1) Westly up by 1 point in newest and final major poll. Last Saturday, the Field Poll released their polling for the democratic gubernatorial primary – the last major poll before the election. The numbers are are 35% Westly, 34% Angelides, and 26% undecided. We are confident with our position going into the last few days. We always knew it would be a close race, but believe Steve Westly’s positive vision for California will win on Tuesday. Here’s some key data straight from the poll findings: “In Westly’s case, more voters (30%) hold a favorable view than an unfavorable view (24%). However, the reverse is true of Angelides, with those holding a negative impression outnumbering those with a positive assessment 34% to 27%."
2) Westly endorsed by Palm Springs Desert Sun and seven African American newspapers. Last Saturday, the Palm Springs Desert Sun released an editorial endorsing Steve Westly for Governor, highlighting his pragmatic approach, his independence, and his ability to work across party lines to solve problems in state government. Steve Westly also recently announced the endorsements of prominent African American newspapers including the San Francisco Bay View, Los Angeles ACC News, Los Angeles Sentinel, Fresno California Advocate, Riverside Black Voice, Pomona Inland Valley News and Pasadena Journal. Westly has been endorsed by many of the state’s leading newspapers, including the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Daily News, Riverside Press-Enterprise, Fresno Bee, Los Angeles Daily News, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Modesto Bee, Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, Merced Sun-Star, Bakersfield Californian, and Metro Silicon Valley.
3) New Angelides’ “Twins” ad shamelessly distorts the truth. Angelides’ new ad features Steve Westly in pictures with Arnold Schwarzenegger and implies that Steve Westly supported Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cuts to education, healthcare, and aid for the disabled. The implication is a flat out lie. Steve Westly never supported the Governor’s cuts, and Phil Angelides knows it. The pictures come from when Steve Westly and the democratic leadership were working to solve the state’s fiscal crisis shortly after Arnold Schwarzenegger came into office. Steve Westly, along with Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, the AFL-CIO, a majority of democratic legislators, a majority of Californians, and almost every major newspaper in the state supported Propositions 57 and 58 back in 2004. Steve Westly, like most Californians and the Democratic Party leadership, was willing to give Schwarzenegger a chance. Since then, the Governor has cut education funding, prevented 100,000 poor kids from getting health insurance, and pursued a partisan special election attacking nurses, teachers, and firefighters. Steve Westly fought against the Governor’s right wing agenda as hard as anybody. California needs a governor who cares more about solving problems and less about partisanship.
4) Angelides’ “Joseph Cari” ad is misleading and hypocritical. A new Angelides attack ad accuses Steve Westly of raising campaign cash from “a corrupt Chicago businessman” (Joseph Cari) who wanted one of the state’s pension funds to invest in Healthpoint. The ad slams Westly's reputation for honesty and efficiency. Here are the facts: When Westly accepted a $4,000 contribution from Cari, he was a well-known Democratic fundraiser and former finance chair of the Democratic National Committee. The next year Cari pleaded guilty to extortion and Westly gave the money back. The pension fund ended up investing $5 million in Healthpoint, but Westly and the pension fund board never voted on it. Westly applied no pressure to invest in Healthpoint. Westly treated Cari's company no differently from any other investment opportunity and the pension fund's staff made the final decision to invest. Ironically, Angelides himself admits to soliciting funds from Cari on multiple occasions. It’s Phil Angelides, not Steve Westly, who has raised over 47% of his campaign funds from big Sacramento developers. His misleading attacks can’t change that. Read an LA Times article about Angelides’ misleading attack, “Angelides Attack Ad Points Back at Him,” here.
5) Angelides skirts campaign contribution limits. In June 3’s edition of the LA Times reports that Angelides “is using a loophole in the law to tout himself in statewide mailings that promote a preschool initiative on Tuesday’s ballot.” As the LA Times points out, Mr. Angelides’ new strategy is on shaky legal and ethical ground. Steve Westly also supports the universal preschool initiative, but unlike the Treasurer, Controller Westly respects the intent of campaign finance laws. Read the full article from the Times here.
