Meg Whitman Losing Ground? Attacks Steve Poizner

 Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner  3 Responses »
Apr 162010
 

Interesting – I heard a Meg Whitman Radio Spot on local conservative talk radio attacking Steve Poizner for supporting Taxpayer-funded abortion.

Funny. Meg is campaigning on that stance, she must think Voters are dumb.

Maybe not so much anymore – she goes after Steve for the usual (Prop 39 and the check to Gore in 2000)  and for raising the Department of Insurance’s Budget 14% in this latest TV Spot.

Problem. Whitman supported Al Gore as well. (And Barbara Boxer)

Problem.

The department of insurance cut fees 15% two years ago and I got an email this week that the fees are being reduced another 6%. Note – the media gave it almost no coverage – suggesting that they are either supporting Whitman or decided that the Weather was bigger news.

The LA Times Blog covered the new Whitman political ad:

Meg Whitman Trains Fire On Steve Poizner As Gop Primary Battle Intensifies

By AnthonyYork
Los Angeles Times’ PolitiCal Blog
April 16, 2010; 9:23am

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2010/04/meg-whitman-steve-poizner-california-governor-republican-primary.html

Looks like Meg Whitman has decided she has a primary race to run after all.

After weeks of introducing herself to voters and trying as much as possible to engage Democrat Jerry Brown directly, the Whitman campaign has launched a new 30-second ad entirely directed at Steve Poizner.

Poizner, the Republican state insurance commissioner, trails Whitman by wide margins in public opinion polls. But he has millions of dollars to spend on the race, and his recent ads have gone after Whitman, accusing her of being nothing more than a continuation of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Whitman’s new ad calls Poizner “desperate, dishonest, and way more liberal that he says he is.”

Interesting. Arnold in a Skirt calling someone liberal – I can’t drink enough to comprehend that one…

Welcome to the Jungle Meg Whitman Part 2 – Faux Billionaire?

 California Governor's Race, Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner  4 Responses »
Apr 122010
 

UPDATE 1: Level the Playing Field attacks Whitman from the Left about her investments in Hedge Funds, Bank Bailout Support, Contributions From Goldman Sachs Executives, and stock spinning.

UPDATE 2: Salon.com launches another attack from the left over Whitman’s relationship with Goldman Sachs – who is a major underwriter of Bonds for the State of CA. They also got a Dig in on the $1.78 million Whitman made from Stock Spinning.

(It would suggest that your humble blogger’s question about the relationship between Whitman, Sachs, and her support of bank bailouts was a really good one…)

Meg Whitman got caught misrepresenting how long she has lived in California, has been caught lying about Steve Poizner’s record in those cartoonish attack ads, has been caught in multiple stories about her non-voting-maybe-I-voted-record for 30 years. Lots of lies – with only disgraced media outlets like the Sacramento Bee to carry her water.

And yet she trudges on with nary a worry about the peasants calls for her to tell the truth.

Could Meg have misrepresented her wealth as well?

Through all of the outrageous, record shattering spending being done by Meg Whitman in an attempt to buy the Governor’s mansion, people assumed Meg’s threats to spend $150 million dollars were real. After all, Meg and her Team have been proudly, even aggressively, telling the press for over a year now that Meg is a “billionaire”.

Then something strange happened. Meg ran out of campaign money, and took almost 2 weeks for her to come up with the latest $20 million dollar infusion into her campaign. During this 2 week period they went off the air as if Meg fell off the face of the campaign earth!

Speculation went from the surreal to the bizarre to total weirdness. Was she losing her lead over Poizner because of a massive backlash against her spending and withering attacks against someone she led by 50 points?

Was Whitman aware her campaign account was empty? Would an effective CEO/leader let their warchest empty out? What did she know, and when did she know it?  What Goldman Sachs hedge fund did she have to sell off to get some more cash?

A Billion Dollars if it were $100 bills would Fill my Garage and then some – that amount of money blows my mind. I can’t imagine what it would be like to hit the atm for $20 million!

