Meg Whitman can manage but can she govern?

It took me five months to get my first interview with former eBay CEO and GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman. When I did, it was after a press event where the news reporters were not allowed to ask questions. Swell.

Her supersize campaign has been rolling her out like an Easter egg. She has been in a shell - for which she has paid handsomely. She has contributed nearly $40 million to her campaign, yet she told me she and her husband, Griff Harsh IV, fly coach, "because it's cheaper."

She has a background that might help. Her book, "The Power of Many," co-written with Joan O'C Hamilton, presents a methodical trouble-shooter whose first job as a newly minted Harvard MBA was to figure out how big the hole should be on a shampoo bottle. She trained to become the kind of management consultant "who can go into virtually any kind of business, analyze the situation and come up with an effective plan to solve problems and achieve goals." When working with a food-service company, her team studied the "physical movements of cooks and waitstaff" and came up with "a method to save hours of food preparation time by washing potatoes in dishwashers."

It's this creative yet methodical approach that is lacking in the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, for whom budgeting has been a matter more of art - well, of special effects - than of science.

But can a former CEO who once cut costs by fiat learn how to cut deals with a big-spending liberal Legislature?

Whitman and Harsh plan to move to Sacramento, buy a house and put down roots. She wants get to know all the lawmakers by name.

Here is an interesting article. Whitman actually endorsed Boxer at one time and is NOT going to do anything about illegal immigration.

“From taxes to the open primary, from illegal immigration to partial birth abortion, his rapid reinvention has been a truly amazing feat of engineering,” Whitman said.

Poizner conceded he’d changed some of his views because he was a more “passionate conservative” now.

In a news conference, he balked at Whitman’s claim that she’s the true conservative in the race. The former Silicone Valley executive noted that Whitman backed California’s liberal Democratic U.S. Senator, Barbara Boxer, in her reelection bid six years ago.

“And not only did she vote for Barbara Boxer, she endorsed Barbara Boxer, she campaigned for Barbara Boxer, she called Barbara Boxer a great leader,” Poizner said.

Whitman said she liked the fact that Boxer opposed Internet taxes.

The two candidates are vying for support from the party’s conservative faithful gathered at the convention at the Santa Clara Hyatt Hotel outside San Jose. Poizner in particular is struggling for support amid Whitman’s barrage of radio and T.V. advertising.

To that end, Poizner talked tough on immigration by calling for an end to most public benefits for undocumented immigrants. He said he’d like to see illegal immigrant children removed from public schools.

“Its not that I don’t care about kids everywhere. I taught for a year. I care very much about kids,” Poizner said. “But our public school system is deteriorating, collapsing. We’re being overwhelmed. We need to take care of our own folks here first.”

Whitman told reporters that she opposed such a move, noting that undocumented children often are brought to the U.S. by their parents.

“Many kids did not come here on their own, and I am not in the business of punishing kids for the sins of their parents,” she said.

Whitman met with reporters in two separate sessions – one lasting an hour. The meetings followed reporters’ previous complaints that she refused to answer questions and stuck to carefully staged campaign events.

Referring to one such event this week, she said it had been a mistake not to take questions.

“You’ll have lots more access in the coming couple of months,” Whitman said.

The Republican primary is in June. The winner will face the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor - state Attorney General Jerry Brown.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/03/13/whitman-poizner-clash-state-republican-convention/

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