Technorati Tags:
California Primary
Steve Westly
Phil Angelides
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Friday, June 02, 2006
Another day, another ad, another Angelides distortion
Phil and his gang are sure getting desperate these final days before June 6. If you weren't already aware, his campaign recently launched another "negative" ad depicting his opponent, Steve Westly to be Governor's Schwarzenegger’s clone. I set the facts straight below.
Phil may not have been the first to mudsling, but it's sure like he'll be the last one to throw a punch, which seems to me an obvious sign of desperation on his part. This election is coming to the wire and I hope that those of you undecideds who continue to read my post will be convinced that this ad is another one of Phil's distortions. The following is an article written by John Wildermuth that appeared yesterday in The San Francisco Chronicle.
“New ad shows Westly as Schwarzenegger clone, Angelides attacks his Democratic rival in black and white”
Los Angeles -- State Treasurer Phil Angelides released a new attack ad Wednesday that painted Controller Steve Westly, his opponent in the Democratic primary for governor, as a clone of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Westly dismissed the attack as an example of the hyper-partisanship in the state Capitol that stands in the way of solving problems for Californians. Talking with voters this week, Westly has emphasized his ability to work with those in both major parties.
The ad released by the Angelides campaign features black-and-white pictures of Schwarzenegger and Westly standing together and smiling at the camera.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger called him his twin," an announcer intones, "because Steve Westly was his strongest ally even while Schwarzenegger was cutting education, health care and aid for the disabled."
The final picture shows Schwarzenegger and Westly locked in an embrace. "California doesn't need a Schwarzenegger twin," the ad concludes.
Schwarzenegger and Westly worked closely in 2004 to pass Propositions 57 and 58, which were designed to ease California's budget crunch. While Angelides opposed the measures, they were supported by almost every other Democratic leader and legislator.
"The ad is pathetic and intellectually dishonest," complained Nick Velasquez, a spokesman for Westly. "By Mr. Angelides' reasoning, Democrats like Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, his own supporters, are twins of Gov. Schwarzenegger because they backed the propositions."
Automatically rejecting ideas from the other party is no way to solve the state's problems, Westly said Wednesday after a visit to a Thousand Oaks (Ventura County) free clinic.
"I've supported Gov. Schwarzenegger when I thought he was right, and I've opposed him when I thought he was wrong," Westly said. "I'm here to fix things. I'm here to find concrete solutions to the problems that face the state.''
Throughout the campaign, Angelides, the two-term treasurer and former state Democratic Party chairman, has been banking on the support of Democrats so angry with Schwarzenegger after last year's special election that they'll reject any suggestion of political compromise with the Republican governor.
At stop after stop, Angelides talks about how he was willing to stand up to the governor "even when his popularity was as high as his box office receipts" and dismisses Westly as someone who wasn't willing to challenge Schwarzenegger until the governor's poll numbers started dropping.
Westly and the governor "have stood together in the past and more importantly they still stand together" on many issues, Cathy Calfo, Angelides' campaign manager, said Wednesday when she screened the new ad for reporters.
The ad is in black and white, she said, "as black and white as the differences between Steve Westly and Phil Angelides."
Westly's campaign strategists have been expecting the attack from Angelides since the start of the campaign. By waiting until the final week before Tuesday's primary election, Angelides' aides hope the link to an unpopular governor can push undecided Democrats away from Westly and close the deal for their candidate.
It could do just the opposite, said Velasquez, Westly's spokesman. "We've seen how ineffective a governor is when he's stridently partisan and that's exactly what Angelides would be," he said.
At campaign stops this week Westly has talked about partisan gridlock in Sacramento and reminded his supporters that legislators of both parties passed milestones such as the state's ban on off-shore oil drilling.
