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Jon Fleischman

The Private and Public Positioning of Steve Poizner on 1A

Posted by at 12:00 am on Mar 13, 2009

Insurance Commissioner and GOP gubernatorial hopeful Steve Poizner opposes Proposition 1A, his spokesman, Kevin Spillane, assured me last night.

I felt compelled to give Kevin a call for clarification because there were conflicting statements coming out of the Poizner campaign.  Yesterday longtime FR blogger Jennifer Nelson wrote about Poizner’s remarks to a Bay Area Republican group whose meeting she attended, at which, in a response from Nelson, Poizner was clear that he opposed 1A, going even further to say that he would be taking a “major role” in leading the opposition effort.

Here is the relevant excerpt from Nelson’s blog post:

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. 

The Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert Blog picked up on Nelson’s post, commenting on it in this piece.

The same day that this was blogged, Capitol Weekly had a story on the upcoming campaign to pass the ballot propositions, and in it there was a section of the article that looked to GOP gubernatorial hopefuls Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner and where they were on Prop. 1A. In the piece, Whitman’s spokesman Mitch Zak say that his candidate has been, “…very outspoken in her opposition to 1A…”

The curious quote came from Poizner communications honcho Kevin Spillane who said that Poizner, “…has not taken an official position on the ballot measures yet.”

Here is the relevant excerpt from the Cap Weekly piece:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has already announced her opposition to Proposition 1A, and Whitman spokesman Mitch Zak did not rule out the possibility that Whitman would spend money against the measure.

“She’s been very outspoken in her opposition to 1A,” Zak said. “We’ve not made a decision how that opposition manifests at this point. We’re keeping our options open.”

A spokesman for another Republican gubernatorial candidate, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, said Poizner is also weighing his options.

“He expressed concerns about 1A, that it’s a continuation of taxes, but has not taken an official position on the ballot measures yet,” said Poizner spokesman Kevin Spillane.

So why would Poizner be telling GOPers one thing, and his spokesman be saying something different?

Apparently, according to Spillane, the conflict in statements arises from a distinction between whether or not a candidate has, as of yet, made a public announcement of a position.  In the world of politics, you try to maximize the "earned media" bang if you roll out a big announcement at a press conference, or by meeting with a newspaper’s editorial board.  Apparently Poizner is planning a major roll out of his opposition to 1A.

This situation should be a reminder to all candidates for office that thanks to advances in technology (many of which make blogging now look old-school), the distinction between "public" and "private" positions on issues is very small.  You never know when there a is a blogger in any group to which you speak.

The big question remains — and it is relevant for both Poizner and Whitman.  And that is whether or not either of them will open up their (rather large) personal check books to try utilize their opposition to Prop. 1A’s tax increase provisions to raise their profile among California voters — especially GOP primary voters.

Because of Poizner’s awesome track record with Proposition 93 (FR readers will remember the Fabian Nunez Term Limits Weakening Initiative) where he came in on a white horse and let the efforts to defeat that, which included a large cash infusion of his own personal funds, there are a lot of folks to whom I have spoken who assume that Poizner will once again engage similarly on 1A.  We’ll see how that goes.  It’s not hard to see where either Poizner or Whitman would see opportunity in a high-profile personal campaign to the public during this special election.  It will be the only time that the public will be looking at  casting votes between now and the primary in which the two bay area tycoons will face off for the GOP nomination for Governor…

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 13th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.