Whitman defends campaign spending

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A day after disclosure reports showed Meg Whitman was spending more per day by early summer than rival Jerry Brown had spent all year, the Republican gubernatorial nominee made no apologies for her spending, saying her personal fortune would give her independence in the governor’s office. ‘I will continue to invest in the campaign,’ Whitman said, adding that she would continue to raise money from others as well.

The comment came after a campaign event in Folsom, where Whitman met with executives of SynapSense, a tech company, and promoted her plan to create jobs. The Republican has spent nearly $100 million on the governor’s race.

Speaking to reporters, Whitman painted Brown as a pawn of organized labor, which has contributed to his campaign and organized independent groups to attack Whitman. ‘The unions are funding his entire campaign,’ she said. ‘What you have to say is he is being bought and paid for by the unions, which is not in the best interests of Californians.’

Brown campaign spokesman Sterling Clifford fired back. ‘There is one candidate in this race who has actually cut a budget, one candidate in this race who has vetoed pay raises for state employees and one candidate who oversaw the creation of 1.9 million jobs in California -- Jerry Brown,’ he said. ‘Meg Whitman has spent $100 million and wants to grow the deficit by $5 billion with tax cuts for the rich.’

After the event, Whitman said she was pleased to be running even with Brown in the polls. ‘I am very pleased with where we are,’ she said. ‘I’ve been at this for 18 months, I’m a newcomer to politics and I’m dead even with a guy who has the biggest brand name in California politics, in a state where Republicans are outnumbered by Democrats by 2 million votes. ... There’s lots of heavy lifting ahead but I feel good about where we are.’

-- Michael J. Mishak in Folsom