Last Week in the Governor's Race

With April coming to an end, the state of California edges closer to the primary election. The San Jose Mercury News today ran an article about a program at Mount Pleasant High School for at-risk students. The following is a list of some notable news pieces in the last week concerning the California governor election as well as summaries of the articles.

Poizner climbs in the polls

Not too long ago, Whitman was beating Poizner in the polls by fifty points. Now a Survey USA poll shows Whitman with a 49 percent share beating Poizner’s 27 percent. The Poizner campaign cites the new data as proof that Whitman is losing momentum in her race for the primary nomination.

Brown agrees to post decade’s worth of tax returns on Web

The San Jose Mercury News demanded that the governor candidates release their tax returns for the past ten years. Jerry Brown is the only one of the three to respond to the request to post the returns online by May 5. Whitman suggested she would release her returns dating back 25 years if Brown released returns since he left the governor’s office. Poizner’s campaign promised to release returns around the time Whitman initially proposed a release of 25 years worth, but Poizner and Whitman did not respond to the Mercury News request.

Whitman says Brown’s debate proposal was a stunt

Jerry Brown recently challenged Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner to a debate before the June primary. Whitman and Poizner are debating this Sunday, and it’s unusual to suggest a three-way debate at this point. Whitman called Brown’s suggestion a stunt and refuses to participate.

Whitman calls for major changes in California worker pensions

To offset pension payments for California government employees, Whitman wants to raise the retirement age to 55 for public safety workers and to 65 for other workers, who would participate in 401(k) plans instead. Whitman also tried to blame Jerry Brown for giving collective bargaining rights to state workers when he was governor; the Brown campaign asserts that Whitman has her facts wrong.

California labor unions launch anti-Whitman campaign

California labor unions announced that they would campaign against Whitman and expose Whitman’s “Wall Street agenda.” Questions remain about Whitman’s connections to Goldman Sachs, and the Whitman campaign has pointed out that Jerry Brown had ties to Goldman Sachs as well. For more information about the campaign visit Wall Street Whitman.

Publicizing the Platforms

The San Jose Mercury news recently reported that Meg Whitman is sending her policy agenda to about 500,000 Republican households across California. Called Meg 2010: Building a New California, the magazine is forty-eight full-color glossy pages about Meg Whitman, the state of California, and her plans for it should she become governor. You can request a copy or read it online at this page.

When you visit Whitman’s campaign site, the platform section is the same as that found in the magazine. Steve Poizner does not have the same resources to distribute his platform as widely, so the best way to learn about his campaign is to browse the Solutions for California area. A good starting point is viewing the “Back From The Brink” video, as it is about eight minutes long.

Jerry Brown has yet to establish a proper campaign platform. The closest thing available is the following template for a message to send to any contacts:.

Jerry Brown has decades of experience fighting for Californians. As California's Attorney General, Jerry has fought mortgage fraud, real estate scams, political corruption, and crime. He's protected workers rights, the environment, and consumers.

Look forward to a comparison of the policy platforms available. With the primary about a month away, there’s plenty to talk about.

Mount Pleasant and Steve Poizner

Republican candidate for governor Steve Poizner released his new book yesterday. Titled Mount Pleasant: My Journey from Creating a Million-dollar Company to Teaching at a Struggling Public High School, the book chronicles the current state insurance commissioner’s time as a public school teacher in the east side of San Jose. The book release comes a month or two before the Republican primary and seems to be aimed at introducing Poizner to a wider audience. On the front page below Poizner’s name, it mentions that Poizner is the founder of a company responsible for “mobile phone GPS technology,” in case you might not know how Poizner became a millionaire.

In the interest of exploring the candidate more, I hope to read the book and post my review within a month. I also plan to read books from the other candidates running for California government offices and review them on the site.