Last week, on Wednesday and Thursday, the number two ranked House GOPer, Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, was out in California where he announced that he was endorsing Meg Whitman in her campaign for the GOP nomination for Governor. Cantor appeared at two fundraising events for Whitman (one in the Bay Area, the other in Los Angeles) and sat for two interviews with Whitman. One with FR friend Joe Mathews (what Joe lacks in defining ideology he 
makes up for with his irrepressible sense of humor) and the other with the FlashReport.
Immediately below this introduction is a short 90 second video that I shot with the handy FlashCam right after the interview — the endorsements of the FlashReport are worth seeing it to its conclusion, despite the terrible lighting which makes it hard to see the subjects. Below that is the full text of the 35 minute interview. It is a bit lengthy but when I am able to give a full (edited) transcript, I feel that is better because it allows you, the reader, to decide what to make of the interview — as opposed to me acting as a filter. Finally, below the interview is a video clip made by the pros with the Whitman campaign touting Cantor’s endorsement. Slightly better quality than my work. That video is worth watching because it is taped in the pretty spectacular back yard of Sun Microsystems guru Scott McNealy.
So without any further introduction, my interview from last Thursday with Meg Whitman and Rep. Eric Cantor…
Fleischman (Flash): Let me open this up by going to straight to you, Meg, so that you can talk about what we’re doing here today, and your special guest, Congressman Eric Cantor.
Meg Whitman: Thank you for that. Eric and I got to know each other on the McCain campaign and we became fast friends and agree on many, many things. I asked Eric if he would come out and do some events with me in California. So he came out last night and we did an event at Scott McNealy’s house in Northern California. Scott was the founder of Sun Microsystems.
Flash: Sure. Does he have a little starter home up there in the Bay Area?
Whitman: Yeah. Eric agreed to come out for that event, which was great, and then this morning, we did another event here [in Southern California], and then we’re doing some media interviews. He agreed to help me for about a day in California and is going to endorse me today. I was very appreciative of that. So that’s what we are doing.
Flash: Well, he actually has already has endorsed you, right?
Whitman: Yeah. I think the press release went out at 10:00 a.m.
Cantor: Ten minutes ago.
Flash: Right. So – well, congratulations. The number two House Republican. It’s a big deal –
Whitman: It’s very important.
Flash: So it’s a big deal, and of course, it probably says a lot that you’re spending some of your time out here on a gubernatorial campaign, given the demands you have in Washington.
Cantor: What I can tell you is, first of all, we’re here in California to join Meg in her mission here to turn the economy around. This is spoken as a Virginian, as a common sense Jeffersonian conservative, I’m here with Meg Whitman because she has the vision of California that I believe will deliver the results necessary to turn the economy around. And like it or not, most Americans, California, its economy and its well-being is very important to our national future.
So I’m here with Meg. I believe – I have not, in my political career, seen an individual with the background that she’s got that is more fitting to the challenges facing the people of this state. It is just a perfect match. So it’s the economic basketcase of California right now, we need to take a look at. I think, from a broader perspective, our party needs Meg Whitman. If you look at the message in last week’s elections here in California on propositions, you’ve got a state that voted 61% percent Obama – but then turned around and voted 64% overall against the status quo, against the tax and spend tradition that has developed in Sacramento, you have some seeds of a rebellion there based on the principles that guided Ronald Reagan’s election in 1966 in this state.
So you have the ability, in somebody like Meg, to begin to build a governing majority. Now, look. The governing majority is going to have to become accustomed to some tensions. The Party has been struggling of late because there are some of us who take positions on issues that don’t necessarily agree with other Republicans on issues. But we have to look back to see what Reagan did, to see what Jack Kemp did, frankly, see what we did in the party that Newt Gingrich delivered in 1994 in the Contract With America.
There is something about Californians and the American people that can unify behind goals that transcend the divide. Meg Whitman is key to building that goal. That’s why I’m rooting for her, and that’s why I have endorsed her today for her candidacy to become the next governor of California.
Flash: Meg, we haven’t had a chance to talk since last Tuesday’s election. What message do you think was being sent by that election? And if you were in Sacramento, how would you interpret that? What should they be doing up there?
Whitman: The way I would interpret that election is people are not happy with the status quo. They’re not happy with the way the state has been governed and they’re not happy with the performance of the governor and the legislature and you could see it in 1F most dramatically, which is, you know, ‘We’re not going to give these folks a raise until they put the house in order.’
