Newsom’s Double-Dipping Campaign Problem
While she’s anything but an unbiased source, Janice Hahn makes a good point in her effort to have the state’s election cops shackle Gavin Newsom’s fund-raising efforts in the Democratic race for lieutenant governor.
The Los Angeles councilwoman and her attorneys have filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission, arguing that Newsom shouldn’t be allowed to accept money from anyone who gave him more than $6,500, the contribution limit for the LG race, during his aborted run for governor.
By collecting big contributions for his run for governor, spending the cash before dropping out and then raising new money from the same people to finance a run for lieutenant governor, Newsom “has flouted state (campaign finance) law in an unprecedented manner,” Hahn’s FPPC filing said.
The stakes are huge for both Newsom and Hahn, even if the power of the LG’s office isn’t. Since the contribution limit for the governor’s race is $25,900 and Newsom collected more than $2.3 million from a whole bunch of donors before waving the white flag, the San Francisco mayor has lots of deep-pocketed friends who could find themselves maxed out on contributions before the LG race even gets started.
Technology is Once Again Redefining the Political Process
Recently, Allan Zaremberg penned
a piece for Fox & Hounds announcing the launch of a new website, CalChamber2010.com, for the upcoming
gubernatorial election.
I think the one thing that struck me most about this site,
which any true politico should visit regardless of political stripe, was the
way that the site presents a depth of information in a highly organized and
approachable way. (Full disclosure: one
of my partners in Fox & Hounds, Bryan Merica, heads up the digital creative
shop that built the Chamber’s 2010 site.)
In particular, there are two really original features that I
haven’t seen anywhere else. Both of these features (Video Vault and
Head-to-Head comparison) can be accessed using the Chamber’s "widget" posted
below:
Pulling the Plug on Web Reviews
When I wanted to try out a restaurant or a store or hotel that’s new to me, I’d first go online to check out the reviews by patrons.
I wrote that in past tense for a reason: I don’t do that too much anymore. I grew too suspicious of supposed critiques by supposed customers.
You’ve probably noticed that many online reviews fall into one of two categories. Using restaurant reviews as an example, there are the flowery critics (“This breathtaking restaurant is amazingly superb in every imaginable way!”) and there are the snarky ones (“Expensive mush served by resentful dropouts in a hard-to-find place with sticky floors.”).
Reviews in the first category apparently are ginned up by restaurant owners or their mothers or their bankers. Those in the second apparently are written by competitors or ticked-off ex-employees.