That is correct. The committees in the legislature are likely be re-doing the confirmation hearing for Senator Abel Maldonado tomorrow.
This is fresh from Capitol sources in the know.
I guess the play is that they are going to get him out of the Senate and then try to run him through in the Lt. Governor Primary. They have to do the hearings now or else Maldo will not be able to use Incumbent on his ballot title.
There are multiple deals being done by the governor to convince Democrats to vote for Maldonado’s confirmation – in addition, Senator Maldonado has boasted that he has been in contact with several Assembly Democrats to line up their vote.
Problem – the “Third House” donors are unlikely to go against Arnold. Arnold has proven to be as vindictive as he is unprincipled – so it looks like Maldonado will be able to fund his primary campaign after all. (The third house are the lobbyists and high-rollers who donate based on strategy and bottom-line, not principles per-ce’)
If Maldonado wins the primary – the Republicans in the legislature will look like idiots.
That being said – stay tuned tomorrow – the play is that the main vote should occur tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday.
This is insane.
The same sources are indicating that Team Whitman is so confident that she is going to win her primary – that she has made it known that her preference of running mate is Abel Maldonado. (ostensibly, for diversity sake?)
You’d think with $50 million spent that Whitman would be getting ready for her coronation. Drop another $50 Million to make herself look like the second coming of Mother Theresa and poof! It’s over.
So, it should surprise veteran political observers that Meg Whitman unloaded a can of negative wup— against Steve Poizner.
This makes me wonder – did the Howard Jarvis endorsement backfire? People have told me that Jarvis has been getting pounded with phone calls.
Does Meg Whitman have polling data showing her starting to slide? Why else would someone with a seemingly insurmountable lead over Steve Poizner have to start in on him?
Or perhaps Whitman does indeed know her weaknesses in a Republican Primary and needs to shout them out.
While the Republican establishment types were quick to jump all over Steve Poizner for outing the Whitman-Bully-Tactic emails… that press conference was followed by:
1. Claiming that Steve Poizner was a mental case and therefore unfit to hold office.
Meg Whitman publicly endorsed Barbara Boxer and maxed out to her in 2004. But the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer’s Association can only point to Steve Poizner’s Assembly campaign.
Steve was a Republican, Meg was not. Steve voted for himself in the Primary in 2004 – Meg didn’t vote for anybody. She didn’t vote in 2003’s recall election, either.
Howard Jarvis did. They endorsed Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold ripped off Tom McClintock’s ideas to roll back the tripling of the car tax and worker’s comp reform. How many of us remember what Jon Coupal of Howard Jarvis said in 2003:
Jon Coupal, a leader of the Jarvis group that spearheaded the
property tax rebellion of 1978, called McClintock a “100 percenter”
who is “second to none on tax issues.”
But Schwarzenegger’s celebrity will command a stage for tax-cutting, Coupal said.
It’s 2010 – the Car tax was just doubled and Work Comp rates are starting to creep up. There go Arnold’s two conservative achievements in seven years out the window. Heck, Arnold even threw in a 1% sales tax increase. (Great call Jarvis)
Today, celebrity means dismal approval ratings never seen before in state history.
Since When does the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer’s association support the Water Bond coming in the fall? Whitman does? Is Jarvis going to sign on to that?
Since when is a candidate who says the State of California, “Cannot afford across the board tax cuts” a Jarvis candidate!? Whitman even said “we shouldn’t raise taxes right now” in an SF Chron interview… (what happens later?)
Does Howard Jarvis value the Delta Smelt more than the farmers of the Southern Central Valley? When my produce this year is imported and expensive, I will be thinking about the $300,000 that Whitman gave to the Environmental Defense Fund. Jerry Brown would be proud, I wonder if Howard himself would be?
Jarvis clings to an education initiative Poizner supported in 2000 that made school bonds easier. In 2000, Whitman wasn’t even registered to vote. In 2002 – Meg Whitman knifed Tom McClintock a year before Howard Jarvis did. Whitman finally registered to vote after a long hiatus to support Steve Westley for Controller – whose signature issue was taxing the internet. Jarvis?
Whitman even supported the abuse of eminent domain to keep development out of her Mansion’s back yard. Jerry Brown would be proud – I look at our atniquated freeway system in California and think back to the 1970’s when Jerry Brown’s anti-growth policies sabotaged our freeway system when matching federal funds were available.
