Whitman has Overwhelming Lead over Poizner in new Statewide Poll
Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has a commanding lead over Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner in the race for the Republican Gubernatorial nomination according to a new poll conducted by M4 Strategies and released by the Small Business Action Committee today.
Republican voters, indicating a preference, supported Whitman over Poizner 60% to 12%.
In separate questions testing the candidates’ favorable and unfavorable ratings, Whitman scored a favorable to unfavorable advantage of 53% to 9%. Poizner’s scored 20% favorable, 9% unfavorable.
Poizner’s absence from the airwaves seems to be taking a toll on his campaign. Nearly 50% of the poll’s respondents said they have not heard of the Insurance Commissioner. Only 22% had not heard of Whitman.
Poizner intends to become more well known through a blitz of radio and TV ads he plans to launch soon. Referring to his campaign kitty, Poizner told the Associated Press: "We’re going to spend it all" … "I mean, it’s not like I’m trying to keep my resources for the general (election) or something. We’re going to spend what it takes."
Dunn and Done: Squirrel!
Have you seen Disney’s animated movie, UP? It’s a great story about Carl, a 78 year old retired salesman who ties balloons to his house and flies away with Russell, an 8 year old stowaway, and his faithful dog, Dug. It’s a wonderful story, very touching.
The dog, however, really caught my attention. Dug has a special collar that allows him to speak! He helps Carl and Russell on his adventures throughout the film, but does have one tragic flaw: Dug gets distracted by squirrels. He may be on the most important mission of his life, but when he sees a squirrel out of the corner of his eye, his attention is completely diverted and—“SQUIRREL!”—he says. Off he runs to chase it.
Doesn’t this remind you of some of our state leaders? The mission is jobs creation–private sector jobs creation–pure and simple. It’s about getting folks employed who can pay taxes, and businesses that hire, grow and pay taxes, that will help Sacramento get its house in order. How can a state leader help create jobs? In one of three ways: reduce taxes and fees; reduce the glut of regulations business faces every day; and reduce opportunities for frivolous lawsuits.
‘Cool Cars’ embodies Sacramento’s ‘bumbling, well-intentioned, paternalistic nonsense’
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is looking to finalize its “Cool Cars” policy this Thursday (** this was corrected from original blog that said “Wednesday”**), once again putting regulation before reason and imposing knee jerk command-and-control mandates with no regard for economic impacts and, in this case, public safety.
Here’s the nickel tour:
CARB’s “Cool Cars” policy was set up in 2009 as an AB 32 early action item to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by reflecting heat away from cars, thereby requiring less air conditioning and less fuel.
Regional Cooperation Key to California Recovery
The future of the Golden State and the well-being of every Californian depend on a thriving economy. A robust state economy means well-paying jobs for workers, increased business development opportunities and sufficient funding for essential state services.
With an increasing number of businesses closing their doors and more workers losing their jobs, we have seen a precipitous decline in state revenues that has led to steep and abrupt cuts in everything from health care and education to prisons and infrastructure investment. With some of the highest state business and personal income tax rates, an overly burdensome regulatory environment, and a structurally dysfunctional state government that has recently been in budgetary gridlock, California is increasingly viewed as a place with an environment that is hostile to businesses, and as a consequence, the jobs – and tax revenue – businesses create.
With the state’s unemployment rate exceeding 12 percent, sustainable economic growth and job creation clearly must be our policymakers’ highest priorities. California has enormous economic capacity and potential, but we need to develop consensus around a statewide strategic plan for economic development that gets all the state’s economic regions to come together, invest and behave according to a shared vision for growing the economic pie and creating jobs.