(The man who would be Governor… – promoted by jsw)

Title updated.

When Republican State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced with California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring on August 28, 2008 that he would contribute enough money to pay $5 for every new Republican voter registration, no one expected a voter registration card “slamming” program.  

In San Bernardino County the California Republican Party with their local Republican affiliates hired a firm from outside California called YPM – Young Political Majors, owned by a man named Mark Jacoby and run out of Florida and Arizona – to commit the same voter fraud that got YPM run out of other states.

(more on the flip)

Moreover, this isn’t something new. YPM has a bad track record stretching back years and years.  For example, the following story comes from an article written in 2004:

Young Political Majors LLC, or YPM, is a company registered by Mark Jacoby at a Town ‘N Country residence.

Jacoby appeared this summer at the election office in Gainesville with a box of about 1,200 voter registration cards. Of those, about 510 voters had switched to the GOP.

Elections Supervisor Beverly Hill spoke with Jacoby and grew suspicious. She randomly called the Republicans to verify they wanted to switch. All of them said, “Absolutely not,” Hill said. “They didn’t even know they had signed a registration form,” Hill said.

Here’s how YPM does it: their paid signature gatherers ask registered Democratic voters to sign a claimed legitimate petition (in this case a petition to “stop sexual predators from getting out of jail”). Then, depending on the circumstances, they tell the voter that the petition is not legal unless they re-register as a Republican, or they have the voter sign in two places – one of which is the bottom of a Republican voter registration card.

It is simply unacceptable for this type of activity to go on here in California.

“This insidious and fraudulent practice is called ‘slamming,’ and Insurance Commissioner Poizner must put an immediate stop to funding this conspiracy to commit fraud,” said Senator Art Torres (Ret.), Chairman of the California Democratic Party (see letter below letter).      

The San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, Kari Verjil, has allowed the slamming to continue for weeks.  The California Democratic Party is calling on the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office, the Secretary of State and the State Attorney General’s office to investigate and prosecute those who are knowingly committing fraud.  

The same situation is known to have occurred in Riverside County. This past August the Registrar of Voters, Barbara Dunmore, referred that fraud to the Riverside County District Attorney.

American voters should not be treated this way.

* * *

Here is a copy of the letter Chairman Art Torres sent to the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters.

September 16, 2008

Via Facsimile (909) 387-2022

Ms. Kari Verjil        

San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters

Dear Registrar of Voters Verjil:

Our offices have received numerous calls about the California Republican Party’s use of “slamming” — illegally re-registering Democrats as Republicans — in your county.

I would like to know the status of your investigation of the Republican slamming.  A few thousand voter registration cards are being turned in each week to your office and it appears your office has not stopped this fraudulent practice.  

In calls to a random sampling of 100 of these voters, we found one-third of the phone numbers were either disconnected or the wrong number.

When phone slamming happened several years ago, the federal government, as well as state and local officials put a stop to it.  

You must stop this illegal practice whereby American citizens who have registered as Democrats, whether earlier this year or several years ago, are being changed to Republicans with your county voter registration cards by organizations authorized by you to do voter registration.

Sincerely,

Senator Art Torres (Ret.)

Chairman of the California Democratic Party

cc: Secretary of State Debra Bowen

    Attorney General Jerry Brown

    San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos

Steve Westly and Steve Poizner have a remarkably similar background. Both made their fortunes during the DotCom heyday and then used those fortunes to get into politics. Both have tended towards moderate for their respective parties. Well, the two are now squaring off over Prop 93. It’s actually quite entertaining, even if I weren’t working for Yes on 93 (Disclosure).

In the Merc today, the stage was set for what could reasonably be a potential matchup for the governorship:

The battle over Proposition 93, the proposal to loosen term limits, has suddenly become a potential preview of a matchup of two Silicon Valley multimillionaire entrepreneurs with gubernatorial aspirations. Steve Westly, the former state controller who lost in last year’s Democratic primary for governor, said Monday that he will throw his name and money behind Prop. 93, six weeks after Republican Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner took over the No on 93 campaign and contributed $1.5 million of his own money to defeat the proposition.