Whitman was busy “protecting” her ranch in Telluride, Colorado – one of the ten most expensive areas in the Country for Real Estate. $1million later – a developer lost his land as a result of a successful environmental movement Whitman funded.
Time and again, we are treated to a lecture about Poizner’s imprefection. Yet Whitman is judged on her intentions, as opposed to Poizner’s actions. This is the only way you can accomodate the moral compromise necessary to call yourself a taxpayer advocate and make such an endorsement.
Whitman leaves no stone unturned – looking back to the early 1990’s when Whitman admits and everyone else has proven that she was not registered nor voting – Meg Whitman praised the then-largest tax increase in State history (by then Governor Pete Wilson) as being appropriate at the time.
And Jarvis endorsed her.
Even today – Whitman thinks that Senator Abel Maldonado, the key swing vote in the now largest tax increase in state history – should be confirmed as Lt. Governor.
And the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Endorsed her. Man, do I feel violated.
I called in to the Eric Hogue show today when he was talking about the impact of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer’s Association.
I thank Jon Coupal for coming on the air and confirming that no money changed hands before the endorsement. The inference I am seeing around the blogospehere is that I am not the only one that had the Whitman-Bought-It-Endorsement.
My issue – Jarvis is endorsing Arnold all over again. They are judging Meg Whitman on her intentions and Steve Poizner on past actions. BTW – when Steve Poizner ran as a liberal Republican in 2004… Whitman was a DTS voter who skipped that primary, and endorsed Barbara Boxer in writing in that General election! (Whitman also skipped the 2003 recall election as well.
Steve Poizner was first out of the gate with a plan to cut spending and cut taxes. Not Whitman.
Whitman finally agreed to two debates – but only after the HJTA endorsement was made public. However, she continues to script public appearances.
I will support Whitman if she is the nominee – but it looks like starvation rations for Conservatives again.
We’ve been down the Arnold road before and it looks as if the HJTA is leading us there again…
Recently, the Flashreport lit up Robert Stryk who is running for Mayor of Yountville. Yountville… say it rapidly, then look for it on a map.
Think Napa County – where all the wine is. Jon Fleischman writes that his second passion in life after politics is Wine, therefore, he is interested in Yountville.
Robert Stryk is a newcomer to elections – but is registered as a lobbyist in Washington D.C. He is a legal arms dealer and has to deal with members of Congress frequently. Stryk worked for J.D. Hayworth and Jim Colby – both former Republican Congressmen from Arizona.
Recently, Conservative ICON Lynn Westmoreland nominated Stryk for an appointment to DETAG. DETAG is one of those alphabet-soup committees in D.C. that deals with National Security issues.
As a result of the fraudulent transparency rules of Obama, everyone that talks to Congressman about “business” has to register as a lobbyist. This is an easy shot to take until you look further-
In his hit piece against Robert Stryk – he features information about a lawsuit ten years ago between Stryk and John Greene a former business partner.
Greene is a former Senate Leader in Arizona, who settled the Lawsuit and remains a mentor and close friend to this day of Mr. Stryk – yet Fleischman fails to mention this even though 2/3 of his post about Stryk focuses on the lawsuit.
Stryk is 34 and looking to settle down – this is what he told me when I spoke to him. Fair enough. He wants to run for Mayor of Yountville because he sees some issues.
Why does a town of 3,000 have 30 public employees? Why are a significant number of those employees related to members of the city council? Why is there an 11-member parks and recreation department staff?
Why does a town of 3,000 see fit to drop $52 million on a visitor center?
Obviously, someone other than Jon Fleischman is concerned about Mr. Stryk. Mike Thompson’s Pac hired a Private Investigator to dig into Robert Stryk. Jon stopped at using Lexus Nexus – but Stryk’s opponents, all of them liberals and Democrats… are pulling out all the stops.
Adding to the absurdity – the local “paper” that is attacking Robert Stryk is on the Secretary of State’s list of suspended Corporations. (For failure to pay taxes?) The Paper calls itself the Yountville Sun.
Yountville has issues – I am thinking that this “lobbyist” just might be the enema the good ‘ol Boy’s network in Yountville needs.
Man, I’m glad I don’t drink – I drive right through that area on my way to the coast…