Experts Expound

“Whether you’re Republican or Democrat, can you defend any candidate simply buying the governor’s office? With $59 million of her own money already in, and surely more to come, does the word “obscene” apply to Meg Whitman’s campaign? If not, why not?”

Two words: Free speech.

She wants to live the nightmare of governance that bad, let her! Feel kinda bad for everyone under 30, though, since they’re the ones who are going to suffer from her ill-informed decisions. Not to sound too politically Darwinist, but if they were stupid enough to buy her fictions, they get what they deserve.

What is more obscene — Whitman contributing lots of her own money, or the public employees’ unions threatening to run a $20 million-plus I.E. on behalf of a candidate who they fully expect will be in their hip pocket?

I think what Whitman has done is to show the people a lack of just plain common sense. It is one thing to be rich but quite another to spend – now $59 million – on a political campaign. That this much money could have started a number of high schools, put 350 deserving poor kids through the finest private colleges, or created how many businesses and therefore job shows that Whitman is concerned more for her own glory than caring for the people.

If she spends her own money this way, how will she spend our money? One can’t do what she has done and credibility claim to be a fiscal conservative.

We can never defend a candidate spending her own money when what’s really necessary is that public employee unions buy the governor.
I think her problem is that there likely will be little return on the investment….to put it in business terms!

Of course it’s obscene, but she’s kicking Poizner’s butt, and is ahead of Brown in every poll — and she hasn’t even started in on him yet.  Ask Michael Bloomberg what you can buy for $100 million. Democrats are barking up the wrong tree if they think they can just yap about Whitman’s money, like Brown is doing.

Obscene could be appropriate. “Narcissistic” would also work. She has quite a large view of herself, doesn’t she?
Absolutely not. Lobbyists are the only ones who should ever be allowed to own or lease an office.

(She) hasn’t bought anything but a lot of summer vacations abroad for media ad executives and their families. The fact she’s spent so much money while Jerry Brown has spent nearly nothing yet she still remains only a marginal few points ahead of Brown says all you need to know.  Come Fall, when voters wake up and Brown starts his campaign in earnest, and capitalizes on his name ID, she’ll wonder what she got for all her spending.

Obscene? What difference does it make if it’s her money or money donated by others, especially in the vested interest community (unions, business, etc.)? At least she’ll be less wedded to those interests. In the broader view, it’s an obscene amount of money to spend regardless of where it comes from. And all this money for what? An ego-driven political office that provides far less a financial return than the cost.

It’s the perfect and natural culmination of the system we have. The insidious thing is the combination of a lack of a record, her ambition and then the money. Her slogans are all we have for evaluation, which of course reflects the corporate/marketing culture from which she comes. This is a culture that doesn’t feature integrity, honesty and openness high on its list attributes.

What is the big deal?  Elections are bought all the time – just with other people’s money.  Schwarzenegger outraised the Democrats and won.  Gray Davis outraised the Republicans and he won.  Obama outraised the Republicans and he won.  The only difference is that maybe Whitman is doing it with her own money.

It is all relative.  Whitman spending this amount of money is like others loaning themselves $100,000.

Unions spend millions and millions each election cycle and no one bats an eye.  Why is an individual spending their own money a problem – they will have no “influence” by outside groups either corporate or union.  She still has to win, so her strategy has not been proven, and millionaires have lost before (ask Al and Jane about it) Maybe she is just running an effective campaign that she is self financing.

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