I’m a small business owner, and I have a decent handle on investment strategy, tax rates, and basic understanding of finance. Your fearless blogger loves data, so I spent some time this weekend googling Meg Whitman to see if I could get a handle on her finances.

Some very interesting things popped up in Whitman’s Financial Documents.

Meg Whitman was essentially a common peasant when she started at Ebay in 1998, having to take a mortgage out on her house so she could scrape up some money to buy her first “friends and family” shares of pre-IPO Ebay stock.

So let’s assume that Meg had zero dollars in 1998. All news reports, and publicly available SEC reports from 1998-2009 show that Meg Whitman sold about $550 million gross in Ebay stock that she vested. Let’s assume for a moment that Meg Whitman doesn’t use tax shelters, doesn’t use shenanigans to avoid paying taxes, that Meg Whitman paid what she should have paid in Capital Gains on her stock sales. Not Likely, but we will assume as such for sake of fairness.

Rough math suggests that between 1998-2009, Meg pocketed, liquid, after taxes, something around $350 million bucks. (Nice wad…)

So she has $350 million liquid dollars? What does one do? You invest it! And invest Meg did. In looking at her Form 700, her investment strategy certainly would make headlines if the media did it’s job.

Meg’s investment portfolio is rooted almost totally in Goldman Sachs (hedge) dirty money funds built off the backs of foreclosed homes, toxic banks, and unemployed workers’ credit card debt.

Meg Whitman as recently as a few weeks ago, supported and advocated for the Bank Bailout. Things that make you go hmmm… Sachs has benefitted big time from the Bush-McCain-Obama bailouts.

Here’s the catch: Many of these funds have had very limited growth over the last few years, and while they are loaded to take advantage of the economic upturn, whenever that may be, it’s hard to see where Meg could have made OVER a half a billion dollars within her investment portfolio.

So how again is Meg Whitman a “billionaire”?

Well hey, they say, Meg is a billionaire based on the estimates of her Ebay wealth, not cash position. Ok, so I looked up Meg’s SEC filings for her Ebay position, and was shocked to see that she owns over 20 million shares of Ebay stock, which is vested over the next 4-5 years, and almost every single one of those stock option strike prices is UNDER WATER.

In other words, her Ebay stock is currently toilet paper. Ebay stock today is at $26 a share. Meg’s stock options that will dribble toward her over the next 5 years, are all at a strike price over $30 a share.

It suggests that the TV ads touting EBay may have had a dual purpose?

Then there is this article that the press refuses to follow up on that
clearly proves the assumption above:

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/12/1217_biggest_losers/13.htm

I can do basic math. Meg Whitman can not be a billionaire, nowhere close. And the only way you to get cash is to sell off those “dirty” Goldman Sachs hedge funds. No wonder why the freight train stalled.

Apparently, Billionaire polls well – hence the use of the term. Tossing money around like water seems to also suggest that was the tactic du’jour of the campaign to butress the appearance.

* Given the fact that Whitman has been out of state constantly fundraising recently suggests that she may have burnt up her available cash.

* All that’s left is for the disgraced media and purchased blogs to whine about Poizner’s counter-attack.

* We’ve heard platitudes – and the one of the few things we really supposedly know about Whitman may indeed be an utter falsehood.

P.S. Meg Whitman is a huge fan of Van Jones

Welcome to the Jungle Meg Whitman

 California Governor's Race, Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner  1 Response »
Apr 092010
 

Steve Poizner finally did what we’ve all waited for… he lit Meg Whitman up like a Christmas tree.

$59 million down the drain. Purchased endorsements, torched. Endorsement flippers – humiliated. Meg Whitman has now been welcomed in to the wonderful world of politics.

I have told you for 16 months that she is Arnold in a Skirt.

Sacramento will eat meg Whitman alive. Whether you have a pretty face and celebrity or a Goldman-Sachs wad in your purse… it consumes all but the most principled operators.

