Former eBay CEO and current GOP candidate for California governor Meg Whitman will announce shortly that she's already raised more than $6.5 million for her campaign. More, her campaign claims, than any other Republican candidates in the race longer.
Not bad considering she's a political newcomer and been an announced candidate for only five months.
And 85% of that dough came from Californians, the campaign says. Whitman has also chipped in $4 million of her own for a total of about $10.5 million.
In the news release Whitman's campaign chair, former mayor, former senator, former gov Pete Wilson, says:
There is no more certain measure of enthusiasm for a candidate than heavy early campaign contributions. This unprecedented outpouring of support for Meg confirms the demand for a new style of leadership that creates jobs, cuts wasteful spending, and effectively manages state government. Meg's appeal reaches far beyond just traditional Republicans. She is attracting new donors and new voters to expand our party at a critical time. They are putting their money where their hearts and minds are.
Whitman knows a little about money, having turned eBay from a company with 30 employees and $4.7 million into one with 15,000 employees and $8 billion in revenues. In the no-longer-very-recent presidential campaign, she was natrional finance chair for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and then raised millions for Sen. John McCain. Both have since endorsed her; probably a coincidence.
The gubernatorial field is vying for the unlikely honor in this fiscally-pressurized deficit days of replacing Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose term limits run out in January 2011.
Whitman's primary primary opponent, Steve Poizner, the state insurance commissioner, reports raising north of $1.2 million with $250,000 coming the last two days of the quarterly reporting period. He's also given himself $4.2 million and reports $3.5 million still in hand.
"The Poizner campaign will be fully-funded," said spokesman Jarrod Agen, "and we will make Meg Whitman spend it all.'
On the Democrat side, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsomreported raising $1.6 million in the last six months, most of it online, which is way less than fellow Democrat, former gov, former mayor and current state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, who reports raising $7.3 million.
All great news for the state's TV stations next year.
-- Andrew Malcolm
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Antonio Villaraigosaof Los Angeles, mayor of the United States' second-most-populous city, has decided not to seek the Democratic Party nomination for governor of California in next year's election.
Villaraigosa's local popularity has slipped to 55% in recent months, following his divorce and revelations of his romantic affair with a second female television reporter. That's about the same tepid percentage as he got in the mayoral election against political nobodies. A recent Times poll indicated 47% did not want the mayor to run for governor.
The Democrat's decision would have added to a competitive, crowded field containing San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and expected to include state Atty Gen. Jerry Brown, seeking a replay of his Moonbeam gubernatorial days from a generation ago, as the former Oakland mayor continues his effort to be elected to evbery office in California. .
In a somewhat awkward and goofy setting this afternoon, CNN's Wolf Blitzer, while describing stories such as Iran's ongoing protests, kept teasing to the mayor's upcoming announcement on "The Situation Room" and flashing to the mayor sitting alone in front of an L.A. camera with one of this year's most forced grins.
The Democratic primary winner will likely face one of two Republicans. Businesswoman Meg Whitman, who lead EBay to such success, is already lining up numerous GOP endorsements across the state and from such national party luminaries as John McCain and Mitt Romney.
The other prominent GOP candidate is Steve Poizner, the state insurance commissioner and also wealthy, as is required in the Golden State. His supporters point out that he's collected endorsements from 70% of the state's minority Republican legislators, as well as numerous state chairs and local officials.
The winner will succeed Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, who ousted Democrat Gray Davis in a recall effort.
Villaraigosa, the former speaker of the California Assembly, said he felt compelled to stay and didn't want to walk away from the city's pressing issues. He was not asked about his romantic affairs but did cite his desire to spend time with his teenage daughter as she completes high school. We have the interview's full transcript below.
Well, at least these congressional hearings focus only on the major issues facing the troubled country.
California's Barbara Boxer was chairing a hearing of her Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, examining what in blazes is taking the Army Corps of Engineers so long to properly protect a Louisiana city that sits below sea level from the sea. Good luck with that still. Again.