Flash: Well, that vote on 1F kind of proved, guess what, they actually read all the measures!
Whitman: I think what people are realizing is, the way we’ve been doing things for the last ten years of spending more money, taxing people more is simply not sustainable. And what I was encouraged by is that I think the people also understand we have a government we can no longer afford and we have to get spending under control.
So that’s the way I took it. And if I was governor right now, I would be doing the following: I would be saying, "You know what? We have got to take a stem to stern, line item by line item review of this budget". We have revenues that were in the same in the state as 2000 and 2001. In my base cases, I start with a 2000/2001 budget. We have more people, but only 3% more people and we ought to be able to overcome that by deploying technology to improve productivity.
So let’s start with the 2000/2001 budget and work from there. And it is painful. But I think Californians really understand we can no longer support this cost structure because we’re uncompetitive. We are bleeding jobs.
Most people think we’re bleeding jobs to India and China. We’re not. We’re bleeding jobs, as I think I told you when we first met, to Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Utah. And unless we get our house in order, we’re not going to be able to stand up and compete, and we’re have to if we want to revive the economy, because my belief is that the only way you can actually increase revenues for the state sustainability is to have more people working, more people paying taxes and a robust and growing economy.
Flash: I guess having both of you here kind of brings me around to wanting to talk about some of the areas where state issues and federal issues overlap – probably the most significant of which would be all this talk about having the federal government secure loans for California, or perhaps increase welfare for our state government. Congressman, what’s your position on this? I guess you’d probably apply it generically, whether it’s the Commonwealth of Virginia or the State of California.
Cantor: I think we can take sort of note of what’s been going on of late in Washington with the incredible expansion and reach of the government into the corporate boardrooms, intervening in bankruptcy process. And just talk to some of the individuals who have now encountered government unlike they’ve ever seen, and it is so distant from the notion of free market of an economy that we know has worked to produce prosperity. So if you take notice of that, and then if you are going to propose a government backing or intrusion here in California, I don’t think the people of California would want that. Obviously, it’s an easy fix to say, "Hey, let’s get Washington to back up or guarantee our debt because we can’t do it ourselves any more".
Flash: Do you sense that even the Democrat Members of Congress from California want that?
Cantor: Well, I don’t think the people want it. I think maybe it would be an easy fix for the Democrat majority in Washington, along with the President, to say, "Sure, we’re going to be there to help you all plan". The problem is –
Flash: It’s their agenda, then tying more strings to state government –
Cantor: Exactly.
Flash: – and blurring the line of distinction between what are the State’s issues versus what are federal issues.
Cantor: And that’s why the people of California will not like this.
Flash: Right.
Cantor: So I am very much opposed to this notion that we should have Washington come in and just begin to write more checks as we see the prospects for inflation to continue to soar right now, and given the prospects of Washington beginning to tell people here in Los Angeles, San Francisco, of whatever, what they’ve got to do, because it’s coming. Again, just look at the track record of what’s being going in the auto industry, the financial services industry, and God forbid, the healthcare system in this country if they get what they want. So it’s very important for us to draw the line and say, "No. Washington should not do that".
Flash: Congressman, when we were in the majority, and then we became the minority party. There’s a lot of concern amongst grassroots Republicans, that while you represent kind of a rising star of conservatism, that John Boehner, who was the leader, is still there, and presumably, should we happen to gain a majority, he would become the speaker – you know, the Jerry Lewis’ of the world, and all the other ranking members – the establishment never changed There was never any shake-up in the leadership of House Republicans, and so there’s a concern that the Eric Cantor’s of the world, who are very conservative and very articulate, are going to go out on the trail and win us a majority, but then it’s not the Eric Cantor that becomes the speaker. It’s the – and I know it’s an akward question to ask because I’m not sure how to – there’s a good answer for you. But what would you say to conservatives who are concerned that when we lost, you got a promotion, and Blunt moved out, and then kind of moved in, but there never really any kind of wholesale change. So what do you say?
Cantor: Let me just say for the record, I am not running for Speaker. I’m for John Boehner to be Speaker. Okay.
Flash: Right.
Cantor: But I will tell you – what we have done in the House – and it started last cycle – Kevin McCarthy and I got together with Paul Ryan from Wisconsin and we constituted a group called the Young Guns. And what this group is focused on is trying to attract the next generation of leaders for the party and the country. It is important for us to really go out there and be able to communicate and involve ourselves in discussions across this country around conservative principles; again, the principles of free markets, the principles of entrepreneurialism, the principle of running the government, and to begin to listen to people as to what they’re facing in their lives and then explain and advocate the solutions that we have and how they best respond to the challenges people face. That’s how our party will right ourself.