"We need to bring Republicans and Democrats together to craft common sense solutions," he said Tuesday to a small group of supporters at a Paso Robles (San Luis Obispo County) winery. "You've got a choice between someone who's focused on being the anti-Arnold or someone who's focused on fixing the state's problems."
For Angelides, compromising with Schwarzenegger and Republicans in the Legislature is little more than surrendering to their calls to cut services to the state.
While he admits that his plan to raise money for schools by boosting the taxes of corporations and wealthy Californians faces tough sledding from anti-tax Republicans in the Legislature, "you don't run up the white flag before the battle's even fought," he said.
My editorial to the San Francisco Chronicle that sets the facts straight about Angelides' ad...
Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to John Wildermuth’s article, “New ad shows Westly as Schwarzenegger clone, Angelides attacks his Democratic rival in black and white.” I believe it was Lord Palmerston who once said that in politics, “there are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests.” I know it sounds cliché, but politics is truly the art of compromise.
The only way to get things done and stop the gridlock in Sacramento is if one builds support. This is what Steve Weslty did when he allied himself with the governor in support of Prop 57 in 2004 which called for a $20 billion fiscal recovery plan the state desperately needed at the time to keep our schools and hospitals open. In fact, Steve Westly wasn’t the only Dem who supported the governor that year. Senators Feinstein and Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Fabian Nunez, the AFL-CIO, the CTA and practically every Democrat in the state legislature supported the proposition, except you know who? That’s right, Phil Angelides and GOP State Senator Tom McClintock. So let me get this straight. Which candidate for governor is more aligned with the Democratic Party? According to Phil’s ad, it’s actually Steve Westly. I hope next time Phil gets his facts straight, if there is a next time.
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California Primary
Steve Westly
Phil Angelides
Phil may not have been the first to mudsling, but it's sure like he'll be the last one to throw a punch, which seems to me an obvious sign of desperation on his part. This election is coming to the wire and I hope that those of you undecideds who continue to read my post will be convinced that this ad is another one of Phil's distortions. The following is an article written by John Wildermuth that appeared yesterday in The San Francisco Chronicle.
“New ad shows Westly as Schwarzenegger clone, Angelides attacks his Democratic rival in black and white”
Los Angeles -- State Treasurer Phil Angelides released a new attack ad Wednesday that painted Controller Steve Westly, his opponent in the Democratic primary for governor, as a clone of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Westly dismissed the attack as an example of the hyper-partisanship in the state Capitol that stands in the way of solving problems for Californians. Talking with voters this week, Westly has emphasized his ability to work with those in both major parties.
The ad released by the Angelides campaign features black-and-white pictures of Schwarzenegger and Westly standing together and smiling at the camera.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger called him his twin," an announcer intones, "because Steve Westly was his strongest ally even while Schwarzenegger was cutting education, health care and aid for the disabled."
The final picture shows Schwarzenegger and Westly locked in an embrace. "California doesn't need a Schwarzenegger twin," the ad concludes.
Schwarzenegger and Westly worked closely in 2004 to pass Propositions 57 and 58, which were designed to ease California's budget crunch. While Angelides opposed the measures, they were supported by almost every other Democratic leader and legislator.
"The ad is pathetic and intellectually dishonest," complained Nick Velasquez, a spokesman for Westly. "By Mr. Angelides' reasoning, Democrats like Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, his own supporters, are twins of Gov. Schwarzenegger because they backed the propositions."
Automatically rejecting ideas from the other party is no way to solve the state's problems, Westly said Wednesday after a visit to a Thousand Oaks (Ventura County) free clinic.
"I've supported Gov. Schwarzenegger when I thought he was right, and I've opposed him when I thought he was wrong," Westly said. "I'm here to fix things. I'm here to find concrete solutions to the problems that face the state.''
Throughout the campaign, Angelides, the two-term treasurer and former state Democratic Party chairman, has been banking on the support of Democrats so angry with Schwarzenegger after last year's special election that they'll reject any suggestion of political compromise with the Republican governor.
