The GOP Governor’s Primary Becomes a Federal Case
We’ve now entered the weird season – or perhaps the silly season, depending on your perspective – of the California Republican gubernatorial primary.
This morning, Steve Poizner called a press conference – no stated reason given – to talk about the race. Some journalists wondered if he was pulling out. He wasn’t.
Instead, he argued he had been a victim of a crime.
The crime? Threatening him if he doesn’t leave the race for governor and hand the nomination to Whitman.
The Whitman campaign’s reaction? Top Whitman advisor Rob Stutzman responded to an email query by saying of Poizner: “He’s gone nuts.”
Is Poizner Finished?
Looking at the PPIC poll ‘s score of the governor’s race in the Republican primary, some might wonder if Steve Poizner is finished. I’m not one of them.
Even though Poizner is 30 points behind Meg Whitman this is no time to close the books on the campaign. Voters don’t pay close attention until a month or so out from Election Day. The recent heralded victory of Republican Scott Brown in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race is only the most recent example of a candidate coming from way down in the polls to snatch victory. Brown’s winning surge occurred over the last ten days of the campaign.
Richard Riordan, the former mayor of Los Angeles, was the prohibitive favorite to capture the 2002 Republican gubernatorial nomination. One month before the March primary election, Riordan was 33 points ahead of eventual winner Bill Simon.
Term Limits Founder Blasts ‘Queen Meg’ On Initiatives
Paul Jacob, in his Townhall column, goes after California Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Meg Whitman for multiple statements criticizing the initiative process. "Obviously, Whitman very much wants Californians to cast a vote for her this year," Jacob writes. "And then, apparently, she wants to stop Californians from casting a vote on much of anything else in the future.
Jacob’s name carries great weight in part because he was the founder and organizer of the successful term limits movement in the U.S. Today he runs the Citizens in Charge Foundation, which is organizing nationwide to protect and expand direct democracy. (Full disclosure: Jacob and Citizens in Charge are leading participants in the 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy, a conference on initiative and referendum that I’m organizing this summer in San Francisco.)
Jacob himself has suffered for his commitment to direct democracy, having been indicted in Oklahoma three years ago for using out-of-state signature gatherers. Using such signatures isn’t a crime — and shouldn’t be. Eventually, all charges against Jacob and his co-defendants — the Oklahoma Three — were dismissed.
Is Carly Fiorina the Real Deal for California?
This past Friday, I had the opportunity to meet with 40 innovators and entrepreneurs at a 1.5 hour innovators roundtable with Carly Fiorina, candidate for the United States Senate from California.
Among the discussion points was the President’s stimulus package, the need to educate our children for 21st century jobs, access to capital for small businesses, health care and immigration policy. Carly was engaging, energetic, charming, articulate, and appears to be a real problem solver.
Among attendees was Saman Dias, who was named head of “Entrepreneurs and Small Business” for Carly. Saman is a dynamic young entrepreneur and friend who cares deeply about the state of our economy in California. I’ve never known her to be involved in politics before – but Carly inspired her – and now she’s engaging.
Using iPhones to sign initiative petitions
Can you use your iPhone to sign an initiative petition? A northern California-based company, Verafirma, has developed an application that makes it possible. But is it legal? Is it secure? These are the questions that remain unanswered. Election officials will need to start figuring it out soon, though, because the proponents of an initiative seeking to legalize marijuana use in California have submitted their petitions for verification, and the batch includes a smattering of signatures submitted not on piece of paper, but on thumb drives that display the initiative petition along with an image of a voter’s signature captured when the voter wrote that signature on his or her iPhone screen using the Verafirma app.
And it’s not just an image of a signature – it’s something called "signature dynamic" that captures the pressure, speed and other special characteristics of the signature-in-the-making. This data can also be used for verification purposes – however, I do not believe the 58 county registrar offices have that technology in-house at this time. The counties that received these thumb drives have to either accept or reject the signatures on them. If they are rejected then there will likely be a legal battle and/or a legislative effort to change the law.