That's interesting. I don't remember any of her columns being conservative. This one certainly isn't.
Either my memory is faulty (quite possible), or "conservative" in San Francisco is defined as "not communist."
This column is shocking to me. When I saw the headline, I thought it was written by one of the usual suspects of California journalistic propaganda -- but I doubt even one of those would have referred to Simon as "The Fraud Prince."
Saunders doesn't have her facts straight, and did a disservice to her readers when she wrote...
[Simon] says that his family's firm plunked $16.5 million into the the venture unaware that Hindelang was a former drug dealer. Hello. I found that Hindelang had a big drug conviction in two minutes -- just by entering his name into a good database.
I don't know what database she is referring to, but this is apparently one that has probably been recently updated -- or else, Deloitte & Touche, the firm that was hired to do a background check on Hindelang, would have turned up the facts. From the 1998 Wall Street Journal piece on Hindelang and his labyrinthian investments designed to hide his dope-running assets retained after his early release from prison:
By 1997, Pacific Coin was in negotiations to merge with a company founded by Mr. [Thomas] Keane. William E. Simon & Sons LLC, an investment boutique nominally headed by the former Treasury secretary but run day-to-day by one of his sons, was picked to help finance the deal.Simon & Sons declined to comment on the matter. Mr. Keane says due diligence by auditor Deloitte & Touche turned up nothing unusual. Mr. Keane [-- not Simon & Sons --] says Mr. Hindelang seemed such a straight arrow that no one would have suspected a criminal past. Mr. Hindelang's convictions, more than a decade old, didn't pop up on a routine sweep of public records.
It is one thing to be discouraged and disappointed with the performance of a candidate on your side, and another to verbally decapitate that same person and virtually endorse the opponent. Saunders has done no less than that by comparing Davis and Simon and saying it is a choice between "Greedy and Greedy/Stupid." She knows in her heart -- at least, she should know, anyway -- that Simon's bugging out now and endorsing Jones wouldn't do anything more for CA Republicans than continuing to weather the storm. Jones, after all, came in third to Simon and RINO Richard Riordan.
Does she think that the South/Mulholland smear machine will miss the chance to trumpet that a conservative columnist calls Simon "The Fraud Prince?" Mark my words -- she has practically written Davis' next campaign ad! Davis ought to be facing scrutiny for his about-face permitting more toxic pollutants after receiving a hefty oil refinery donation -- exactly the kind of allegations the Democrats made toward then-Texas Governor George W. Bush. Instead, Saunders has already thrown in the towel three months before election day, and gone on the attack against Simon while he is in a statistical dead-heat with Governor Grayout.
I have been a fan of Saunders for a long, long time, and have no idea what it is that inspired this kind of vehemence. It doesn't seem to be only Simon's lack of campaign savvy and private business missteps. While Saunders is definitely right-of-center, she is more liberal on social issues such as domestic partner legislation. Maybe that can explain a distaste for Simon that would have her floating a lead trial balloon (like installing Jones as nominee) as the only alternative to complete Republican capitulation.