Famed politico and senior level Whitman for Governor consultant Mike Murphy fired a shot across the bow of the S.S. Poizner, in response to the accusations leveled by Poizner this morning (see the blog post below this one). Murphy’s statement:
"After reading the ridiculous charges made by Steve Poizner during today’s strange press conference, all I can say is that I’m starting to worry about Commissioner’s mental condition.
It is true that I have been trying to find a way to avoid a costly and unnecessary Republican primary. I believe it is important that Republicans across California unite around Meg Whitman to defeat Jerry Brown in the fall. It is also true that I am not the only one with this view. Many Republican leaders are more and more concerned that the Poizner campaign, now 28+ points behind in the polls and still sinking, is becoming little more than a stalking horse for Jerry Brown and the Democrats, especially since Commissioner Poizner has been loudly threatening to run a multi-million dollar negative campaign against Meg Whitman for months.
Several weeks ago I was advised by a source close to Steve Poizner that his pollster, my old friend Jan van Lohuizen, had been expressing grave doubts about the viability of the faltering Poizner campaign. So I emailed Jan; this is the email the Commissioner is so excited about. About ten days ago I also placed a phone call to a second senior Poizner consultant. We had a nice talk and discussed the option of Poizner considering a race for Senate in 2012. The consultant offered to discuss this with Commissioner Poizner and asked for a number where I could be called back. I do not plan to make any further comment on these discussions, as I do not want to create even more embarrassment for his consultants, or get anybody fired.
Judging from the Commissioner’s rant today concerning the FBI and Jerry Brown, I take it the Commissioner’s answer is "no." Hopefully the Commissioner was not serious about wasting taxpayer dollars by asking state and federal authorities to waste their time on such a silly matter of perfectly legal politics. Should they be interested, however, I will fully cooperate and provide them with a full details of my communication with various Poizner consultants about the dangerous futility of his campaign."
February 1st, 2010 at 12:00 am
If Mr. Murphy is foolish to think that he is an innocent bystander in all of this, then he is defintely NOT smarter than a 5 year-old.
Mr. Murphy is paid to do the work and bidding for Meg Whitman.
If Meg Whitman runs her campaign like she did at eBay by bullying Craigslist and other companies, then she does NOT deserve to be our Governor.
California deserve a Governor who can unite people without slash and burn tactics.