And it occurred on the same day that state education officials announced that 22,000 teachers, librarians and counselors received notices of possible layoffs. The faceoff took place amid constant concern in Sacramento about the state’s deficit, which totals at least $20 billion over the next 15 months. It was streamed live over the Web, but complications prevented some viewers from seeing the event. If he expected Monday to change the trajectory, he may be disappointed: No television station aired the debate in its entirety. Poizner has donated $19 million of his money, but has yet to spend much of it on ads. By the beginning of the year, she had put $39 million of her own money into the contest, setting the record for personal spending in a California race. Poizner entered the debate hoping to change the momentum in the race, which has largely been defined by Whitman’s spending. “Another major difference between Meg and me - I don’t listen to NPR,” he said, alluding to its reputation as catering to liberals. He even offered an oblique criticism of Whitman’s media preferences after she recounted an interview she had heard on National Public Radio. She also criticized him for donating $200,000 to a ballot measure that reduced the proportion of voters who must approve tax hikes for schools.īut by and large Poizner was the more pointed in drawing a contrast between the two. Sponsored by the New Majority Foundation, a GOP group, it was the first between the two remaining major candidates and came after months in which Whitman had declined to take part in such sessions.Ī few times, Whitman offered what she called a “fact check” on Poizner, saying, for example, that his position on immigration is more restrictive than it once was. The debate broke ground not because of its content but for the fact that it occurred. The fact is I want to drive the number of abortions down. “I want to stop illegal immigration by cutting off taxpayer-funded benefits. “I want to fix the state of California by implementing some bold, sweeping reforms that include tax cuts across the board, where Meg and I disagree,” he said. Poizner, who is trailing Whitman in pre-primary polls, sought again and again to define her as too liberal for the party’s core voters, an argument he has forwarded more sharply in recent weeks. “I know what it’s like to run a business in California, and I know how hard it is.” I have balanced budgets, I have been on the receiving end of all kinds of burdensome regulations,” she said. Brown, she said, brought to the race a “record of failure.” Whitman argued that she would bring an outsider’s perspective to Sacramento and present the sharpest possible contrast to the presumptive Democratic nominee, former governor and current Atty. Republican candidates for governor Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner met in a generally genteel debate Monday evening that skipped lightly over detailed solutions to California’s grievous fiscal mess in favor of the familiar arguments that each has made for months as they drive toward the June 8 primary.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |