Meg Whitman

Are you Kidding me? Meg Whitman for Governor Strong-Arm Tactics Continue

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

Feb 152010

Remember how Steve Poizner outed some internal emails from the Whitman campaignessentially trying to see if they could push Steve Poizner out of the Governor’s race?

The only people that thought it was a bad move were those – like the Rally Gerbil – on Meg’s enormous Payroll. (estimated at $13 million through the end of 2009.)

Now the absurdities continue – Senator Tony Strickland whose first editorial about Whitman was hailing her heroic efforts to set up a War Room to deal with an E-Bay server Crash is at it again – this time with Moderate Republican leader Nathan Fletcher.

They make the bold statement that in light of Whitman’s refusal to debate at the CRP convention – it is not a case of Whitman showing weakness… it is rather a clarion call for GOP Unity! We should free ourselves from the chains of Steve Poizner, end the primary contest now and drink the ceremonial Kool-Aid together! (Please Steve, don’t file!)

Read the email off the Meg Whitman Site Here. Or save yourself the click and read it below –

On Friday, Assistant Senate Republican Leader Tony Strickland and Chief Republican Whip Nathan Fletcher, statewide campaign co-chairs, issued this statement calling for Republican unity in the 2010 governor’s race:

“Jerry Brown’s allies are nervous about Meg’s strong lead in the polls and her plans to bring a different kind of leadership to Sacramento, and it’s why they’re planning to spend $40 million in a negative campaign against her. Our opponents have sent a clear signal the general election started today, and Republicans need to unite around the strongest candidate to take on the entrenched interests and status quo in Sacramento, and that’s Meg Whitman. Our party is only weakened by a Republican candidate who ultimately aids Jerry Brown and his allies’ fight against the conservative leadership we need in Sacramento. It’s time for all Republicans to unite, and we’re hopeful Steve Poizner will do the right thing and step aside in order to nominate Meg, the strongest candidate to take on Jerry Brown in November.”

Now Dan Walters from the Sacramento Bee had something to say about Whitman’s Campaign – and I get the distinct opinion that Walters is not a fan of Jerry Brown’s either.

I will let Walters’ three final paragraphs finish this post:

Apparently, Whitman and her highly paid advisers believe she can coast to the Republican nomination just by spending tens of millions of dollars on TV and radio ads and making robotic appearances in friendly venues – and perhaps win the governorship the same way. There is, however, a phrase that describes that strategy – arrogant cowardice.

Running for or being governor of California is not the same thing as being the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar corporation surrounded by sycophants. Ultimately, remaining in her cocoon will probably backfire.

If Poizner cannot exploit her cowardice, Jerry Brown surely will. He will ask Californians, rightfully, that if Whitman is so insecure that she must flee from reporters armed only with notebooks, how could she govern this complex state – and why should voters take her claims seriously?

Arnold. All over again…

P.S. You can still see my original commentary about the 2/10/2009 “Accomplisher” piece on the Meg County Blog – apparently ethics include ejecting this blogger but leaving the posts up to still attract traffic.

Hypocricy Illustrated – Conservatives for Whitman?

California Governor's Race, California Republican Party, Chip Hanlon, Jim Nielsen, Matt Cunningham, Meg Whitman, Red County Blog System, Roger Niello, Steve Poizner, Wally Herger Comments Off

Feb 122010

We know the “Conservatives” at Meg County were purchased.

We know that this Conservative refused to betray Steve Poizner (and that story will be told soon) – unlike Jim Nielsen, Brian Nestande and John Campbell who all switched their endorsements to join the establishment.

I am a delegate to the State CRP – this means in the weeks leading up to a convention, I get stuff in my mail. One such piece of cat pan liner was this letter entitled Conservatives for Whitman.

Notably, this letter omits Assemblymember Roger Niello who voted along with Abel Maldonado for the largest tax increase in state history. (Or was it because of Niello taking $7800 from the SEIU?)