Boxer was getting a little exasperated, head dramatically on hand and all. As the proper sign of military respect for a female, Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh was answering "Yes, ma'am" and "No, ma'am."
And finally, the ma'am had had enough. "Could you say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am'? It's just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title." No, really. Watch for yourself. She actually said that. A different attitude than on Memorial Day.
Truth be told, even on Capitol Hill, Walsh has taken a few years of service to his country to earn those general stars too. But Boxer did not deign to call him general. Nor did she bother with a please. Of course, the general complied with the Democrat's wishes immediately without complaint.
(UPDATE: 5:28 p.m. A Boxer aide sends word that she did refer to Walsh as general several times during the hearing, though not on this particular clip. The aide also said Boxer telephoned the general earlier today, "expressed their respect for each other" and look forward to working together in the future.)
Next year, Boxer is up for reelection back home. We'll see if Babs gets to keep that title.
“This just shows us what type of people represents us in Congress, Senate and perhaps even the White House. They have no respect for others unless they feel that they can get something in return. It is infuriating to hear of such things.”
Those are the words of Tim Gray, a Times reader who shared those views today with staff writer Jeff Gottlieb. What’s Gray so upset about? He’s writing about a California congresswoman who has let a home she owns in Sacramento become, by neighborhood consensus, an eyesore.
A little background: Gottlieb reported last August that the Code Enforcement Department in Sacramento declared a house owned by Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach) a “public nuisance.”
The place had fallen into disrepair — the grass was a few feet high — after Richardson, a Democratic state lawmaker from Long Beach, was elected to Congress in 2007 and set up a residence in Washington. At the time, Gottlieb reported:
Neighbors in the upper-middle-class neighborhood complain that the sprinklers are never turned on and the grass and plants are dead or dying. The gate is broken, and windows are covered with brown paper.
Well, as Gottlieb reports today, things aren’t much better, and neighbors are fuming. He describes how three neighbors — Carrie Thomsen, Janet Carlson and L. Kraft—responded to the conditions at the house:
Carrie Thomsen would walk across the street with her hose and water the yard. Janet Carlson sent her gardener to Richardson’s house once a month for six months to mow the lawn. She paid kids $20 during the fall to rake the leaves. They once peeked inside and saw a dead bird in the living room. Her husband turned on the sprinklers the last two summers, worried that dry weeds would turn into a fire hazard.
Things got so bad that in the fall of 2008 rats began breeding in Richardson’s backyard and soon moved into L. Kraft’s house next door. It took him two months to get rid of them. Richardson’s house, he said, “has become such a hideous place.”
Upset neighbors have even appealed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) for help.
Like Gray, reader Todd Lorber e-mailed Gottlieb with a comment: “I think the rats had moved in long before the neighbors realized it. Is it any wonder why the state and federal balance sheets are in such disrepair when you see how these people run their personal lives?”
And Phil Perry had a question: “Wonder what her Long Beach legislative district house looks like? Ah, the joy of gerrymandered districts....Recall the stories about her city-owned car and unpaid mechanic bills on her BMW car? The sad thing is, your story will not influence her actions one iota.”
Top photo: U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson's Sacramento house. Bottom photo: Brown paper covers windows at the house. Credit: Randi Lynn Beach/For The Times
The incumbent, Democrat Ellen Tauscher, has yet to resign from California's 10th congressional seat.
Nominated by President Obama to be undersecretary of State for arms control and international security, Tauscher is expected to leave Congress as soon as the Senate confirms her.
Meanwhile, so many political wannabes are eying the seat that it makes you wonder if every politician just wants to leave for Washington before California's financial crisis dooms the state to a backwater economy.
State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, a Democrat from Concord, has strong labor support and backing from Tauscher and Democrat George Miller in the reliably Democratic district. At first, he was considered the favorite, although Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, working on support from Emily's List, claimed to have a narrow lead.