At stop after stop, Angelides talks about how he was willing to stand up to the governor "even when his popularity was as high as his box office receipts" and dismisses Westly as someone who wasn't willing to challenge Schwarzenegger until the governor's poll numbers started dropping.
Westly and the governor "have stood together in the past and more importantly they still stand together" on many issues, Cathy Calfo, Angelides' campaign manager, said Wednesday when she screened the new ad for reporters.
The ad is in black and white, she said, "as black and white as the differences between Steve Westly and Phil Angelides."
Westly's campaign strategists have been expecting the attack from Angelides since the start of the campaign. By waiting until the final week before Tuesday's primary election, Angelides' aides hope the link to an unpopular governor can push undecided Democrats away from Westly and close the deal for their candidate.
It could do just the opposite, said Velasquez, Westly's spokesman. "We've seen how ineffective a governor is when he's stridently partisan and that's exactly what Angelides would be," he said.
At campaign stops this week Westly has talked about partisan gridlock in Sacramento and reminded his supporters that legislators of both parties passed milestones such as the state's ban on off-shore oil drilling.
"We need to bring Republicans and Democrats together to craft common sense solutions," he said Tuesday to a small group of supporters at a Paso Robles (San Luis Obispo County) winery. "You've got a choice between someone who's focused on being the anti-Arnold or someone who's focused on fixing the state's problems."
For Angelides, compromising with Schwarzenegger and Republicans in the Legislature is little more than surrendering to their calls to cut services to the state.
While he admits that his plan to raise money for schools by boosting the taxes of corporations and wealthy Californians faces tough sledding from anti-tax Republicans in the Legislature, "you don't run up the white flag before the battle's even fought," he said.
My editorial to the San Francisco Chronicle that sets the facts straight about Angelides' ad...
Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to John Wildermuth’s article, “New ad shows Westly as Schwarzenegger clone, Angelides attacks his Democratic rival in black and white.” I believe it was Lord Palmerston who once said that in politics, “there are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interests.” I know it sounds cliché, but politics is truly the art of compromise.
The only way to get things done and stop the gridlock in Sacramento is if one builds support. This is what Steve Weslty did when he allied himself with the governor in support of Prop 57 in 2004 which called for a $20 billion fiscal recovery plan the state desperately needed at the time to keep our schools and hospitals open. In fact, Steve Westly wasn’t the only Dem who supported the governor that year. Senators Feinstein and Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Fabian Nunez, the AFL-CIO, the CTA and practically every Democrat in the state legislature supported the proposition, except you know who? That’s right, Phil Angelides and GOP State Senator Tom McClintock. So let me get this straight. Which candidate for governor is more aligned with the Democratic Party? According to Phil’s ad, it’s actually Steve Westly. I hope next time Phil gets his facts straight, if there is a next time.
Technorati Tags:
California Primary
Steve Westly
Phil Angelides
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Vote for Phil if you want to see four more years of the Governator
Here's an article written by Dan Walter's that appeared in The Sacramento Bee yesterday. While his points make sense, the supposedly provocative question he asks at the end of his article is suppose to make California Democratic voters think. The letter to the editor I sent off to The Bee yesterday explains why the answer to his question is actually quite simple. Read for yourself.
"Many Democrats still undecided as Angelides and Westly joust" by Dan Walters, The Sacramento Bee
Phil Angelides and Steve Westly should be thankful that "none of the above" isn't an option on the June 6 ballot because, without spending a dime, NOTA might be a winner.
As the tortuous -- perhaps torturous -- duel between Angelides, the state treasurer, and Westly, the state controller, for the Democratic nomination for governor enters its final week, it's evident that neither would-be governor is generating much enthusiasm among Democrats, much less among all-important independents.
Two recent statewide polls by the Public Policy Institute of California and the Los Angeles Times show that, as Angelides told a rally at his campaign headquarters Tuesday, "We're in a dead-even contest."