But, it does include Senator Dave Cox and Congressmen Wally Herger / Dan Lungren… in the North State where I am from, they are regarded as nominally conservative. In fact, Herger is soft on the abortion issue and Lungren is a celebrated gun-grabber… all three endorsed Liberal Millionaire Doug Ose over Congressman Tom McClintock in the 2008 election. (in my backyard)

There is more to this – Assemblyman Jim Nielsen is indeed regarded as a liberal in the North State, yet his name appears on this letter of Conservatives. When he switched his endorsement, that was a boost to Poizner. Nielsen voted for illegal alien healthcare and against then governor George Deukmejian’s proposed Tax Rebates in the mid-late 1980’s. (Nielsen was a State Senator back then)

Also listed is Darrell Issa – the former employer of Meg Whitman’s Rally Gerbil. While the Rally Gerbil lambastes Steve Poizner for nailing insurance company investments in Iran – Issa is wanting to haul Toyota’s CEO in to a Congressional Hearing? Hmmm… Whitman is getting some mileage out of that $20K ya think?

I know in every cycle how to identify who the moderate is – look for Ed Royce, Kevin McCarthy and John Campbell on their endorsement list. It’s sad but true – we will be a generation in the California Republican Party dealing with the establishment Conservatives who vote good themselves but are remiss to support other real Conservatives for office.

This gets me to my friend – Steve Poizner. He was not a conservative when he ran for Assembly in 2004… and the Rally Gerbil is quick to remind us of that. But the Rally Gerbil and others have permanent memory loss about how Poizner has matured in office. Under the fraudulent veneer of pseudo-journalism that is Meg County – they choose to ignore:

Whitman is a Huge Fan of Van Jones
Whitman is a Huge Fan of H1-N visas (the most abused form)
Whitman said we shouldn’t raise taxes “right now”
Whitman opposes cutting illegal alien healthcare (that her endorser Jim Nielsen helped establish in the 1980’s).
Whitman publicly endorsed with a signed letter – Barbara Boxer in 2004
Whitman’s closest advisor, Henry Gomez has maxed out to every Dem Presidential Candidate in Memory
Whitman herself gave $300,000 to the environmental defense fund – whose Delta Smelt lawsuit shut water off to millions of acres of farms this year.

… and “Conservatives” support her!?

Her campaign team? Arnold’s.

I rest my case.

Chip Hanlon / Red County System Slammed by MSM for Taking $20K From Meg Whitman Campaign

Chip Hanlon, Meg Whitman, Red County Blog System 1 Response »

Feb 112010

Hat tip to Calbuzz Blog for Covering and an NBC affiliate blog for covering this – in the last 24 hours I have talked to a few media outlets.

The keys to my ouster from the Red County are that Hanlon was told about my situation, by me on 10/30/2009 and threw me out of Red County on 12/9/2009. That’s key – Hanlon knew because I disclosed my situation to him… he decided to wait six weeks and use the information publicly and as loudly as he could to maximize traffic to his financially failing blog.

Both Calbuzz and the NBC affiliate reported that Hanlon got his $20K payoff after throwing me off the Red County Blog – the report states Hanlon was paid on 12/3 through www.greenfaucet.com. I was ejected on 12/09 – a minor correction, but one that underscores the absurd hypocricy of Hanlon.

Excerpting their posts:

Meg Whitman’s campaign apparently isn’t very good at negotiating advertising deals, as one blog cashed in to the tune of $20,000.
Getty Images

Twenty thousand dollars will buy you a lot of advertising online. A lot. Especially on a site with a limited readership — like Chip Hanlon’s right-wing blog Red County.

But that’s how much the former eBay CEO Meg Whitman’s gubernatorial campaign paid to Green Faucet, the investment firm owned by blogger Hanlon and parent company of Red County.

Hanlon told Calbuzz that the money was for advertising, however other advertisers seem to be much better at negotiating than Whitman’s campaign — another advertiser is only paying $300 a month.

Plus, the timing is rather suspicious. The payment was made only a week after Hanlon kicked a writer off the site after finding out that the contributor was getting paid by Whitman’s Republican primary rival, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

At the time, the Poizner campaign stated that Red County was a pro-Whitman site, thanks to advertising deals with the campaign. And if they’d like to score some points with fiscal conservatives, they were only paying the fired blogger $2,500, a relative bargain!

Wonder if Hanlon will fire himself?

What Chip Hanlon did was a ploy to try and drive traffic to his site at my expense – in addition given that Hanlon’s consistent gripe was over money to begin with, is anyone surprised that he got caught with his fingers in the cookie jar?