Then California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi decided not to run for governor but to seek Tauscher's congressional seat instead, presaging a fight among big names.
Amid the heavyweights, a new entry into the race is now stirring notice.
Anthony Woods, a West Point graduate who was awarded the Bronze Star for his leadership in Iraq in 2003, is a gay African American who left the military rather than continue lying about his sexual orientation under the Pentagon's “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The decision cost him a court martial and a $35,000 price tag to repay the Army for his education.
"It's a small price to pay for being honest," he said.
Ironically, Tauscher has been one of the leaders trying to overturn the Clinton-era policy that allowed gays to serve in the military as long as they stayed in the closet about their sexual orientation.
“I
actually haven’t had a chance to meet her,” Woods told the Hill, “but when I do, I owe her a big
thank-you for her stance ... and her leadership, specifically on the
issue of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ ”
Hoping to teach economics at West Point, Woods reflected during his time at the Kennedy School that he was "not about to go back to an
environment where I have to lie to my commanders, to my soldiers and my
friends about who I am and what I’m doing." Now, he's decided to run for Congress.
Born at Travis Air Force Base, Woods is an only child whose mother's "lively" political opinion informed his childhood. One early political memory: sticking a Mike Dukakis for President poster in his bedroom as an 8-year-old.
“I had to
experience what it’s like to have my dreams and my career ripped away
from me because of my orientation,” he said. “I have suffered as a result of bad
policy situations, and I know firsthand what it’s like to have
something that’s important to you taken away, and I’m going to fight
vigorously for my district as well as the various communities that I am
a part of.”
(UPDATE: This item has been updated with additional reactions since its original posting.)
Speaking of courts,as you may have heard, California's top court in a lopsided 6-1 vote upheld Proposition 8's passage, effectively banning same-sex marriage.
The court's eagerly anticipated decision set off demonstrations in San Francisco, ignited a ton of public reaction and in California's ongoing experiment with direct democracy, could set off yet another proposition to overturn the initial proposition.
Prop. 8 was passed by voter initiative 52% 18 months ago but seemingly overturned by the appeals court last summer. Today's Supreme Court ruling unanimously said the 18,000 same-sex marriages that occurred in the interim remain valid.
“While I believe that one day either the people or courts will recognize gay marriage, as governor of California I will uphold the decision of the California Supreme Court. Regarding the 18,000 marriages that took place prior to Proposition 8’s passage, the court made the right decision in keeping them intact. I also want to encourage all those responding to today’s court decision to do so peacefully and lawfully.”
Rick Jacobs, chairman of the Courage Campaign: "I am disappointed the Court ruled to deny marriage equality to Californians. These are fundamental constitutional rights that cannot be ...
Ahh, Fridays and once again time to cap another confusing political week with questions nobody knew needed asking:
Polls to Please
Republicans are making a strong political comeback in the minds of many Americans.
After losing two straight national elections, control of both houses of Congress and the large white house with the new dog down the street with no indoor bushes anymore, the exact same percentage of Americans -- 32% -- consider themselves Republicans as Democrats.
According to a new Gallup Poll, if you include leaners, party affiliation preferences are still tied -- at 45%. Amazing the GOP is holding steady -- in fact, growing -- in popularity despite the Democratic president's high approval rating.
This is because of a 5 percentage point surge by GOP followers just since last month, and a 4 percentage point plunge by Democrats, who enjoyed a double-digit lead a year ago and still seem unaware of their long slide.
Boy oh boy, did California voters show bickering state officials a thing or two with their slam-dunk downing of five out of six financial propositions in Tuesday's voting. As The Ticket reported then, they didn't just say No; they said No way!
In rapid response, first thing Wednesday something called the California Citizens Compensation Commission announced on a 5-1 vote that it had slashed the salaries of the governor, attorney general, controller, all legislators and other top elected state officials by 18%.
That's nearly 20%! Whacked. Because in a democracy, top elected officials should share the hard times and pay a price too.