Westly played down any further political ambitions — or a potential clash of Silicon Valley titans. “I’ll make a decision next year about whether 2010 is the right time for me, and my family, to run again,” said Westly, responding to an interview request by e-mail. “This initiative isn’t about Steve Poizner or myself, it’s about how we best prepare California to be successful in the future.”(CoCo Times 12.18.07)

Now, it’s reasonably clear to anybody who’s ever observed Poizner that he’s not a bottom of the ticket kind of guy. He’s looking to be governor, and I think it’s reasonable to say the same for Westly. What isn’t so clear is whether Westly would be interested in running again. Either way, this little back and forth in LATimes.com’s Dustup feature is quite entertaining. Yesterday the two Steves discussed whether Prop 93 would make a “good law” better. Poizner says that 93 would not be in the spirit of Prop 140 from way back when, while Westly disagrees. They also seem to be arguing about the meaning of some nonpartisan report.  (By the by, this site is officially nonpartisan. So, I expect random politicians to quote Robert or Dave and argue over what they are saying. Oh, and Dan Walters. But I suppose we are generally pretty clear, huh? Maybe we should focus on ambiguity, and we’ll appear in lots more newspapers and TV reports.)

They just posted today’s “dustup” between the two, with the question being “Have they broken career politicians’ power monopoly in Sacramento or just sped up the game of political musical chairs?” My comment, which I posted quite a while ago, but is still apparently waiting in the moderation queue, discusses the parable of Richard Alarcon.  He went from Senator to Assemblyman to City Councilman in about 4 months. Oh, and I suppose I should also mention that he also ran for Mayor against Villaraigosa and Hahn in 2005. If the legislators constantly have their eyes on the next job, how are they learning and growing in the one they’ve got?

The buzz around Sacramento is that the big announcement the No on 93 (term limits) folks are making tomorrow that uberrich State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner (he of the gubernatorial ambitions) will be backing the campaign with a significant contribution.  I guess he gave up on the whole dedication to recovery after the fire thing and is instead leaping headfirst into a pretty charged political battle.  CapWeekly:

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a Silicon Valley millionaire who has heavily bankrolled his own political races, has decided tofinance the campaign against a February ballot initiative that would allow the current crop of legislative leaders to stay in power for several more years, Capitol Weekly has learned.

A public announcement was expected Thursday at a Capitol news conference at which Poizner was expected to attend. On Wednesday evening, Kevin Spillane, a spokesman forthe No on Proposition 93 campaign, declined to confirm or deny Poizner’s role.

Note that Wayne Johnson, Poizner’s consultant is evidently serving as the media consultant for the No on 93 campaign.  This is well orchestrated to build the buzz and create interest in the announcement.

No, I’m not worried that he’s going to come to my house and beat me up, I’m more worried that he’s going to take some of his big pile of GOP dotcom loot to some crazy propositions and campaigns. Now, if it came to fisticuffs between me and the Insurance commissioner, I’m sure the early money would be on Mr. Poizner. But as I’ve said in the past, I’m scrappy. But in the end, I’m sure he could just hire somebody to do any dirty work.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is a report from yesterday’s Capitol Weekly. You see, there’s some wild speculation that Poizner will bring a bit of his fortune to the No on 93 Campaign, otherwise known as the refuge of scoundrels like Kevin Spillane. While Capitol Weekly says that Poizner is a billionaire, he didn’t make the cut for the Forbes 400, so he’s likely sitting at less than 1.3Bn. Pauper!

They say you can tell a lot about a person from the company they keep. Well, then, his signature on the No on 93 ballot argument says that Poizner is a real nutjob masquerading as a “moderate.” Who else signed the argument? Well, TABOR champion and Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association President Jon Coupal and Martha Montelongo of the California Term Limits Defense Fund. Woot…All Aboard for CrazyTown!

The signature on the ballot argument might not be it either. Apparently Sacramento is abuzz with what could end up as a battle between the bank account of Poizner and the campaign account of Speaker Nunez:

The Committee for Term Limits and Legislative Reform, a creature of Speaker Fabian Nunez, has raised more than $2.6 million so far this year, according to records from the Secretary of State’s office. More than $2 million of that money has already been spent. Nunez has another $5.2 million in his personal account that could also potentially be used to fund the Yes campaign.

Meanwhile, opponents of the measure have raised just over $200,000 so far this year. … Privately, a number of Capitol insiders said Poizner was actively considering financing the campaign against Proposition 93. (Capitol Weekly 11.1.07)

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he could use the anti-93 ads to promote himself, like he did with Prop 77. Poizner has gubenatorial ambitions, and this would help him with his GOP base as well. It’s like he’s an evil genius or something.  He masquerades as a moderate for the general electorate and then does favors for the far-right. No, he’s no moderate, he’s just an evil genius. And that’s one dangerous man.

See also:

The greatest concern in the post-wildfire landscape of California is the insurance situation.  Obviously there are going to be thousands of claims, and how the insurance companies handle them will deserve great scrutiny.  John Garamendi, the former Insurance Commissioner and current Lieutenant Governor who has been all over the media this week (building a profile for an attempted 2010 Governor’s run – hint hint), has talked a lot about the insurance industry’s desire to limit payouts to their customers after the 2003 Cedar Fire.

