Last Friday Steve Poizner held a town hall meeting at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos a few hours after Meg Whitman appeared for a campaign event in Redwood City. A mostly senior crowd packed into a small room to have San Mateo city council member Matt Grocott introduce the Republican candidate for governor of California. Steve Poizner gave his usual stump speech about the issues facing California in the election, and he tried to contrast his positions with those of his opponent Meg Whitman. He then took questions until the end of the hour. The Los Angeles Times provides a brief report on Poizner’s and Whitman’s appearances in the Bay Area here. Some people touting a press release from the local labor union arrived with their Brown campaign signs, but they left quietly before the town hall began.
As the LA Times article shows, Poizner’s backdrop has the words “Protect Prop 13.” Steve Poizner was asked to comment on his support of Proposition 13, the ballot initiative passed years ago that forces a two-thirds majority vote in both California legislative houses to raise property taxes. Whitman has been attacking Poizner for attempting to weaken Proposition 13 among other issues that would paint Poizner as too liberal for Republican voters. Thankfully the San Jose Mercury News the following day analyzed both candidates’ attacks for their validity.
The long primary is coming to a close on June 8, when California citizens will go to the polling booths, excluding the voters who sent in their absentee ballots. The substantive debates will hopefully occur when the winner of the Republican primary debates the Democratic primary victor, probably Jerry Brown. Then we can finally determine what Brown is planning to do as governor instead of hearing about what he has been doing as California attorney general. Poizner may be interesting to talk about, but he’s no Iron Man.