Angelides does appear to have more momentum, having erased the lead that Westly had built during earlier stages. Nevertheless, both polls found that an extraordinary number of Democratic voters, somewhere between a quarter and a third, remained undecided last week, less than a fortnight before the election.
Voter turnout could be the key to which man emerges with the nomination. If it is, as many prognosticators expect, a low-turnout election, pro-Angelides get-out-the-vote drives by unions and Angelides' Democratic Party endorsement could be decisive.
Why such a large number of fence-sitters? PPIC polling director Mark Baldassare said they are "uncertain about the type of leadership they want for the state." And neither Angelides nor Westly is telling them much about how he would govern as both escalate the exchanges of personal invective, each essentially accusing the other of being sleazy.
The dearth of issue-oriented campaigning between the two candidates -- they truly disagree on few issues other than raising taxes -- has spilled over into the news media. The state's major newspapers have been publishing a series of damaging revelations about the two, most of which stem from their activities as private businessmen and/or campaign fundraising. And, predictably, those articles have fueled even more accusations of sleaziness from the opposing campaigns.
And what about Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor whom Angelides or Westly will face in November? A clue to his attitude is found in a brief bulletin to reporters from his office Monday: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will have no planned public events on Tuesday, May 30. He will hold private meetings in Sacramento." In other words, the governor is very content to keep a low profile while his two challengers beat up on each other and, he hopes, alienate the independents, who are roughly a fifth of the electorate and will be decisive in any close November election.
The Times and PPIC polls provide new evidence that Schwarzenegger has rebounded from the abysmal popularity that accompanied his massive defeat on a serious of special election ballot measures last November and while he's not out of the woods, he would stand a good chance of winning a second term. Among likely voters, he's somewhere in the mid-40 percent range -- not at all a bad position.
Schwarzenegger and his new political team have done an image makeover -- no more casual clothes and cheap theatrics, more business suits and events that stress governance rather than confrontation. Polls indicate that while voters like Schwarzenegger personally, they were repelled by his take-no-prisoners rhetoric during his "year of reform" ballot measure drive. The new Schwarzenegger image is statesmanlike and bipartisan, with his deal with the Legislature on infrastructure bonds as the centerpiece.
There's little doubt that when the votes are counted next Tuesday night, Schwarzenegger and his aides will be rooting for Angelides, whom they consider to be more liberal, less attractive to independents and carrying more negative baggage than Westly.
While the PPIC poll shows Schwarzenegger to be running neck-and-neck with either of the Democrats, the Times poll shows Westly faring much better than Angelides against the governor.
The dilemma for undecided Democratic voters may be whether to nominate someone who better represents the liberal heart of the party in Angelides, or someone who may stand a better chance of winning the governorship in Westly.
My rebuttal...
Dear Editor,
I’m writing in response to Dan Walter’s article, “Many Democrats still undecided as Angelides and Westly joust.”
Dan Walters wrote exactly what I have been telling my friends and acquaintances for the past two months. While Angelides may have the loyalty of the Democratic Party, I believe many Democratic voters know in their heart of hearts that when it comes to facing Gov. Schwarzenegger in the general election, Steve Westly would have the better chance to defeat the current governor.
While Mr. Walters framed the question at the end of his article as something that Democrats must mull over, the answer is very apparent to me. If Democrats want another four more years of the Governator, then go ahead and vote for Phil. If Democrats actually want to retake the governor’s seat and craft policy, then I would cast my ballot for Steve Westly.
Technorati Tags:
California Primary
Steve Westly
Phil Angelides
"Many Democrats still undecided as Angelides and Westly joust" by Dan Walters, The Sacramento Bee
Phil Angelides and Steve Westly should be thankful that "none of the above" isn't an option on the June 6 ballot because, without spending a dime, NOTA might be a winner.
