How Much Does It Cost To Buy The California Governors Election?

budnonymous · Top Poster

eBay's Meg Whitman to Announce Governor Run Today

budnonymous · Top Poster

You can bet this person is going to be ruthlessly hounded.
I see a few websites with derogatory sounding titles/names have been purchased and should be coming online with salacious content soon now, such as;

http://megwhitmanscrustygrannypanties.com/

http://megwhitmanscrustygrannypanties.org

You can also be very sure a lot of ebay dirty laundry will be coming to light.

mu-ahahahahahhahahahahahahahaaaaaa!

(or is that mooooo-aaaahhhhh?)

budnonymous · Top Poster

April 23, 2009, 6:20 pm

Undoing Meg Whitmans eBay

By Saul Hansell

Before voting for Meg Whitman for governor, California residents would do well to consider what has been happening at eBay since she stepped down as chief executive. John Donahoe, her successor, has pretty much disassembled all of her major strategic moves.

continues with comments area...

budnonymous · Top Poster

For anyone interested, you can get your "Neg Meg" and/or "Neg Meg 2010" apparel here:

http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/Californiacool

budnonymous · Top Poster

From the Department of Oh No, She Didn't: Whitman Defends eBay's Skype Debacle

budnonymous · Top Poster

Two excellent Neg Meg Whitman sites:

This one is verrrry extensive.
NegMeg

This one allows for "guest bloggers" and also has a forum:
negmeg2010.com

budnonymous · Top Poster

Tragi-comedy at it's FINEst

Jerry Brown on Meg Whitman's "paid takeover" of the airwaves -- and doing his own op research in CA gov's race

snippets:

"*On billionaire former eBay CEO Meg Whitman's statements that spending could top $150 million: "That means she can saturate televison for the next 10 months, every single day. Not only that, she can (fill) the mailboxes of who she wants to talk to...for "(State Insurance Commissioner Steve) Poizner, or whoever runs for the Democratic nomination, which certainly might be me, we're going to have our work cut out for us...Because this is going to be the biggest onslaught and paid takeover of the airwaves of America ever seen before, outside of a presidential election."

"And Whitman...her whole theory is that she can buy the mind of California, and whoever fights her will be so small, compared to the amount of money that she's gathered up on Wall Street, that she will pulverize any opposition through the paid takeover of the airwaves of California,'' he said. "That's the real challenge that any candidate has to face."

But, he said, "there's a lot of things to counteract that money, and you'll probably hear about them in the months to come.""

muahaaaahaaaaaa!

budnonymous · Top Poster

How Much Does It Cost To Buy The California Governors Election?

Please have your travel air sickness bag(s) handy before viewing the feature video.

Included:
Special "Vlad-douche" (roflmao) episode of some old defunct ebay radio show from 2007

budnonymous · Top Poster

Queen Meg of California

by Paul Jacob

Meg Whitman is running for the California governorship. Obviously, Whitman very much wants Californians to cast a vote for her this year. And then, apparently, she wants to stop Californians from casting a vote on much of anything else in the future.

Repeatedly, the billionaire former CEO of eBay has attacked California's ballot initiative and referendum process. Last May, right after California voters clobbered a number of issues referred to the ballot by legislators, measures that would have raised taxes and played three card monte with parts of state spending, Whitman told an audience, "In many ways, the proposition process has worn out its usefulness."

Last week, she told the gang on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program:

I mean, the referendum process, you know, dates back to 1918, I think. And it has its useful purpose, but there's no question we have too many referendums on the ballot and too much spending has been, ah, you know, propositioned into process. So, I think you got to have a different approach, no question about it.

Some might argue that Whitman simply isn't a fan of voting at all, period, since she didn't vote for 28 years until she was 46 years old, and then only voted sporadically. But she has repeatedly apologized for her serial omissions, or at least repeated the same apology over and over again, refusing to elaborate. (Her latecomer status as a voter echoes in her latecomer status as a party member: She waited to register as a Republican until 2007.)

Frankly, I can better understand someone being too busy or even uninterested in voting than someone wishing to actually remove the other voters from the process of government in whole or part.

