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.
Did C.N.A.’s Demonstration at Whitman Home Result in a Federal Offense?
In this nurse’s opinion the California Nurses Association (C.N.A.) membership hit an all time low this afternoon in Atherton, California. You may wonder what could be worse than threatening opposition nurses, their children, and pets, or stalking opposition nurses, showing up at their relatives homes and calling family members at all hours of the night and day under the pretext of “convincing” the recalcitrant nurse that the C.N.A. is a great organization to join is low -- you weren’t in Atherton. Today, low behavior was when hundreds of C.N.A. members and supporters descended on this quiet neighborhood so they could hold a demonstration at the private residence of California gubernatorial candidate, Meg Whitman.
Of course this demonstration was accompanied by all the usual hyperbole and misrepresentations that are part of the C.N.A.’s usual arsenal. But to come to a person’s private home is truly above the pale. I’m sure Ms. DeMoro, Nurse Burger and company wouldn’t appreciate say the S.E.I.U. coming to their private homes and demonstrating to illustrate how the C.N.A. has engaged in raiding their nursing unions. But common decency, and socially appropriate behavior seems to be lacking in the C.N.A. leadership DNA.
But what this nurse liked best was that in the C.N.A.’s attempt to garner media attention a nurse delivered a letter to Ms. Whitman by placing said letter in Whitman’s residential mailbox. In doing so this nurse may have engaged in a federal offense. What federal offense, why the law that states only authorized letter carriers may insert mail into a residential mailbox. Oh my! The rule making and rule toting C.N.A. broke a rule themselves – color me surprised! …. More to come.
The California Democratic Party (CDP) and sour grapes.
June 8th was our California Primary, both major parties had of course put up their candidates from which voters of their respective parties could vote for; except in the case of Governor and US Senate where Democrat Brown who had all but scared off any possible contenders and Senator Boxer being an incumbent didn’t have any real competition which left the Republicans with some very interesting races. Which brings me to why I think the CDP and their operatives are exhibiting nothing more than sour grapes. I can understand members, supporters, operatives and so forth of either party going full throttle after the other side’s candidate of choice, once that choice is clear, but in recent years party machinations have tried to influence the outcomes of primary elections, and in the case of the Republicans this usually translates into an unelectable candidate to face off against the Democratic hopeful. However many Republicans decided that this year would be different and we’d let Republicans decide the outcomes of our own primary election.
Of course the CDP couldn’t help itself launching early and nasty attacks against both Meg Whitman (Republican Gubernatorial candidate hopeful) and Carly Fiorina (Republican Senatorial candidate hopeful). So for the first time in recent memory the Republican party faithful seemed to successfully tune out the CDP propaganda and hit pieces, went to the polls and picked their candidates. Which brings me to the evening of the 8th, when CDP operatives were aggressively handing out little pink half sheets “slamming” Carly. I’m the last one that would attempt to censor someone, but I thought how tacky and how desperate the CDP was to pass out such misleading information during our day to celebrate. Leave it to the CDP to try and rain on our parade, and why couldn’t they wait until the next morning to launch their first salvo in the General Election. They just couldn’t help themselves so they tried to use the celebration at our venue to pass out their sorry attempt to smear our candidate – tacky -- tacky -- tacky.
So as my daughter drove me home I contemplated the motive of these “tiny” people and concluded that the only reason they chose to try and rain on our “parade” was fear! You see they wanted deVore to get the Republican nomination and they did their best to nudge him into the winners slot, because by their calculations he didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in the general election; but Carly, well she’s an impressive leader who has proven she can and will make the tough decisions and could unseat Boxer, and for the CDP and Friends of Boxer this is a very scary thought!
What happens when the candidate is married to a practicing Democrat … you get a “Poizenegger”.
I took a little trip down to Buena Park this weekend to attend the California Republican Assembly (CRA), the reason for my trip was to listen to the Gubernatorial and Senatorial candidates speak and present their reasons for seeking these elective offices. The candidates and their teams were out in force canvassing the conference on a mission to seek endorsements, sign-up supporters, and when possible recruit converts to their campaign and cause.
Granted, the CRA is known for being more conservative, and candidates had come seeking the endorsement of this politically powerful group; but their endorsement is no guarantee that California Republicans will fall in lock step behind a CRA endorsed candidate. I had the opportunity to catch Whitman’s speech at noon, and found that she didn’t stray far from the candidate she has presented herself as at prior events and speaking engagements. Whereas Poizner seemed to have move even further right, which I think is an attempt to garner support from the more conservative arm of the party. I can understand a candidate wanting to craft their message to “suit” their audience, as a lecturer I’ve done this frequently; however there’s is crafting your message and there’s turning in a whole new message – which it what Poizner appears to have done just that to curry favor with the CRA delegates.
So desperate to curry favor that he ratchet up his negative campaign against his opponent, Whitman, to an almost frenetic level reminiscent of the now infamous Howard Dean yell. The attacks against Whitman began with Michael Shroeder’s introduction of Poizner and Poizner continued those attacks with repeated charges that Whitman had good things to say about Van Jones, accusations of Whitman giving donations to Democratic candidates and so forth – charges that have already been answered by Whitman. Yet Poizner meet the criticism of the disclosure that he had also donated personal monies to at least one Democratic candidate with “my wife the Democrat did that.” Poizner’s marionette-like performance at the CRA left me with little doubt that he would receive the CRA’s endorsement. While the CRA endorsement may be significant to some Republican voters, but for a voter such as myself an endorsement from a group such as Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association PAC holds much more significance.
I recall reading, probably from one of the many Poizner for Governor propaganda pieces that continually fill my email inbox, that the CRA did not endorse Arnold Schwarzenegger for Governor and how that turned out; I’d counter with that’s what you get for electing a Governor whose wife’s a practicing Democrat!