Is Whitman Arnold?

1. Meg Whitman is surrounded by Schwarzenegger’s  advisory team. Richard Costigan just wrote Megs policy magazine for her.  It includes people like Rob Stutzman, Sara Pompei, Todd Cranney and my buddy Mitch Zak.

They and her most senior political advisor, Schwarzenegger’s mastermind of the 2005 special election train-wreck, Mike Murphy, all produce and direct Meg on a daily basis.

2. Meg Whitman’s chief of staff, most senior and private confidant, Henry Gomez, is a registered democrat former DNC staffer, who wrote a maximum contribution to Barack Obama while sitting on Meg’s private jet, with John McCain sitting 5 feet away. Schwarzenegger has Susan Kennedy, Meg has Henry Gomez.

3. My Primary Concern is that Whitman is as much of a rookie as Arnold is. Perhaps even more so – Arnold voted. Whitman did not. When Whitman did involve herself in the process – Boxer, Gore et al.

There is a reason why Meg Whitman went negative on someone she led by 50 points in the polls – her handlers knew her support was shallow and that they had to “package the product” so to speak. (see also lipstick)

The Poizner Ad is the first real daylight voters get in to who Whitman really is.

She Supports Amnesty – like Obama
She Supports Obamacare
She Supported Barbara Boxer, endorsing her publicly and maxing out to her – like Obama
She Supports Taxpayer Funded Abortion – Like Obama
She Supported the Federal Bank Bailouts – Like Obama

And for the first time – Arnold becomes the issue in a campaign.

Since it was always all about Arnold at the expense of everyone and everything – how fitting it is that he is an albatross that is hung around the bank vault.

She has refused to be clear on the AB32 repeal, the Citizen Power Initiative or anything else that really matters to mainstream voters – even saying in public that the initiative process has outlived its’ usefulness.

The initiative process is the only hope we have to save the state from AB32 – Arnold’s self-serving legacy. While Arnold has gone all over the world as some sort of global warming hero – thousands of illegal aliens Arnold and Whitman want to spend tax dollars on have left for the greener pastures of Mexico because there is no water.

And it goes on and on and on. California needs a Republican. We haven’t had one since George Deukmejian. Only Steve Poizner represents that opportunity now.

How will Whitman respond?

CRP Convention Wrap-Up: Abel Maldonado LOSER, John Eastman/ Sam Aanestad Rock / Convention Hijinks

 2010 Lt. Governor Race, Abel Maldonado, California Republican Party, John Eastman, Meg Whitman, Sam Aanestad, Steve Poizner, Tom Harman  2 Responses »
Mar 152010
 

No endorsements for Abel. None. The CCR almost endorsed Sam Aanestad.

Abel Maldonado’s stuff looks like Obama’s – take a look at Abel’s new LG Website… it sucks and looks like Obama Junior. Maldo apparently is trying to win the general election in the Primary. Brandon Gisecki is showing the same kind of wisdom that netted his client Bill Kirby 22% of the vote in 2002 against John Doolittle…

The Lousy Website? It has one gigantic lie on it – it says Lt. Governor elect on it. Nope. Sorry Abel… and his site is as sorry as his booth, with no one at it most of the weekend despite his hiring of a couple attractive staffers.

One oddity is that Maldonado brought his wife with him to this c0nvention – usually Maldo preferred to attend conventions stag… (more on that later if necessary).

At least Maldo didn’t send the state a bill for aviation fuel to go to this convention… he drove the short distance to get there.

Sam Aanestad? All he had to do was address the convention on Sunday and say, “Hi I’m Sam, I am running for Lt. Governor and I did not vote to raise your taxes…” The Crowd erupted in Laughter and Maldo went home with his tail between his legs.

Harman for Ag wins the convention award for best hijinks – I am partial to anything kool-aid related and I give team Harman credit for the Cooley Kool-Aid… drink the Kool Aid and believe Cooley is a conservative. Nice.

