[Cross-posted from RedCounty.com]
Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman officially announced her candidacy today in the courtyard of the El Sol office complex in downtown Fullerton.
For this conservative OC native, it was satisfying to see a Republican candidate for governor launching her campaign from the heartland of California Republicanism: Orange County.
Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle was an able and funny emcee, as always — shuffling a series of warm-up speakers on-and-off stage in the hot mid-day sun. Finally, former Gov. Pete Wilson came on stage with Whitman to introduce the candidate. Wilson was the last good governor this state had — and if you knew me in my bomb-throwing days back in the early 1990s, you’d know what a striking thing that is for me to say. Wilson talked about how quickly California state finances fell apart — and how easily — after he left office in 1998 before turning the mike over to Whitman.
Whitman delivered a good speech replete with paeans to California’s past glories and promises to recapture them. She railed against the growth of government, the the state’s strangulation of free enterprise, the power of special interests and the destructiveness of liberal environmentalism. But she railed in a feminine way.
Here’s the text of the speech for readers perusal. If I might slip into the role of armchair speechwriter and offer some constructive criticism, I’d suggest cutting it down by 15 minutes or so by shortening the introduction. Less bio and diagnosis to focus the speech more on actions and solutions.
In the speech, Whitman promised:
- To issue a moratorium on new regulations "until our economy has begun to recover," "initiate a complete review of the state’s existing regulations to root out and eliminate the rules that don’t make sense or are outdated" and "require that all new regulations be thoroughly reviewed for their impact on businesses and jobs in our state." Excellent — very Reaganesque.
- "…take a careful, thoughtful approach to environmental regulation." Yeah, but every Republican promises to do that — it’s code for "I won’t kill the economy with crazy green rules." To her credit, Whitman went beyond the standard-issue platitude and declared, "I reject radical environmental policies that do little for the environment and devastate California’s economic future. … Liberal environmentalists may not like jobs or people, but California needs both."
Those are important words to say — not just for Whitman but for Republicans in general, because the Environmental Left has been so adept at camouflaging their ideology as the everyday environmentalism of the mainstream that values conservation and good stewardship, but not at the expense of people, liberty and opportunity.
Whitman reiterated her pledge to stop implementation of the economically suicidal AB 32 by executive order "until we fully understand the law’s impact on our economy." Huh? Seconds earlier, Whitman pointed out a rationale for this action: "A recent study estimates that AB 32 could cost the state more than a million jobs and implementation costs could exceed $100 billion. That’s devastating."
It seems to me Whitman already understands AB32’s impact on the economy: in her words, it’s "devastating." So why the "until we fully understand" qualifier?
Whitman highlighted the verity that that state government has sufficient revenue to run itself, and assailed Sacramento’s "spending addiction." True dat.
Whitman also promised:
- To be a governor with a "spine of steel" who would implement $15 billion in permanent spending cuts and cut the state payroll by at least 40,000 employees. That would return the state government employee roster to 2004-2005 levels and save $3.3 billion a year. Those figures are testaments to how out-of-control state government growth has been under Governor Terminator.
Whitman attacked automatic pay raises for state employees as disincentives to work and perform, and promised reform of government management and of "overly generous benefits" of state employees.
Saying "you can only manage what you can measure," Whitman made a pitch for improving government performance through technology and "meaning performance goals for departments" that would be published online.
Whitman identified education as her "third priority" and pointed out the obvious: "The issue is not money. There’s plenty of money. It’s how the money is spent." Whitman’s solution was:
- More control for local school and parents.
- Post online A through F grading system for California schools.
- Abolish the cap on the number of charter schools
- Push spending decisions down to local level
- "Reward outstanding teachers and those in key areas" — that sounds like merit pay to me.
All good stuff and delivered well. Whitman has definitely improved as a candidate since I last saw her speak in the spring.
Still, it left me…unfilled.
For example, her rhetoric on taxes was vague and tepid:
"As governor, I’ll cut taxes to create jobs. … Specifically, I’ll cut taxes on job-creating businesses of every size and implement targeted tax relief to rebuild manufacturing in California. I’ll expand research and development tax credits. I’ll establish tax incentives and credits for companies that train and hire displaced workers."
First, that’s not very specific. Second, "targeted tax relief" is how Democrats do tax cuts, because it necessarily involves government picking winners and losers in the marketplace. It’s one of the issue Al Gore ran on in 2000. On this issue, Whitman rival Steve Poizner offers a superior plan of broad-based tax rate cuts, and I hope Team Whitman is formulating something more bold and growth-oriented that targeted tax cuts and credits.
I think Whitman missed an opportunity to move to the right in a way that resonates in California by not calling for a hard cap on government growth. She devoted much of her speech to railing against the explosion in the size of state government. While appreciate her determination to be a governor with a "spine of steel," even the most successful governor is only in office for eight years. And as recent California history shows, a strong fiscal position can be quickly squandered by those in power. better to amend the state Constitution to impose permanent restraints on the government’s appetite for our money.
All in all, Whitman achieved a strong launch. In terms of image, the El Sol courtyard setting was picture perfect, evoking California, magnifying the size of the crowd, and attractively framing the stage and the candidate.