What is she against, exactly? Golden State citizens being permitted to propose laws or constitutional amendments or to force a referendum vote on acts of the state's majority Democrat legislature. Why? Well, she predicates her opposition on the propensity of voters to spend money via the ballot box.

Perhaps not coincidentally, that's the charge hurled forth again and again by California's elite, from politicians to pundits to judges. The only problem is that the charge is false.

Oh, sure, people have occasionally voted to spend tax money or protect education funding. But this misses the forest for the scrub brush.

As three analysts with the Reason Foundation wrote last year in the Wall Street Journal: "Whatever the wisdom of ballot initiatives . . . they are not the root cause of California's fiscal disaster. That cause is the government's spending addiction. From 1990 to 2008, California's revenues increased 167%, but total spending soared 181%."

Bob Stern, president of the Los Angeles-based Center for Governmental Studies, recently told legislators on the select committees on Improving State Government, "Most of the ballot-box budgeting has come from you." The Center found that 84 percent of ballot measures that required additional state spending between 1988 and 2009 were put forward by legislators, not through citizen initiatives.

Yet, we certainly don't hear Meg Whitman suggesting the legislature has "worn out its usefulness."

Continued...

budnonymous · Top Poster

GOP's Whitman disavows 'proud racist' councilman

Saturday, January 30, 2010

01-30) 10:02 PST Sacramento, Calif. (AP) --

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman announced Saturday she was severing ties with an elected official who described himself as a "proud racist."

At a recent Tea Party-style rally in Southern California, Kellar blamed illegal immigrants for harming the economy. Located north of Los Angeles, Santa Clarita has seen a large influx of Hispanic immigrants.

Kellar recalled that Theodore Roosevelt once said the United States had room for only one flag and for one language English. He said he mentioned the former president's comment at a City Council meeting several years ago.

"The only thing I heard back from a couple of people was, 'Bob, you sound like a racist,'" Kellar told the rally. "I said, 'That's good. If that's what you think I am because I happen to believe in America, then I'm a proud racist. You're darn right I am.'"

His videotaped remarks were posted on YouTube and caused an uproar.

Kellar said afterward that his comments were taken out of context but he has no regrets over the remark

continues...

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Meg Whitman: I'm A Huge Fan Of Van Jones

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Poizner claims political extortion by gubernatorial rival Whitman

By Torey Van Oot
and Steve Wiegand tvanoot@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee

Published: Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1A

The so-far snooze-inducing GOP gubernatorial primary race heated up Monday, with charges of political extortion leveled at one candidate and questions of mental stability raised about the other.

In what was touted as a "major announcement," Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner leveled charges that a top adviser to rival Meg Whitman's campaign attempted to bully him out of the two-way race by issuing "crystal-clear" threats.

Poizner called on state and federal law enforcement officials to investigate what he characterized as potentially criminal intimidation tactics.

"This is not an attempt to be hardball and to be aggressive, but this is an attempt to effectively manipulate the election process, the integrity of the election process, by issuing these threats behind the scenes to get me not to run," Poizner said.

The campaign cited an e-mail in which Whitman adviser Mike Murphy asked a Poizner campaign consultant if there is any chance Poizner will reconsider his run.

The e-mail, provided by the campaign to reporters and in a letter to law enforcement officials, says the Whitman camp can spend $40 million "tearing up Steve if we must" and suggests that if Poizner were to drop out, Republicans could "unite the entire party" behind him for a 2012 Senate bid.

"I hate the idea of us each spending $20 million beating on the other in the primary, only to have a damaged nominee," Murphy wrote.

In the letter to law enforcement officials, Poizner also details several other claims, including that Murphy told a senior adviser that the campaign would "put (Poizner) through the wood chipper" if he did not drop out of the race.

Murphy acknowledged in a statement that he had spoken to Poizner consultants about the viability of the insurance commissioner's gubernatorial bid, but characterized the accusations that his actions were illegal as "ridiculous."

"(A)ll I can say is that I'm starting to worry about the Commissioner's mental condition," Murphy said in a statement.

