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.”
What’s Poizner’s evidence of a crime? Poizner says his friends and campaign staff have received a series of calls asking him to get out of the race. Poizner also has been on the busy end of media leaks suggesting he might get out.
All this culminated, in Poizner’s telling, with the “crystal clear threat” of the below email, released by Poizner’s campaign.
(click to view full-size)
Where’s the threat? Poizner said that the phrase “tear up a guy” could be directed at his family or his official office, state insurance commissioner. And he argued that Murphy’s offer to unite the party behind a Poizner senate run in 2012 is a bribe.
So what law is broken? I’m no lawyer, but this is where Poizner’s claim seems silly. In a letter to the U.S. Attorney, the FBI and various other public officials, he claims Whitman has violated the “spirit” of California Elections Code 20440, which says candidate must follow “basic principles of decency, honesty and fair play.” If violations of 20440 were prosecuted, we’d no longer have contested elections in California.
The letter also claims that Murphy’s email violated state law (Election Code 18025) that prohibits inducing someone to run for office, or withdraw from office, and federal laws against threats.
What should we make of this?
Well, here’s my rush-to-judgment, first-take-in-the-20-minutes-since-I-listened-to-presser opinion: this episode makes both Poizner and Whitman look bad.
Poizner seems to be exaggerating a bit of backdoor political communication into a federal case. And Whitman looks like she’s afraid of competition—and wiling to use her money to spare her a real primary. Poizner, by releasing this email, is making this point, albeit in an over-the-top manner. I’d be shocked if the authorities bothered to investigate.
I also wonder what Murphy was thinking when he made this offer via email. Seems like the sort of thing that should be done privately, in person (or at least on the phone). What’s more, Murphy is offering something he can’t deliver; he doesn’t have the power to clear the field for the 2012 U.S. Senate nomination, a prize that probably won’t be worth much if incumbent Dianne Feinstein, this state’s most consistently popular politician, runs for re-election.
UPDATE: Mike Murphy explains what he was thinking in the following statement releasd by the Whitman campaign:
“After reading the ridiculous charges made by Steve Poizner during today’s strange press conference, all I can say is that I’m starting to worry about the Commissioner’s mental condition.
“It is true that I have been trying to find a way to avoid a costly and unnecessary Republican primary. I believe it is important that Republicans across California unite around Meg Whitman to defeat Jerry Brown in the fall. It is also true that I am not the only one with this view. Many Republican leaders are more and more concerned that the Poizner campaign, now 28+ points behind in the polls and still sinking, is becoming little more than a stalking horse for Jerry Brown and the Democrats, especially since Commissioner Poizner has been loudly threatening to run a multi-million dollar negative campaign against Meg Whitman for months.
“Several weeks ago I was advised by a source close to Steve Poizner that his pollster, my old friend Jan van Lohuizen, had been expressing grave doubts about the viability of the faltering Poizner campaign. So I emailed Jan; this is the email the Commissioner is so excited about. About ten days ago I also placed a phone call to a second senior Poizner consultant. We had a nice talk and discussed the option of Poizner considering a race for Senate in 2012. The consultant offered to discuss this with Commissioner Poizner and asked for a number where I could be called back. I do not plan to make any further comment on these discussions, as I do not want to create even more embarrassment for his consultants or get anybody fired.
“Judging from the Commissioner’s rant today concerning the FBI and Jerry Brown, I take it the Commissioner’s answer is "no." Hopefully the Commissioner was not serious about wasting taxpayer dollars by asking state and federal authorities to waste their time on such a silly matter of perfectly legal politics. Should they be interested, however, I will fully cooperate and provide them with full details of my communication with various Poizner consultants about the dangerous futility of his campaign.”