Rare visit pleases local Republicans
GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner chats with Mayor Kit Bobko and hotelier Thelma Greenwald before addressing a Hermosa gathering. Photo
Republican Steve Poizner brought his message of tax cuts, spending cuts and a secure southern border to a town hall-style meeting that marked the first Hermosa visit by a major-party gubernatorial candidate since at least the 1980s.
Flanked by two red signs reading “Tax Cuts for Everyone,” Poizner received a warm reception from a standing-room audience of local Republicans in a banquet room at the Beach House Hotel last Wednesday.
He hailed polls that, he said, showed him gaining ground on GOP rival Meg Whitman, a former CEO of eBay.
A press release the next day from the Poizner camp said he had cut Whitman’s lead by 28 points in a matter of weeks. A poll of likely Republican voters by SurveyUSA showed him trailing still by 22 percent, but polls had shown Whitman leading by much larger margins just three weeks before, when she visited Redondo Beach.
“I’m pleased to report that this is a horse race now,” Poizner told his audience, which included former Manhattan Beach Councilman Bob Holmes, who has long been active in regional GOP affairs, and Hermosa Councilman Kit Bobko, who introduced Poizner to the crowd.
Conservative cred
At various points, often in answer to questions from his audience, Poizner addressed his ongoing I’m-rubber-and-you’re-glue argument with Whitman, in which each claims to be the real conservative while the other is at least a bit of a closet liberal.
“There’s only one conservative in this race, and he’s here,” said Poizner, who is the state’s insurance commissioner.
He described Whitman, a former eBay CEO, as “pretty liberal” on environmental issues, and said she gave a campaign donation to Democratic state Sen. Barbara Boxer, which Whitman has described as a nod to Boxer for fighting against “Internet taxes.”
In answer to a question from his audience, Poizner acknowledged that he does not have the endorsement of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association as he had in a 2006 race, but he trumpeted an endorsement he holds from conservative California Congressman Tom McClintock.
“The Republican base is going to go for a true conservative,” Poizner predicted.
In answer to another question, Poizner explained “family contributions” of $21,000 to Democrat Al Gore’s presidential campaign by saying, “Here’s the confession – I’m married to a Democrat.”
Poizner said the contributions came from his wife Carol, adding, “I love her to death.”
Poizner said he voted for President George W. Bush for election and then for re-election, and moved his family to Washington, DC to work for Bush.
He also took jabs at Whitman’s voting record, or lack thereof, citing a report by The Sacramento Bee that revealed Whitman did not vote as a private citizen in a number of elections.
The plan
Poizner reiterated his plan to cut sales tax, personal income tax and corporate income tax by 10 percent, and capital gains taxes by 50 percent.
“I want to cut taxes boldly and across the board,” he said.
Tax cuts would stimulate job growth, he said, and once jobs return to the state, the overall economy would improve.
“We can’t afford not to [lower taxes],” Poizner said.
He said the low taxes of neighboring Nevada place California at a competitive disadvantage.
“I believe in the free enterprise system down to my bones,” he said. “That’s why I’m running for governor.”
Poizner earned one of his largest ovations when he said, “I would make it a priority to end illegal immigration once and for all.”
He said the state can reduce its spending of “billions and billions every year” for education and health services by ending taxpayer-provided services to people in the country illegally, by a voter initiative if need be.
“We have to turn the magnets off” that attract illegal immigrants, he said.
Poizner said he would require employers to check the immigration status of employees, and if they don’t comply, “I’m going to revoke their business license.”
He said the power of public employee unions must be curbed, pointing to retirement packages that many state officials say California cannot afford.
Asked how he would get action from a Democratic Legislature, he said he would wield a mandate from the electorate, make use of the governor’s powers to appoint judges and veto legislation, call for statewide ballot initiatives if necessary, and perhaps push to make the fulltime Legislature part-time.
“It’s not going to be easy,” he said.
Poizner said control of the state education system must be shifted to local hands.
“I want to rip it out of the hands of the politicians in Sacramento and bring it down to the local level where it belongs,” he said.
He said he wants more flexibility in hiring and firing at the local level, and suggested the possibility of removing tenure from the state’s lowest-achieving school districts.
He also said he would “never, ever permit people to get out of prison early.”
He said prison overcrowding could be dealt with by encouraging states with empty cells to house 40,000 of California’s nonviolent offenders. Then, he said, when overcrowding is eased, “we can put rehabilitation programs back in.” ER