Pacific Coin: The Untold Story (Must read; no comfort for the Davis campaign).

Bill Simon Campaign | 08/06/2002

[PsyOp]

Of course, few, if any of these facts will make it into the major media so voters can decide for themselves, while every lie Davis utters will be trumpeted from the Chronical to the Times and back again.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!

[Hugin]

What difference does it make? The Democrats have already won the Headline Wars on this one. Simon's only salvation is that no one is really paying attention right now.

True. Unfortunately, even though people may not be paying attention, the background noise eventually comes through, and people think Simon=shady businessman. The real possible salvation for Simon is that people only pay attention to one srory at a time. Simon needs to answer all questions even if nobody pays attention, then if asked say he has answered all that and change the subject.

[wardaddy]

bump and ping!

[tracer]

Where is Sammy "The Bull" now that we really need him??

[flamefront]

Simon has moved over into the dead meat column and this (very reasonable) defense is any help?

Sure, all you and the campaign says is true, but the public has found their 401k's bleeding and are looking for scalps. Simon makes a good scapegoat.

The better move would be an offense. Like find the people who can expose 'Gay' Davis and his drug running liberal buddies. Don't ya suppose Hindelang just might have some connections to Davis?

[William Terrell]

It appears that Hindelang’s "crimes" were all made-up "crimes", smuggling cannabis (Horror!). Take that away as a "crime", that is, injury to others, and most of this collapses.

[daviddennis]

I would actually agree with you about the decades-old drug dealing being unimportant in the present, and I think the Simon campaign may be incorrect to emphasize that so strongly. However, that doesn't negate the more important (to me, anyway) business questions which were the real focus of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleged that he did not have control over the Simon venture capital strategy; in fact, he had veto power over it and did not use it. The lawsuit alleged that he was trapped into allowing a takeover he didn't want; in fact he had veto power over the takeover that he could have used, and he had previously attempted to take over the same company with a similar offer.

Those seem conclusive against the fraud question.

I probably would not have dismissed him for concealing the felony charges, simply because they were from so long ago, and he did do his time for them. Note, however, that he did in fact conceal them; he was given forms to sign, and they included the question "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?" However, this is a decision that can go either way; for a stricter moralist, it would be unforgiveable to lie on such an important matter. More to the point, the potential forfeiture of the assets put the entire business in danger. As a result, Simon's company probably had little choice but to fire him.

D

[Dante3]

BUMP

[Gophack]

The election is three months away and you're already throwing in the towel? The campaign season hasn't even begun! Let's sit tight and hold firm to our principles ... I'm telling you, I wear my Bill Simon t-shirt every weekend, and I get several comments every time I wear it that they're voting for him because they hate Gray Davis.

While Simon will need to increase the pro-Simon vote (as opposed to the anti-Davis vote), there is PLENTY of time to do that.

So don't count him down and out -- he's not. The campaign is being smart not to waste their money early on, which would jeopardize the last 2-3 weeks of the campaign.

[Gophack]

OK, I grant you that the Democrats have benefitted from the headlines. But this isn't the only story out there. And the fact is, Simon WASN'T in the lawsuit. If people want to lie, or choose to not listen to the truth, they would never have voted for Simon in the first place.

The election is going to be a referendum on Gray Davis. If people think that Davis is not corrupt or a failed leader, he'll win on November 5th. If they think that he is corrupt and a failed leader, he will lose on November 5th.

Simon needs to do what he did in the primary ... bide his time, get close to the election, then sell himself as the alternative to the failed leadership of Gray Davis.

Simon is winning in 9 or 11 polls. I'm sure we'll hear of another poll soon. Let's not give up before the race has even begun!

[L.N. Smithee]

Interesting, yes, but do California voters have the patience to wade through this information?

Not only don't the majority of Californians have the patience, they don't have the intelligence. That's why Garry South and Bob Mulholland make millions.

Let me interject at this point that I am a Californian.

[L.N. Smithee]

It appears that Hindelang’s "crimes" were all made-up "crimes", smuggling cannabis (Horror!). Take that away as a "crime", that is, injury to others, and most of this collapses.

Uh huh. Thanks for your made-up "logic."

[absalom01]

Exactly.

This has hurt, but it is not fatal. IM (not so) HO, the real damage is not with the Democrat core vote (they're beyond reach, anyway), or with the vast undecided middle, but rather with the "Main Street" Republicans. If I'm right about this, the truth will eventually come out, and this will be a minor annoyance come November.

The most interesting part, for me, is seeing the LA Times continue with such a remarkably partisan set of "news" articles. Further, Steve Lopez has also taken the gloves off, and is swinging with some big roundhouse punches -- will this boomerang? I think it will with a key fraction of voters.

[no-s]

Hmmm, the more I think about it, the more it seems like an indictment of media credibility in california. This will backfire on the times, bee, chronicle, and of course Davis. The lies won't go away in the age of internet. This may seem irrelevant right now to the governer's sleazemongers, but it will make a juicy and impregnable comeback flyer around election time.

Most of the information is available for anyone who wants to spend 90 seconds at a search engine. It's no wonder the LA Times doesn't want us to quote their stories, they don't want any record of their villany at large.

[eureka!]

"Let's not give up before the race has even begun!"

Hear, hear. Amazing fatalism displayed on this one. If Simon is still being pounded on this and is also being killed in the polls come October, then I'll worry. Meanwhile, I'm going to send Simon some campaign cash....

[semaj]

BUMP

[William Terrell]

Uh huh. Must be a real dirtbag for selling a plant that grows wild all over the world. Right.

[newfreep]

Any recent polling results since all this hit?

[eureka!]

Not that I'm aware of. I am sure there will be in the next week or so. I do recall that the attack ads Grayout has been running have not done a lot though...