now the revelation that her foundation is sheltering money in the Caymans continues a disturbing pattern.

Here's Problem number two - Whitman's stated stances on Environmental-Related Policy are scary enough. But when you add her admiration for Van Jones, her choice of vacations and a check to an Environmental Foundation that is larger than my Annual Salary - it is another disturbing Pattern.

The same people that brought Dede Scozzafava to NY-23 (who endorsed the Dem after Republicans rejected her) are promoting Meg Whitman. It is the third disturbing pattern in this post.

Meg Whitman not ready for Prime-Time - the Governor's office is no place for self-discovery.