LT. GOV. GARAMENDI: The first commandment of the insurance industry is, “Thou shalt pay as little, as late, as possible.” And then you get the reward. You go to financial heaven if you can carry out that commandment.

BRANCACCIO: California lieutenant governor John Garamendi, a democrat, served twice as the state’s insurance commissioner. A total of eight years battling with the industry over the many ways he says it tries to avoid high payouts where there’s been a total loss.

LT. GOV. GARAMENDI: I’m telling you, the insurance industry, prior to the fire and probably even to this day, is purposely misleading their customers.

Garamendi was actually pretty relentless in forcing insurers to honor their commitments.  Now we have a Republican in the Insurance Commissioner’s position.  While Sara Nichols wants Steve Poizner to honor his supposed environmental credentials, I’m worried that he will let too many insurers off the hook.  Plus, with fires wrecking the landscape around homes and making them more vulnerable to mudslides, the ability of those homeowners to get insurance for those potential disasters is a major concern.

All of this is mad possible by the revolving-door manner in which top Democrats have shuffled statewide positions in recent years, leaving us with maybe the worst Democratic candidate possible for Insurance Commissioner in 2006, Cruz Bustamante.  He was crushed, not only because Poizner outspent him, but because he was a horrible, ethically compromised candidate.  But Insurance Commissioner was available to him, so that’s were he went.  This musical chairs in these top seats ends up having a major impact in times like this.

(Unfortunately, the two-party system dominates. A Green pulling votes could hand the election to a scary conservative, such as McClintock. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

So, we are holding a press conference tomorrow morning with Rep. Barbara Lee (D, CA-09).  We are going to highlight the importance of supporting the Democrat in a close race where a Green is running.

Especially when that Democrat has a Progressive message and agenda, such as John Garamendi and Debra Bowen.

This is late notice, but I wanted to get the message out.  We would like there to be as big a show of support as we can get.  Unfortunately, it is being held during business hours, so that will be a challenge.  It is being held at 9:30 tomorrow morning, but if you can make it please try and be there at 9:00AM to help set up.

The location is in Richmond, CA at 3431 D Macdonald Ave (at 35th).  This is our West Contra Costa County UDC campaign HQ.

Press release on the flip…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:  Bonnie Jean von Krogh
November 1, 2006
(510) 594-0224 (W); 415-336-6176 (C)

BARBARA LEE & IRMA ANDERSON CALL ON GAYLE MCLAUGHLIN TO SUPPORT STATE DEMOCRATIC TICKET Green Party support could cost Democrats statewide offices

(Richmond, CA) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee is joining with Mayor Irma Anderson to call on Richmond Mayoral candidate and Green Party member Gayle McLaughlin to publicly announce her support for the Democratic candidates for statewide office. McLaughlin has endorsed against Democratic statewide candidates.

“Four races in California are close enough that progressive support for Greens over Democrats could make Richmond the Florida of the 2006 election,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Polling shows that four statewide races could be within the margin of error.  All four races have a Green Party candidate.
.    Lieutenant Governor between Democrat John Garamendi and Republican Tom McClintock
.    Secretary of State between Democrat Debra Bowen and Republican Bruce McPherson
.    Controller between Democrat John Chiang and Republican Tony Strickland
.    Insurance Commissioner between Democrat Cruz Bustamante and Republican Steve Poizner

PRESS CONFERENCE & PHOTO OP
WHAT: Barbara Lee, Irma Anderson & Contra Costa County Democratic Party leaders call on Gayle McLaughlin to endorse Democrats for statewide office
WHEN: Thursday, November 2nd, 9:30 a.m.
WHERE: West County Democrat/Irma Anderson Headquarters

3431 D Macdonald Avenue (at 35th)
WHO: Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Mayor Irma Anderson, Democratic Party Executive Boardmember Gabriel Baty, and Community Advocates

How much money is Poizner going to spend? He’s plunking down another $11 million, and he wants to criticize Cruz’s money issues? No, this man is trying to buy himself a position.  One wonders what’s in it for him.

Peninsula Republican Steve Poizner, Bustamante’s rival in the race for insurance commissioner, put $1.7 million of his high-tech fortune into the race Friday, raising his total contribution to the campaign to just under $6 million. There’s likely more to come, since Poizner’s campaign is talking about putting $11 million into a TV ad effort.(SF Chron Politics Blog 10/01/06)