There are things that continue to fester in Washington. You look at the earmark process, you look at the stimulus bill and the waste involved, and the hundreds of billions of dollars that have now gone out unaccounted for.
So we have a lot to do in doing our homework to demonstrate that we can lead again. And I can tell you that the momentum and the energy in the Republican Conference is to look forward, to begin to form that majority coalition so we can take this country and put it back on the right track. So I would say to those who are somewhat skeptical, have we really learned the lesson? We need contrition, absolutely.
But we also need to begin to deliver on the promise that we’re going to ensure this generation today is going to have a better life than the one before. And the way we do that is we lay out the vision and we go about executing, and not worrying about who’s speaker, who’s this and who’s that.
Flash: Have you guys thought about pursuing another kind of – some updated version of the Contract with America? I know that when I’ve talked with a lot of party folks here in California, and one of our observations that we had was that one of the great things about running on the Contract in ’94 was that every Republican, whether they ran from like – whether they were moderate from a New England district, or conservative from Orange County, California, all ran on ten very overt items which gave them all the cover they needed, once they got elected, to implement them.
Cantor: If I recall – and I wasn’t in Congress in 1994, but I did think that that contract came about very late in the election year, and people then embraced it. But let me just try to bridge to California here, because the platform that Meg is running on, the platform of jobs, getting government spending under control and accountability instilled in education. Those are issues analogous to what the Contract for America was back in 1994. Those are issues that people of this state can rally around and get behind, no matter what their position is on perhaps another issue that may not be as prominent in the public debate today.
Flash: Sure.
Cantor: So what we’ve done, about a month ago, is launched the National Council for a New America. This is a informal caucus between House and Senate leadership on the Republican sign, bringing in a national panel of experts – Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney and I launched this a month ago at a pizza restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, and we went there to begin the conversation. It’s a small business, emblematic of small businesses across the country, that had families patronizing this institution that are emblematic of families struggling every month to pay the bills. And to start that conversation, to begin to talk about the issues that all Americans are experiencing right now, and how we can respond to that. Whether this conversation leads to a contract, leads to a movement that will involve not just Republicans, but Independents and like-minded Democrats, who knows. But it certainly is my goal to awaken people to the consequences of what’s going on in Washington right now, so we can stop some of the craziness that’s going on and begin to get this country back on the right track.
Flash: So, Meg, have you had any opportunities to sit down with Speaker Pelosi? Does she open her door to prominent Californians?
Whitman: You know, I haven’t spent much time in Washington with Nancy and I haven’t spent much time with her here. When I was the CEO of eBay, obviously we interacted with her some.
Flash: And I know you’ve been to Washington testifying before Congress. Bringing some common sense ideas to an institution that rejects common sense on a daily basis.
Cantor: Meg came with Mitt Romney, because we were looking – and Kevin McCarthy and I had started sort of the process of saying, "We’re going to have a Small Business forum. We’re going to go in and begin to forge an answer to the majority’s stimulus suggestions". And in fact, Leader Boehner, "Hey, y’all go do this. Have an Economy Recovery Working Group and start to look for the solutions". So where best – where other to look than to Meg Whitman, Mitt Romney, people who understand what it takes to run a business, to come in and explain –
Whitman: What we need to do.
Cantor: And so Meg was terrific when she came. We had an interactive hearing. We had folks from around the country participating.
Whitman: I think my point of view on this, Jon, is I think tough economic times call for a very focused discussion. And if you look at the average Californian today, people are really struggling. I mean, I spent time in the Central Valley. I was up in Redding Tuesday. People are really hurting. And it’s if they have a job, they’re worried they’re going to lose it. The ability to make ends meet, it becomes tougher every single day. And so I think we have to focus, as Republicans, around something that 70% of the people can agree with, and I think every Californian that I’ve talked to thinks that jobs, jobs creation and job retention is the most important issue because if there’s one metric that we have to look at, it’s unemployment. And the higher unemployment goes, the worse – it’s like, you know, when you drop a pebble into a pool? The ripple effects of high unemployment are incredible. Consumers don’t have as much to spend. Housing values go down. We’ve got to get Californians back to work. We can not lose another job to a neighboring state. I think everyone agrees with that.