There is more to this story – and that will come soon…

Red County Blog’s Financial Compromise / Credibility Compromise

California Governor's Race, Chip Hanlon, Matt Cunningham, Meg Whitman, Operation RINO, Red County Blog System Comments Off

Feb 042010

Updated 2/19/2010 from original posting 2/4/2010

As we learned from the Orange Juice Blog – Chip Hanlon is a paid vassal of Meg Whitman for Governor. He never disclosed this – and still hasn’t even after being exposed as a fraud.

Chip Hanlon and Matt “Jerbal” Cunningham have exempted themselves from their own standard of disclosure. Hey, they own the place – they can be hypocrites… comes with ownership. The problem is when you are a public leader – your standard has to be higher than that of everyone else.

Many times – I spoke with Hanlon on the phone and every time, he complained about the fact that Steve Poizner’s campaign did not purchase an ad on the Red County system. We now know that this was a red herring as Hanlon’s firm greenfaucet.com was a recipient of Whitman’s lavish campaign cash.

When Chip Hanlon chose to very publicly and aggressively expel this blogger from the Red County system – he made threats including threatening to Sue either myself or Steve Poizner for lost advertising revenues…

And given the fact that Hanlon openly blustered about Poizner’s sleazy campaign tactics and how he was using me in lieu of purchasing an ad…

The issue all along was the money.

It is a not-too-closely guarded secret that the Red County system is a money loser. The Whitman ad on the home page of the site is worth a reputed $2500 a month – which seems to have been a low estimate when you look at $20K that greenfaucet.com received from Whitman, one could easily draw the conclusion that Whitman bought Chip Hanlon.

Look closer – the payment to greenfaucet was dated 12/03/2009 – I was expelled 12/09/2009. Calbuzz actually got it backward in their post from a few weeks ago.

Fake Blog Post?

Some in Southern California will remember the post I put up that was deleted within a couple hours about the Orange County Lincoln Club endorsing Steve Poizner for Governor. Chip Hanlon asked me to put it up and ultimately, Matt Cunningham deleted it after people in Orange County complained about it.

It was a ploy for traffic.

Deleted Posts

Several contributors to the Red County System have had posts deleted – including myself.

During the Doug Ose vs. Tom McClintock primary – I had posts far less incendiary than those I wrote against Meg Whitman deleted.

I remember a posting about a news story regarding a fundraiser that Linda Ackerman was employing – Matt Cunningham deleted my post and emailed me regarding “Dez” – one of the subjects of the media firestorm. (The stories referred to her as Desiree – so apparently Cunningham knew her)

People have emailed me screen shots of comments that either Hanlon or Cunningham deleted.

None of this paints a bright ethical picture for the Blog that expelled Sgt. York and grandstanded on the platform of ethics.

It’s interesting that the same circles that produced Mike Duvall also are home to Cunningham and Hanlon… things that make you go hmmm…

Smashmouth politics.

LaMalfa Loses Major Endorsement and Nevada County YR’s Endorse Keene

4th Senate District Race, Doug LaMalfa, Meg Whitman, Rick Keene Comments Off

Jan 212010

The significance is enormous – Officeholders and Grassroots clubs are endorsing Keene… usually the two are exclusive of one another.

Nevada County YR. College Kids – young professionals, volunteers… not wealthy donors or entrenched tax-raisers…

Excerpting the Press Release:

The Young Republican Federation of California is the largest and most active young Republican organization and is one of the most important Republican grassroots organizations in the state. In the past, the YRFC endorsement has often been a key indicator of which candidate grassroots conservatives in California will support in elections.

(snip)

Keene has previously been endorsed by YRFC Chapters in Butte, Yuba, Sutter Counties as well as the state YRFC.

More ominous for Doug LaMalfa is the news coming out of facebook invitations – Citizens for the California Republic announced a major press conference for Rick Keene:

Hi everyone,

I wanted to pass along this message from the folks over at the Rick Keene for Senate campaign. They’re having a major press conference in Redding tomorrow to announce the endorsement of Mayor Patrick Jones and they need us to come out and show some support!

OUCH! Right in the heart of the area LaMalfa was depending on – the Mayor of the largest city in the district has bailed on LaMalfa and endorsed Rick Keene.

This is in stark contrast to the endorsement switchers announced by Meg Whitman (for example) – those that switched to Whitman were because of Consultants or because of promises made… Those that have switched to Keene have done so due to his message.

It seems that when LaMalfa speaks – people endorse Rick Keene.

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