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Democrats in background of 3 GOP governor candidates
October 26th, 2009, 11:35 am · 13 Comments · posted by Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter
All three top Republican candidates for governor have played on the other side of the aisle, according to this article by Jack Chang in today’s Sacramento Bee.
Meg Whitman gave $4,000 to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in November 2003, and an additional $4,000 to Boxer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Chang writes. In a “Technology Leaders for Boxer” letter, she wrote, “Barbara Boxer is a courageous leader and friend of California’s technology.”
Additionally, Whitman senior advisor Henry Gomez is a registered Democrat who wrote checks to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
Steve Poizner has told me and other reporters that checks to Al Gore’s presidential campaign and for his subsequent legal efforts to win the election were written on behalf of his wife, a Democrat.
However, Chang’s article reads:
“While defending him from Democratic criticisms of being too conservative, Poizner spokeswoman Jennifer Kerns, ‘pointed to Poizner’s $10,000 donation to the Democatic National Committee in 2000 and $1,000 to Democrat Al Gore in 2000,’ according to a Sept. 17, 2004, article in the Daily News of Palo Alto.”
Tom Campbell, who was actually registered as a Democrat in the early 1970s, comes across as the straightest talker on the issue of crossing the aisle. He’s said that he became a Republican while studying with free-market champion Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago in the 1970s.
While working in the Reagan Administration, he touted his bipartisan approach. He served as director of the Bureau of Competition, at the Federal Trade Commission from 1981 to 1983.
“It’s one thing if you admit, ‘I’ll try to be bipartisan,’ but (Whitman and Poizner) are trying to claim, ‘I’m more Republican than you,’” Campbell spokesman Jamie Fisfis told Chang.
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DENA BUNIS, Washington bureau chief, 202-628-6381 or dbunis@ocregister.com
BRIAN JOSEPH, Sacramento correspondent, 916-449-6046 or bjoseph@ocregister.com
JENNIFER MUIR, County government reporter, 714-796-7813 or jmuir@ocregister.com
JOEL WALSH, Washington bureau intern, 202-628-6381 or jwalsh@ocregister.com
MARTIN WISCKOL, Politics reporter, 714-285-2867 or mwisckol@ocregister.com twitter.com/MartinWisckol
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There are no conservative Republicans left in California - they have all left the state because of over taxing and the illegal Mexican voting blocks which dominate liberal Calif. politics - why do you think the state is completely bankrupt and over $73 billion in real debt.
EXACTLY - We need Independents in and ALL DEMS AND REPS VOTED OUT!!!
Don’t be a FOOL…
Democrats + Republican = Same party ..there is NO Differance..
and Never was…. They just want you to believe it…
Whatever…. these two are a JOKE….
scary, scary stuff. I guess Campbell is the only one that voters can really gain any sense of trust from out of this group.
We need a strong Libertarian candidate . . . one that stands a chance against the big two parties.
I’m so tired of the “same old same old” governing.
Yes, yes, yes, but WHO? There are LOTS of Libertarians in CA and if there is any state in the West where they could gain a foothold, it is HERE and NOW. So, why isn’t the Libertarian Party putting up a candidate?
Nothing says conservative like giving 8,000 dollars to Boxer. YEE GADS!!!!
Ex-Governor Moonbeam is looking better all the time.
If Republicans are smart, they will put Campbell on their ticket. No other Republican candidate even has a chance in this state. Campbell is the only Republican I will vote for out of the three.
Business leaders have paid protection to organized crime ever since the Mafia came to our shores. Donating money to any politico is no different; they just blow up your store in a different way.
The next governor will probably be a Dem, unless the R’s nominate more of a libertarian. BTW, Campbell won’t get elected.
I pressed “submit” too soon. I don’t see how libertarians could get behind Campbell. In 2004 he said he was for decriminalizing marijuana, for example, but now he is against that and thinks it should be illegal. Meh. Libertarian? I don’t think so.
It’s funny that you put Tom Campbell, who WAS once a Democrat nearly 40 YEARS AGO, into the same camp as those that recently actively contributed money to liberal Democrats. May I remind you that Ronald Reagan himself was once a Democrat? On fiscal policy, Tom Campbell is a proven pro-business, limited government, tax-cutting conservative. The National Taxpayers Union Foundation named Tom the most frugal member of the 102nd U.S. Congress. During his stint as a California state senator, the “California Journal” named Tom Campbell the Most Ethical State Senator (admittedly, a pretty low hurdle to clear) and the State Senate’s Best Problem-Solver.
Don’t assume that he’s a slash-and-burn cost cutter. On his campaign web site (www.campbell.org), he has a number of reasoned, detailed proposals and thoughtful arguments about where the state should be spending more money and where it must cut further.
I’m an unabashed fan of Tom Campbell since he served as my U.S. Congressman. Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner are both fine people and both would make superior governors over the recent crop. However, Tom Campbell is the most qualified for the job. He is fiscally conservative, socially moderate, has a proven track record successfully navigating government bureaucracy in both the state and federal government, and has a Ph.D. in economics to boot!
you make some very good points.