Murphy said many Republicans are urging Poizner to get out, saying the commissioner's campaign "is becoming little more than a stalking horse for Jerry Brown and the Democrats, especially since Commissioner Poizner has been loudly threatening to run a multimillion-dollar negative campaign against Meg Whitman for months."

Many observers Monday questioned whether Murphy's comments amounted to a threat or quid pro quo that would constitute an election-code violation.

Donald Heller, a former federal prosecutor who is now a prominent criminal defense attorney, said prosecutors are generally reluctant to get involved in charges arising in political campaigns, although "this sounds like it went a little over the line."

Notwithstanding the legal questions, Heller said, Murphy's comments do sound like a violation of common sense.

"Usually that sort of thing occurs in a one-on-one conversation," Heller said. "It takes a true imbecile to put it in writing."

More pressing for Poizner, who trails Whitman badly in most polls and in campaign fundraising, is how the issue plays out in the court of voter opinion.

"If Poizner is expecting the FBI to investigate, he's probably going to be disappointed, but if this was his campaign's way of trying to paint Whitman as the establishment candidate, then maybe it has some strategic value," said Dan Schnur, a veteran GOP strategist and director of USC's Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics.

Republican consultant Ray McNally, who works for former GOP gubernatorial candidate-turned-U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell, said Poizner didn't exactly come across as a tough-as-nails leader.

"It was a mouse-like stunt," McNally said, "that makes him look weak and desperate."

The exchange was the latest sign that the battle for the June primary still four months away has kicked into full gear.

Democrats observing the infighting, including consultant Steve Maviglio, said a knockdown GOP primary battle would benefit Attorney General Jerry Brown, who is widely expected to be the sole Democrat entering the race.

"A Republican family feud is always good news for Democrats who don't have a primary," Maviglio said. "The big winner today is Jerry Brown."

Schnur, however, said a hard-fought primary could help prepare either GOP candidate for the general election.

"Barack Obama will tell you that sometimes getting roughed up in the primary is a good way to prepare for the general election," he said.

-- Edited by budnonymous on Wednesday 3rd of February 2010 06:13:18 AM

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Meg Whitman Rarely Voted (And Can't Explain Why)

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Free Meg Whitman: Meg (sorta) answers our ONE question -- and then takes off (VIDEO)

As we wait..and wait... and wait... for a chance to interview GOP guv candidate Meg Whitman for longer than the average luge run, it has come to this: Comrade Marinucci and I have become Meg Whitman Stalkerazzi.

Happened Tuesday night at Whitman's appearance at the Commonwealth Club in lovely Lafayette, where if we gave you a dollar for every person of color in the audience, you'd have to borrow a couple of bucks to buy a sandwich at the Quiznos down the street.

Frustrated upon learning that Meg had subjected herself to 10 minutes of grueling one-on-one questioning from a couple of the Bay Area TV stations AND an Associated Press reporter (under the moniker of being an "AP TV" reporter), we decided upon a plan after the CC event ended:

We'd bum rush the stage. In the name of print journalism.

Camp Whitman campaign claims to have done 170 interviews over the past year (we're still waiting on seeing the list), but few contain more than a handful of questions. (The reluctance to cut her loose is baffling because Whitman seemed smart, very assured and well-prepared Tuesday -- she's no deer in the headlights.)

Elbowing our way through the well wishers, Comrade M and I -- and Jack Chang from the Sac Bee -- shouted questions and poked our digital recorders and FlipVideo cameras at her. She ignored us, and one overly officious young woman kept trying to push us back. "This is the COMMONWEALTH CLUB." Uh, yeah. But since the CC moderator dude didn't ask a folo-up question and only one that vaguely challenged Whitman, we felt obliged to put ask her something without first applying oil to our hands.

Finally, Team Whitman relented and said Meg would answer ONE question -- a response to the independent expenditures that began firing on her Tuesday. (An easy one.) But that's it -- ONLY ONE question. And then she was hustled off.