As the tortuous -- perhaps torturous -- duel between Angelides, the state treasurer, and Westly, the state controller, for the Democratic nomination for governor enters its final week, it's evident that neither would-be governor is generating much enthusiasm among Democrats, much less among all-important independents.
Two recent statewide polls by the Public Policy Institute of California and the Los Angeles Times show that, as Angelides told a rally at his campaign headquarters Tuesday, "We're in a dead-even contest."
Angelides does appear to have more momentum, having erased the lead that Westly had built during earlier stages. Nevertheless, both polls found that an extraordinary number of Democratic voters, somewhere between a quarter and a third, remained undecided last week, less than a fortnight before the election.
Voter turnout could be the key to which man emerges with the nomination. If it is, as many prognosticators expect, a low-turnout election, pro-Angelides get-out-the-vote drives by unions and Angelides' Democratic Party endorsement could be decisive.
Why such a large number of fence-sitters? PPIC polling director Mark Baldassare said they are "uncertain about the type of leadership they want for the state." And neither Angelides nor Westly is telling them much about how he would govern as both escalate the exchanges of personal invective, each essentially accusing the other of being sleazy.
The dearth of issue-oriented campaigning between the two candidates -- they truly disagree on few issues other than raising taxes -- has spilled over into the news media. The state's major newspapers have been publishing a series of damaging revelations about the two, most of which stem from their activities as private businessmen and/or campaign fundraising. And, predictably, those articles have fueled even more accusations of sleaziness from the opposing campaigns.
And what about Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor whom Angelides or Westly will face in November? A clue to his attitude is found in a brief bulletin to reporters from his office Monday: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will have no planned public events on Tuesday, May 30. He will hold private meetings in Sacramento." In other words, the governor is very content to keep a low profile while his two challengers beat up on each other and, he hopes, alienate the independents, who are roughly a fifth of the electorate and will be decisive in any close November election.
The Times and PPIC polls provide new evidence that Schwarzenegger has rebounded from the abysmal popularity that accompanied his massive defeat on a serious of special election ballot measures last November and while he's not out of the woods, he would stand a good chance of winning a second term. Among likely voters, he's somewhere in the mid-40 percent range -- not at all a bad position.
Schwarzenegger and his new political team have done an image makeover -- no more casual clothes and cheap theatrics, more business suits and events that stress governance rather than confrontation. Polls indicate that while voters like Schwarzenegger personally, they were repelled by his take-no-prisoners rhetoric during his "year of reform" ballot measure drive. The new Schwarzenegger image is statesmanlike and bipartisan, with his deal with the Legislature on infrastructure bonds as the centerpiece.
There's little doubt that when the votes are counted next Tuesday night, Schwarzenegger and his aides will be rooting for Angelides, whom they consider to be more liberal, less attractive to independents and carrying more negative baggage than Westly.
While the PPIC poll shows Schwarzenegger to be running neck-and-neck with either of the Democrats, the Times poll shows Westly faring much better than Angelides against the governor.
The dilemma for undecided Democratic voters may be whether to nominate someone who better represents the liberal heart of the party in Angelides, or someone who may stand a better chance of winning the governorship in Westly.
My rebuttal...
Dear Editor,
I’m writing in response to Dan Walter’s article, “Many Democrats still undecided as Angelides and Westly joust.”
Dan Walters wrote exactly what I have been telling my friends and acquaintances for the past two months. While Angelides may have the loyalty of the Democratic Party, I believe many Democratic voters know in their heart of hearts that when it comes to facing Gov. Schwarzenegger in the general election, Steve Westly would have the better chance to defeat the current governor.
While Mr. Walters framed the question at the end of his article as something that Democrats must mull over, the answer is very apparent to me. If Democrats want another four more years of the Governator, then go ahead and vote for Phil. If Democrats actually want to retake the governor’s seat and craft policy, then I would cast my ballot for Steve Westly.
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California Primary
Steve Westly
Phil Angelides
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