The California GOP Convention where Dissent wasn’t the Rule.
Now come the dissenters that want to insist that Whitman alter some of her positions to better match their viewpoint, especially as it relates to immigration reform. Local papers report that these dissenters plan to make things “hot” and “uncomfortable” for Whitman, and they even plan to present a resolution (which would ultimately fail for a lack of a second) to be voted on by the delegates at the convention. The irony is sweet to this writer since so many Republican pundits like to remind everyone that Republicans are not a monolithic group and trying to get them to all agree is like herding cats. Yet, there are those in the party that want Whitman to hew to their point of view in order to glean their support, forgetting that their candidate of choice (Poizner) lost to Whitman by a 38% margin. The outcome of that primary is what should give Whitman and the party faithful their marching orders and let’s not forget that California as a closed primary system so when Whitman gets over 68% of the Republican vote there should be no ambiguity over what message the majority of Republican want their candidate to represent.
Illegal immigration and immigration reform are important issues for many Californians, and Republicans in particular, but I think that most voters realize that there are other issues (the California Budget or lack thereof, the economy, an unemployment rate of 12.3%) that when ranked might eclipse the illegal immigration issue at this point in time. And for voters like me Whitman was a better choice to address those issues than Poizner. So it would appear that individuals such as Poizner and Campbell have decided to withhold their nomination as if this might somehow bend Whitman to their political position and groups such as the CRA seem to think that if they raise enough of a ruckus Whitman will move further to the right in order to secure their votes and thus beat Brown in the general election. What I find interesting about this particular tactic is that members of the CRA often refer to themselves as the conscious of the Republican Party (a label accorded to them by President Ronald Reagan) – and yet in their current endeavor they seem to have forgotten the 11th commandment (a phrase used frequently by Reagan) which is “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican." Of course adherence to this dictum may have damaged the party, since for too many it means putting “one’s head in the sand” when confronted by a truly reprehensible or incompetent Republican.
I can only hope that all Republicans and many Independents and Democrats as possible get behind Whitman since I truly believe that she’s in the best position to help put California back on the path to financial health and fiscal responsibility. She seems to have mastered the art of knowing when to stand her ground and when to give in. Having lived in California the last time Brown was governor I’ve seen the results of his stewardship and I am not impressed. Especially as it relates to his ham fisted handling of SB 666 (Project Iatrogensis) a brainchild of his to “solve the nursing shortage” which he had then State Senator Watson carry. This bill would have devastated the nursing profession and it was so heinous that nurses from all walks of life, union and non-union, bedside and administration rallied in the thousands to defeat this bill – which luckily we did because who knows what would have happened to nursing in California if all one needed to do was work long enough as a C.N.A., L.V.N., R.N. or even as a physician, no additional education required, take and pass a test and voilà move up the career ladder to the next level of nursing or ultimately become a physician. California can ill afford this “out of this world thinking”, but if Republicans don’t get behind their candidate we could very well have four or more years of this creative Jerry Brown thinking.