Here is the result of when we tried to Talk to Meg and wound up becoming Media Interviews No. 171, 172 and 173.(Be sure to catch the look on Comrade Marinucci's face at the end of this clip.)

Watch the video (43 seconds long)

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Meg Whitman Splits Hairs on eBay Layoff Claim

Did agree to "large-scale layoffs" while on eBay's board of directors

By JACKSON WEST

Updated 5:47 PM PST, Wed, Feb 17, 2010

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman appeared at a Commonwealth Club event in Lafayette, Calif., on Tuesday, but didn't stick around to answer many questions from reporters -- well, print reporters anyway.

Newspaper hounds had to "bum rush the stage" in order to get a word in edgewise with the Republican candidate for governor, after which Whitman was quickly whisked away, leaving veteran San Francisco Chronicle reporter Carla Marinucci shaking her head in frustration.

Whitman did, however, answer questions before the speech with television reporters -- part of the campaign's strategy, according to campaign communication director Tucker Bounds.

"California voters watch their local TV news a lot more than they read their local newspaper," Bounds told the San Jose Mercury News.

When asked by Oakland TV station KTVU about accusations from independent expenditure committee Level the Playing Field 2010 that Whitman received millions at eBay while laying off workers, Whitman responded that "There were some individuals who didn't meet our standards and they had to be let go, there were no large-scale layoffs."

It's true that there were regular, relatively small batches of layoffs at eBay during the dot-bomb when Whitman was CEO.

However, in 2008 the company laid off 10 percent of its employees. And though no longer acting as CEO, Whitman was on the board and still receiving paychecks. (The same board that provided lavish "golden parachutes" for executives while approving the layoffs.)

And, ironically enough, that same 10 percent number has been used by Whitman to describe how many state jobs she plans to eliminate if she becomes governor.

Local newspapers might get more chances to ask Whitman questions, as an email from the campaign says she'll be hitting the trail around California starting today in Los Angeles.

Jackson West would also like to remind folks that Whitman boosted revenue at eBay by regularly increasing transaction fees -- almost like taxes! -- for small businesses selling on the site.

budnonymous · Top Poster

Whitman refuses to commit to releasing tax returns

February 23, 2010 | 7:42 pm

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman demurred Tuesday when asked if she would release her tax returns, as Democrat-backed groups have been demanding that the billionaire former EBay chief do in recent days.

"We will obviously comport with all the filing requirements for the state of California when you run for governor, and I may release my tax returns," Whitman said in an interview at the Luxe Hotel in Bel Air. "We'll see. But I'll do it on my own timetable and not in response to the unions that are fronting for Jerry Brown."

State campaign rules require candidates to disclose certain general financial interests prior to elections, but tax returns are not among them. Still, many wealthy candidates, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Controller Steve Westly, released their returns in past races.

The members of Level the Playing Field 2010, a campaign committee of Democrats supporting the gubernatorial candidacy of Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, are calling on Whitman to release her returns and are seizing upon the words of Whitmans campaign chairman, former Gov. Pete Wilson. In many campaigns, Wilson called on his opponents to release their returns.

In a letter Sunday to Wilson, the group said, "to avoid any appearance of hypocrisy, we call on you to immediately oversee the release of Whitman's tax returns" or resign as her campaign chairman.

Tax returns are apparently not the only thing that Whitman and Wilson disagree on. She said she would have voted against Proposition 187, the ballot measure Wilson embraced that would have prevented illegal immigrants from receiving certain state services such as healthcare. Voters approved the 1994 measure, but the courts declared it unconstitutional. Wilson and the Republican Partys embrace of the measure is cited by many pundits for the partys decline among Latino voters.

"I know that 187 was an issue and I have said actually that I would not have voted for 187," Whitman said. "And you know, you never agree with everyone on every issue. Pete has been a remarkable help to my campaign. I think he was a terrific governor. I want Latinos to look at my whole record, around job creation, around education as a priority. And I'm reaching out to Latinos, I want Latinos to be part of this campaign and I think I will stand on my own on that."

Whitman, who has pledged not to raise taxes, also said she would not allow the types of tax increases that occurred under Wilson.