This was immediately trumpeted around the world as evidence of prompt crisis action by a state heeding the verdict of voters and facing what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says are massive cuts to cover a $21.3-billion budget deficit.
The governor, who loses nothing because he's declined to accept any salary since taking office, immediately hailed those cuts:
The California Citizens Compensation Commission took the right action today in voting to reduce the salaries of the state’s elected officials by 18%.
The people of California have spoken loud and clear: they want the state to live within its means and do not want any more government waste or pay raises for California’s elected officials.
I completely agree and that is why I have cut back in my own office and ordered layoffs of state employees to save money. The state’s elected officials need to follow suit and cut back just as California families and businesses have in this tough economy.
The governor also listed reductions he's already made in his own office, including slashing staff by 27 slots to 147 with more to come and reducing hours and pay for all employees by 9.3%.
Schwarzenegger and other top officials began immediate meetings on billions in cuts as others across the Golden State began publicly wringing their hands over what was coming.
But the concrete news of the day was the urgent 18% pay slashes by the compensation commission. Now, here's the really small print contained in that well-publicized crisis announcement:
The pay cuts for officials to share the hard times with voters don't take effect for seven months. Not until 2010.
Commission members said their lawyer said the reductions would be impossible to implement during this calendar year. That's how serious and urgent this state budget crunch really is.
Not that many came out to vote in local races and on six statewide propositions, as we reported earlier Tuesday. But the ones who did were resoundingly defeating the governor's budget proposals, as opinion polls had predicted.
Which is probably why the Budgetnator was far away in Washington during the day, instead of being photographed voting locally and then sitting on a hotel room couch watching results roll in during a Sacramento photo op.
Of the day's six fiscal propositions -- the rainy day fund, education funding, lottery modernization, children's services funding and temporary reallocation of mental health funding -- all went down -- and hard. The results were roughly 60-40 against.
The only proposition to sail through was one preventing pay increases to top elected state officials during years of budget deficits. That one was being approved about 76-23. Take that! (That doesn't affect Arnold, of course, because he's never taken a state salary.)
So now comes all the public talking and cutting and the hard realities. Two hours after the polls closed, a Schwarzenegger statement said he accepted the results, while warning now of a deficit north of $21 billion.
"Tonight," the governor said, "we have heard from the voters and I respect the will of the people who are frustrated with the dysfunction in our budget system." He called on members of both parties to work together to "prevent a fiscal disaster." And scheduled a budget meeting with legislative leaders for Wednesday afternoon on his return from Washington.
Although the entire country shares the difficult economic times, all of this continuing political turmoil over a budget is, for now, confined to the once-rich, presently-populous Golden State. And numerous Americans are sure to gloat over the glamorous state's predicament.
However, if as often seems to happen in American political trends, California is again coming first in this resistance to more taxes, threats and budget deficit games, then next year's midterm national elections, historically bad news for the party controlling the White House anyway, might mean some hard slogging for congressional Democrats who're so quickly and overwhelmingly approving the current deficit spending.
Californians, apparently unmoved by politicians' pleas for help with the state's looming budget spending deficit, wandered to the polls today in puny numbers.
Pretend polls in the nation's most populous state predicted the budget propositions so ardently argued by none other than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others, would flop. Actually, as we noted here earlier, even the governor was out of state today, mingling with the presidential White House crowd in Washington.
By late morning some polling places were showing a whopping 4% of eligible voters having shown up. If political tradition holds true, it's the opponents who more reliably show up to cast their ballots.
"Our Legislature just flat out spends too much money," 71-year-old Doug White told The Times' Kimi Yoshino and Jessica Garrison in Orange County, "and it's about time they quit. They spend money faster than we can give it to them." You may have guessed from such words that he and wife Judy voted no.
Polls close at 8 p.m. Pacific (11 p.m. Eastern, 3 a.m. GMT).
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Our Bloggers
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the Countdown to Crawford blog here at The Times.
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