Here are the five questions that I wish would be asked at today’s debate, but probably won’t be.
1. Ms. Whitman and Commissioner Poizner, the next governor will face budget deficits estimated at $20 billion annually, and a broken governing system that makes it virtually impossible to balance that budget. Several commentators have said you’d have to be crazy to want to be governor under such circumstances. So please describe your entire family mental health history and whatever treatment you are currently receiving.
2. To both of you, polls show that you are a member of a political party whose members believe that President Obama was born in another country and that the theory of evolution is nonsense. Do you agree? If so, what other patently false things do you believe?
3. Commissioner Poizner, early reporting in this race suggested that you are a billionaire like Ms. Whitman. It turns out you are not. Why is it that Meg Whitman richer and more successful than you are?
4. Commissioner Poizner, under your 10-10-10 plan, you say the state, by cutting spending and taxes by 10 percent, can build up a $10 billion rainy day fund. If you really believe that will work, what’s stopping you from cutting spending and taxes by 20 percent so the state can build up a $20 billion rainy day fund?
5. Ms. Whitman, each of the past two Republican governors has found it very difficult to get Republican votes during tough budget times. In the end, the governors have had to effectively bribe legislators with promises of new spending, tax cuts or other favors. Given your personal wealth and stated preference for market-based solutions instead of government-based ones, would you pledge to do the bribing directly out of your own pocket, and thus save the taxpayers billions?