Last evening a group of Bay Area Republicans gathered in Oakland to meet and listen to Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.  This informal group plans on meeting with the other two gubernatorial candidates in the next two months as well.

Poizner was a good sport for even attending a meeting of Bay Area Republicans (believe it or not, there were more than six of us there).  Poizner’s speech was a basic stump speech underscoring his opposition to the latest budget deal and explaining his commitment to low taxes, job growth and innovation.  Oh, and his commitment to public schools, via charter schools.  (School choice, he said, was politically dead in this state.)  He also eloquently addressed the problem the state faces with the expense of retirees’ health care. 

The most interesting part of his appearance was his response to a question (mine) about the spending cap voters will be considering in May.  He had already stated his opposition to the spending cap because it extends the tax increases recently passed in the budget (he supports a spending cap in principal).  When asked if he would take a major role in leading an opposition effort, he said yes, that he plans to work with anti-tax groups to rally opposition to the measure.  Given the fact that the Sacramento insiders believe that the initiative will pass because the unions and business groups have agreed to support it, it is significant for one of the major GOP gubernatorial candidates to commit to helping mount opposition to the tax hike/faux spending cap measure.  Given Poizner’s personal wealth, it would be interesting to see if he actually helps fund a viable campaign effort.  Let’s see if it is more than just campaign rhetoric. 

Poizner was disappointing in his response to a question (again, mine) about what would he do to help rejuvenate the Republican Party, namely help more GOP legislators get elected so that we don’t end up in the position we found ourselves in this year.  (Well, hopefully the next GOP governor is truly a low taxes, limited government leader.)  He immediately rejected trying to "rebrand" the party, stating that the party’s fundamental principles did not need rebranding–they just needed elected officials committed to carrying them out.  Very true.

But then he went on to say something bland about wanting to have the support of all Californians, which is great for a bipartisan group, but he was in a room of Republicans.  All of us understand that it takes votes from both parties to win the governor’s office and policies and principles should trump partisan labels.  But, when push comes to shove, we need Republicans in elected office in Sacramento in order to control major policy decisions.  And we need the top elected GOP officials to help make that happen. 

It will be an interesting primary to watch.  I can’t help admitting that I have an uneasy feeling in my stomach about Poizner and Whitman’s political inexperience (two years in office does not make one an expert in Sacramento politics).  Not that I’m advocating a vote for Tom Campbell.  But I know I’m not alone in feeling burned by the last political novice that the GOP helped win the governor’s office.

PS–Poizner’s team needs to watch what their candidate says about past governors.  While Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis can easily be criticized for their lack of interest in protecting California jobs and business climate, Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian cannot be.  Poizner did not mention governors by name, but made a few sweeping statements about the elected officials not caring about the economy over the past 30 years.  Team Poizner, Pete Wilson made business retention a priority, including creating economic strike teams designed to lure and retain jobs in California just like the ones your candidate is describing and .  And economic growth was a key component of George Deukmejian’s administration, allowing that great governor to campaign for reelection as successfully taking the state from "IOU to A-OK."

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.