"Pete Wilson, I think, was one of the greatest governors of California and I'm not going to second-guess what he did," she said. "What I will tell you is that under a Whitman administration, were not going to raise taxes."

-- Seema Mehta

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Gubernatorial race is heavy on smoke and mirrors

By George Skelton
Capitol Journal
February 25, 2010

From Sacramento

What's worse? Political ads that ignore facts or ads that ignore substance?

Distortion or demagoguery? Not that an ad can't be both.

The question comes to mind as broadcast ads fly in the California gubernatorial race, more than three months before the June 8 state primary and a political eon before the Nov. 2 runoff.

Republican front-runner Meg Whitman, at least, is feinting toward substance, even if avoiding tricky details. The rap on her is that she stretches the truth.

That's not uncommon among political candidates. But it doesn't mean they shouldn't be called on it, especially in Whitman's case. Practically all we know about her thoughts for governing this broken state is what we hear or see in her ads. For months, she has ducked California reporters and, until very recently, spoken only to friendly, handpicked audiences, if at all.

But the billionaire former EBay chief has unlimited millions to spend on TV and radio spots.

The presumed Democratic candidate, Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, won't be able to raise nearly enough money to match either Whitman or the GOP dark horse, multimillionaire state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

Fortunately for Brown, California law -- already in place before a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision -- allows for creation of "independent expenditure committees" that can raise unlimited sums of money to spend on behalf of a candidate. The only caveat is that the independent campaign can't be coordinated with the candidate.

Enter an independent committee calling itself Level the Playing Field 2010. Funded largely by rich liberals and labor unions, and staffed by Democratic consultants, its goal is to help Brown by beating up on Whitman.

Its first attack is straight out of a worn page of the political consultants' basic playbook: Demand that any rich candidate release her income tax returns.

"What's Meg Whitman trying to hide?" the radio ad intones.

"It hits the bulls eye," says Democratic strategist Chris Lehane, one of the committee's advisors.

"It raises questions about decisions she made in the private sector and her character. This is a unique election. Here's someone who made a jillion dollars in the private sector and is spending it trying to be elected governor, but is not engaging in the democratic process."

Let's be honest: This really is about class warfare, pitting the day-to-day strugglers against the super wealthy. It's old-fashioned populism. It's also about knocking the opponent around and hopefully off balance.

"I may release my tax returns," Whitman told Times reporter Seema Mehta on Tuesday. "But I'll do it on my own timetable."

If she does release them, that's too bad.

They're really nobody's business except the tax collectors' -- the Internal Revenue Service or the state Franchise Tax Board. Or a lender or a court.

It shouldn't be water cooler trivia for the needlessly nosy.

The public can learn most of what it needs to about a candidate's investments and potential conflicts from Statements of Economic Interest that the state requires.

Certainly these documents could require more details, and should...."

read more:

budnonymous · Top Poster

Democratic group calls for details of Whitman's eBay jet use

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From www.negmeg2010.com

Navigating Meg Whitmans eBay Shark Filled Waters

Listen in to this podcast by Lisa Bogg, Senior security editor for www.eweek.com along with Jeannie Livingston, php programmer from www.dotyou.com, as they discuss Meg Whitmans eBay hackers and how they are scamming eBays customers left and right.

It is interesting that Meg Whitman could not stop one Rogue Romanian Hacker that taunted her left and right, and mad a total mess of HER Website! Lie and Deny.. Its the eBay Meg Whitman Way.. And to think She has the Ballz to think she can run California Government! LOL!

Michael Donahugh About Meg Whitmans Scammer Problems

Its Mid 2007, and Meg Whitman has a serious Hacker / Scammer problem...

This one ^ is the hilarious "Vlad-douche" episode I think.

budnonymous · Top Poster

Meg Whitman Election Ad Fail!

budnonymous · Top Poster

All aboard the ebay-paypal cult express, with your conductor;
Meg "A monkey could drive this train" Whitman.