Government spending: I think that election showed that people really understand that we have got to get this under control and they’re tired of an inefficient, non-energetic government. And then almost everyone I’ve talked to understands that education is the great leveler in California. If you don’t get a great education, you don’t have a chance at the California dream. You don’t have a chance to move yourself up and out. Gosh, I’ve spend a lot of time in the L.A. public school system and the San Diego public school system. Many of these kids don’t have a chance. It is the civil rights issue of our time, and if we don’t fix this, we have no chance of taking a whole group of people and giving them a chance for the California dream. So I’m with Eric, and 70% of the people in California would agree with that. Maybe 100%.
So let’s take that message forward. Let that be our standard bearer and let’s drive those issues home. And it isn’t that many other issues that the Republicans have historically cared about aren’t important. They are important. But let’s focus on what we can lead on. And I promise you, Republicans are better on those three issues than Democrats. We just are.
Flash: We have a rich history of nominating conservatives and moderate Republicans for Governor here in California, and watching them both loose, and nominating conservative and moderate republicans and watching them win. And you can see the distinction is not are they moderate or are they conservative. It’s are they smart in the way that they campaign? I have one last area I wanted to chat with you guys about.
Flash: Meg, but maybe share with us a little bit about one of the most lasting impacts that you would have as the governor – the appointment of judges.
Whitman: It’s kind of really important because the judges that you appoint outlive you. They have a huge impact on any number of issues. And the number of judges that you could end up appointing… Pete Wilson appointed 800 judges.
First of all, I’m a Republican and I want to appoint judges that will not interpret the Constitution, but abide by the Constitution. I don’t want legislation from the bench. And I want judges who are right of center. And there may be some Democrats that get into that process over time, but I want people who really have a deep understanding of the California Constitution, all of its strengths and all of its weaknesses and can actually make that their priority.
There is a process that one goes through to – one of the things that I think Obama did well is he knew there would be a vacancy, and so he was not unprepared. People can decide whether they like the nominee or they don’t, but he was prepared. So I think we want to be very thoughtful about this. I understand it is one of the most important things that the governor does because it has long-term effect on the state.
Flash: Congressman, obviously we have a big Supreme Court nomination going which is kind of the purview of the other house, the Senate, but I’m sure you have some thoughts. Traditional conservative groups who all have come out quite vocally opposed to Sotomayer’s confirmation. It seems that GOP Senators have been a bit more – quiet. From our perspective, we see that there is an important role of the process because it helps to crystalize in the minds of the public what are the positions of the Republicans versus Democrats. But what are your thoughts about the new nominee and how Republicans should be approaching this confirmation?
Cantor: I think it’s interesting that the nomination came about when Congress is out of session. So obviously, next week, when we get back up to Washington, you will probably see a much stronger sort of positioning, if you will, on what this nominee’s about, but I think the initial response from the Minority Leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has been appropriate. Let’s begin the process. Let’s begin about Judge Sotomayor and what she’s done. I know there are plenty of warning signs for me about her record on the bench. There are statements that she has made that would indicate that she believes that policy is made from the bench; that somehow, that would give pause to me that maybe a position on the Supreme Court would give someone access to becoming a super legislator. Obviously, I don’t think she would say that. Clearly, she’s got an academic record that is terrific. She has really excelled as far as that is concerned. She’s got extensive judicial experience. I think it is about, certainly, the integrity of the person. It is about the temperament of the person. I’m somewhat concerned about statements that she has made that would seem to indicate that her philosophy of not being a judge, but her ideological positioning would somehow influence the outcome of her cases, or the outcome of her opinions.
Flash: Kind of the ultimate statement of looking beyond the facts and letting your own prejudice tend to weigh in on this.
Cantor: And begin to direct where you want the outcome to be, and work backwards. So that’s obviously very concerning to me. If you look at the case that’s gotten a lot of the scrutiny — the Ricci case. I can’t tell what it’s called.
Whitman: Is that the one in Connecticut?
Cantor: Yeah. The firefighter case.
Cantor: That gives me pause to see where she came down in the case, when you have people denied their promotion because there were no minorities, or there weren’t enough minorities involved in the group that had done what they needed to do to earn a promotion. That’s very difficult to me. If you look at sort of where the case law may likely go, given where we are in Washington, you know, there is a big question about presidential power right now, and executive privilege, and executive power, and how that applies in terms of national security, how that implies in terms of the ability to carry on the military tribunals, and what goes on with the Patriot Act.