Team Harman also had the second best – with the Umpire reminding everyone that Three Strikes and your out is correct – not Cooley’s idea of 5+ strikes. This lampooned Cooley’s soft on crime record.

Problem for Harman – John Eastman was the rock star of the convention, cleaning house for endorsements.

Aanestad was not far behind – people were coming out of the woodwork offering help and event planning. We all need to help people get to know Sam Aanestad – because they’ll soon see too much of Abel.

As far as lousy Hijinks – there was the lame Al Gore characture as Whitman went neagtive again – forgetting to tell us what she is going to do for California – but reminding us of the check Poizner wrote to Al Gore. (Whom she endorsed also)

Compared to the Cooley Umpire and Cooley Kool-Aid… lame.

Under the category of expected: The Demon Sheep showed up… both as a suited up college sutdent and a 3D hologram stuck under the doors of convention attenders…

Under the true suprise category – the Barbara Boxer Zepplin.

Unbelievable – I love going to conventions… how could I forget my Meg Whitman playing cards. The simplest of hijinks neutralizes tens of thousands of dollars…


CRP Convention Notes – Meg Whitman, Big Spender / Poizner Big Message

 California Republican Party, Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner  1 Response »
Mar 142010
 

Meg Whitman again is spending money like it’s going out of style – including a hospitality suite with an open bar. (YIKES) Her staff were like ants – btw, they went out of their way to be friendly to this blogger. I saw all the heavy hitters from the Pete Wilson era: Zak, Saragosa, Cranney – and newly minted Whitmanites like David Reade. It felt like a lull in the middle of a civil war to sit with Mark Spannagel and David Reade and just chat knowing that we are about to go into an EPIC 4th Senate District campaign on opposite sides…

It is a much friendlier convention than any I can remember – in an adversarial sort of way – I consider a lot of the Whitman crew friends… even though I am going to light up their boss. (The life of a blogger, I guess)

And, I mean big money – Whitman had more signs than every other Campaign combined – and there was a substantial amount of litter under my door waiting for me in the morning. The Whitman staff are so numerous, it feels like the Ose Vs McClintock blog wars all over again. (Where I was outnumbered 8 to 1)

There was a stark contrast to the Friday Dinner and Saturday Dinner – Whitman’s spending was on display… she purchased an unheard of 8 Table Sponsorships at the Friday Dinner. The Campaign flew in Mitt Romney as well.

Saturday Night – Steve Poizner was the speaker, his evening featured home-grown support and was far less lavish.

The most important difference – Whitman used a teleprompter, Poizner did not bring any notes or a teleprompter. This repeats the theme of Whitman being scripted all the time… and this will dog the rest of her campaign. It is indeed a scary place to be as a voter – it reeks of Arnold all over again.

Back to the hospitality suites – Poizner’s was economical compared to Whitman’s. I also took note of who the participants were at each suite. It seemed that Whitman’s suite was jammed with paid staff – Poizner had gotten a ton of kids from local College Republican Clubs to come volunteer… Poizner’s suite seemed full of regular delegates that I see all the time at conventions.

It just screams what the campaigns have been thus far – Poziner+People and Whitman+Money.

And the final theme – Negativity followed by Generality from Whitman, Positivity and Specificity by Poizner.

When Whitman said anything that wasn’t an attack on Poizner – it was her non-specific plans for fixing the state. Her attacks were specious as well – such as portraying Steve Poizner as an Abortion rights activist when Whitman is the one who favors taxpayer-funded abortion…

Poizner? Passion and solutions – he is speaking about across-the-board tax cuts (Whitman opposes), Immigration Reform (enforcing our existing laws) and spending tax dollars on citizens only (Whitman opposes), the AB32 suspension, Parental Notification and the Citizen Power Initiative. (Where is Whitman on any of these)

The Convention was a microcausm of the campaign – Poizner has the message, Whitman has the Money – which will win?

BTW – Larry Niratelli did not show at the convention that I know of.

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