Meg Whitman's Campaign Runs Off the Rails in Oakland

Candidate ducks press, then calls to apologize

By JACKSON WEST

Updated 2:15 PM PST, Wed, Mar 10, 2010

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman's campaign for governor of California jumped the tracks at the Union Pacific terminal in Oakland yesterday, when the campaign invited reporters to the event and then did its best not to let them anywhere near the candidate.

Whitman was taken on a tour of the railyard, but the assembled media was placed in a "holding pen," with the campaign saying it was a decision by Union Pacific and Union Pacific saying it was a decision made by the campaign.

Then, when Whitman did sit down to speak with reporters, she made her comments praising the industrious freight operation but refused to answer questions from the invited press, who were then forced from the room, with the help of security guards, by campaign spokesperson Sarah Pompei.

Later, Whitman personally called television reporters to apologize.

"We did not expect nearly as much press to show up who did, so it was a last minute sort of change of plans," , she told KTVU's Randy Shandobil. "It just didn't work out the way I had hoped it would work out."

After giving an apology to Hank Plante of KPIX, anchor Dana King mused, "You'd like to think the candidate running for office is the one in charge."

Zing!

The incident didn't just receive local attention, however. The national press picked up on the story, with the Washington Post calling the video reports "b-r-u-t-a-l."

All of which has left her Republican primary opponent Steve Poizner cackling with glee, or at least producing a highlight reel of Whitman ducking questions and interviews from television, radio and print reporters.

The Whitman campaign did release a new attack ad against Poizner, so there's that.

-- Edited by budnonymous on Wednesday 10th of March 2010 07:11:35 PM

budnonymous · Top Poster

California governor's race to set spending record

(Reuters) - The California governor's race is on track to be the most expensive nonpresidential election in U.S. history, sparking a debate over money and influence that could become the campaign's defining issue.

Barack Obama

Republican front-runner Meg Whitman, the billionaire former CEO of online auction house eBay Inc, will likely face off in November against Democrat Jerry Brown, a former governor and career politician backed by labor unions with many millions of dollars in potential contributions at their disposal.

The race so far pales in comparison to the $1 billion 2008 presidential contest. But Whitman has said she is prepared to spend $150 million, enough to top the $148 million spent eight years ago in the New York gubernatorial election won by incumbent Republican George Pataki.

The National Institute on Money in State Politics ranks the 2002 New York race as the most expensive state-level U.S. contest yet, and no congressional campaign comes close.

Whitman's benchmark would also eclipse billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2009 $108 million self-funded campaign.

"This is going to be a record. There is no question about that," said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, who sees voters' anti-incumbent sentiment in California playing out against a historical state bias against wealthy candidates. The current governor, Republican Arnold Schwarzenneger, is barred by term limits from re-election.

Whitman has already poured $39 million of her own funds into her campaign, while state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, her rival for the Republican nomination, has sunk $19 million of his personal wealth into the race.

continues...

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Meg Whitman Avatar Video

budnonymous · Top Poster

Meg Whitman's Cutting Edge Interactive Campaign Ad

I wonder whether a big fat check (or eb-pp gift certificate perhaps) will be included with each of those bumper stickers?

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Meg Whitman running out of campaign cash

Ken McLaughlin
kmclaughlin@mercurynews.com
Posted: 03/29/2010 07:16:16 PM PDT
Updated: 03/29/2010 10:07:11 PM PDT

If Meg Whitman's gubernatorial campaign keeps burning greenbacks at the rate it has since the first of the year, her war chest will be empty shortly after noon on Thursday, the first of April.

No April Fools.

So political speculation on Monday centered on when the billionaire would write her next big check and just how huge it will be.

Whitman has already donated $39 million to her campaign a California political record for self-funding. But a radio and TV ad campaign that picked up steam in February led to her spending $27.2 million in the first 11 weeks of the year an average of $358,439 a day.

As of March 17, when campaign finance reports were last filed, she had $4.5 million in her campaign kitty, enough for 121/2 days.

So far, the campaign's been mum as to when the former eBay CEO will make another deposit. But it was obvious Monday that the depleted coffers would have no effect on Whitman's carpet-bombing of California's airwaves.