Flash: So if you have a judge who says, "Well, I like what the President’s doing, so let’s give them a power", as opposed to looking at the Constitution and saying, ‘Well, I may or may not like it, but it’s not in the –"
Cantor: Or there may be another reaction. It may be where the court has been lately, to say that neither Congress nor the President has that power. It is we, the Court.
So there’s all kinds of sort-of potential pitfalls here that need to be brought out. And that’s why I think we need to see the process begin next week, hopefully. Senators Kyl and McConnell had said we should have a deliberative process just as the process ensued when we were in charge, and I’m hoping that that will be the case.
Flash: Meg, do you care to weigh in at all with any thoughts on the nominee?
Whitman: It’s hard to disagree with with Eric. I was pleased that he did nominate a Latina, and actually, she and I went to school together.
Flash: Really?
Whitman: So I’ve known Sonja for thirty years and she’s very smart.
Flash: Where did you two meet?
Whitman: We were together at Princeton. She was a politics major. So I know her and I like her as an individual. We served together on a little board at Princeton. So I like the motion of her – you know, I like her, and so I’m excited about that. And I think having another woman on the court was the right thing to do.
I also agree with Eric that there needs to be a process here to understand in more detail, her core beliefs, how she wants to approach this, and I think that is the role of the Senate confirmation process. I think Mitch [McConnell] is handling that very well and we will see what else we learn in the context. But I must say, I was pleased by a woman and a Latina.
Flash: Congressman, are you comfortable channeling [NRCC Chairman] Pete Sessions for a minute? You know, there are a lot of political races going on in California this cycle. We, as the Republicans, see an opportunity to take back a bunch of turf that they took, and they kind of look at where can we get more turf, and it’s opened up half a dozen more house seats held by Republicans and then, of course, there’s opportunities to take seats back. Are you guys pretty committed to California?
Cantor: Absolutely. Jon, I think, overall, country-wide, I think there’s 49 seats held by the other side where John McCain won. It’s indicative, number one, that there are constituencies in those seats that are, and should be, more receptive to the message that we’re going to be about as a party going forward. And that was in the worst political year, where John ran a good campaign, lost but he won enough sets. So we’re looking nationally. But here in California, you’re right. Seven seats, I think, is the number where the other side has targeted, and we’re going to be very competitive because internally, there are programs like the NRCC Patriot Program, that each of our candidates has signed up for, knowing full well they’ve got to go out and demonstrate financial strength in their campaign coffers, but also do the things that they know must be done to connect with their constituencies and make sure that our message is heard. It is going to be very much up to our gubernatorial nominees to lead in that year. And going back to Meg’s message, it is a message that I believe at least 70% of this state, no matter what districts, are going to be able to get excited about. And that 70% will also be in these districts.
So we’re looking forward to California playing a big role for sure economically on the big scene, but also to bolster the seats that we have here. And who knows? The tables could really turn by them and people so fed up with what’s going on in Sacramento and Washington that we could identify some seats we could on offense on for. There are a few already.
Whitman: One of the things that we have to do as Republicans in California is we have to rebuild the voter registration apparatus, the get out the vote apparatus, the grass roots apparatus, and frankly, we’re going to have to put in some technology because we are woefully behind. So that’s one of the things that I hope, with the help of the NRCC and others, we can actually start to build a platform that other Republicans can use. There’s no point in having every single Republican redo – I mean, I’m doing it myself, because it’s a core competency and I know people who can do it and we have the financial resources to do it. But unless we built a platform that Assemblymen can use, that State Senators can use, that the California Republican Congressional races can use, we are going to fall farther and farther and farther behind. And I think a priority – and we actually haven’t even talked about this, but I think a priority is that we’ve got to have somebody who can build a technology platform that every Republican candidate can use because we can’t simply afford to have the sixty people build the same candidacy platform. It makes no sense at all.
Flash: Well, let me just close by saying as an officer of the party, actually, it’s kind of a convenient cover because I can’t endorse in primaries. But I can say that Congressman Cantor’s endorsement of your campaign is very impressive and you should be proud to have it.
Whitman: I am.
Flash: And we’re proud to have you in the House of Representatives, Congressman, and I appreciate the time to sit down.
Cantor: Thank you for that.
Meg Whitman’s website is here.
Rep. Cantor’s site is here.
Photos taken by Mitch Zak – thanks!
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