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.