"Our campaign will have all the resources it needs to run a smart, strategic campaign," said Sarah Pompeii, Whitman's spokeswoman, noting that the campaign began running a new TV ad over the weekend.

The 30-second spot features Whitman drawing a comparison between running a business and running a state government.

"Government will never be a business," Whitman says in the ad. "It shouldn't be a business. But it does need a dose of how do we do more for less"

Jarrod Agen, a spokesman for Whitman's GOP opponent, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, said the campaign expected Whitman to spend another $50 million before the June 8 primary.

Never, Agen said, "has so much money been spent to say so little.''

Poizner, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur who has written checks for $19.2 million to his campaign, has more than $14 million left in his coffers.

Down about 50 points in the polls, Poizner of late has been directing much of his message to the right wing of his party by calling for a renewed crackdown on illegal immigration.

"He's betting that a low-turnout election will mean that only the most enthusiastic part of the base will turn out,'' said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at the University of Southern California.

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Meg Whitman's governor bid yoked to eBay past

'Pile of potential conflicts'

By Dan Goodin in San Francisco

Posted in Government, 12th April 2010 23:23 GMT

As CEO of eBay, Meg Whitman steered millions of dollars into the coffers of Goldman Sachs. Over the same period, she profited handsomely from the investment firm, receiving an estimated $475,000 and coveted insider access to initial public offerings for a little more than a year's worth of of part-time service.

The cushy relationship could create conflicts of interest should Whitman win her bid to become California's next governor, according to an investigation published by California Watch. As underwriter to more than 2 percent of the California bonds issued over the past five years, it is second only to Merrill Lynch in underwriting state bonds.

With Goldman such a major player, Whitman would face "a pile of potential conflicts of interest" if she becomes governor, Doug Heller, spokesman for Consumer Watchdog of Santa Monica, told the news outlet, which is a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Wall Street critics also say Whitman's dealings with firm call into question her judgment. While on Goldman board of director's compensation committee it twice signed off on big bonus packages for then CEO Henry Paulson, including a 2001 bonus package of $11.5m, more than 19 times his salary.

Whitman was among 21 business executives who in 2002 were identified by US Representative Michael Oxley of Ohio as receiving lucrative IPO shares from Goldman and two other firms in exchange for giving them bond business. Whitman and other execs eventually paid $3m to settle shareholder lawsuits that claimed that the proceeds should have gone to eBay.

Whitman's campaign attorney said the conflict concerns were overblown and that if elected she would dump her Goldman stock and put the rest of her portfolio into a blind trust.

Much more from California Watch is here.

continues...

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Meg Whitman's Goldman Sachs Déjà vu

"The SEC's charges [that Goldman Sachs defrauded some clients to benefit others] are completely unfounded in law and fact and we will vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation." ~ Lucas van Praag, Goldman Sachs partner and chief spokesman - April 16, 2010

"This is an egregious distortion of the facts. [That Goldman Sachs defrauded eBay stockholders by bribing Meg Whitman.] The investment bankers play no role in how shares are allocated, and banking clients did not receive favored treatment." ~ Lucas van Praag, Goldman Sachs partner and chief spokesman - October 3, 2002

The first quote, as you can see, is from last Friday. The second is from eight years ago, shortly before Meg Whitman paid $395,000 to settle with eBay shareholders and was thrown off Goldman's board like a bottle of piss from a speeding big rig.

Goldman Sachs paid $110 million to settle with SEC.

The more things change...

Eight years later, Meg Whitman still denies that she did anything wrong.

And she just put $20 million more in her campaign for governor of California.

And she's leading.

"If Meg Whitman wins the GOP nomination (as seems likely) and then the governorship, she'll instantly become a leading candidate for vice president in 2012 and a likely presidential candidate for 2016." ~ David Frum - March 29, 2010

"When she was little, she was extremely determined. Whatever she decided to do, she was going to do. Meg was a pretty good swimmer. But at meets, I had to be there, because if she wasn't at least first or second, she'd be screaming with rage." ~ Meg Whitman's Mother

(^ bold emphasis mine)

be sure to read those comments! lmao!

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