Tom Campbell Wins on Experience
Last Friday in Auburn, California, the Placer County Republican Party hosted a “Candidates Reception” at the Elk’s Lodge.
As the evening was drawing to a close, and the ‘question and answer’ session was winding down, there was one more inquisitive participant in the back of the room.
“This question is for any of the candidates who want to answer; who are you supporting for the gubernatorial primary race?”
There was an uneasy feeling throughout the room.
The questioner handed the microphone back to me and I looked around for any takers – only one – State Senator Sam Aanestad (R-Grass Valley).
The 11-year tenured Senator quickly recited the usual GOP line these days, “there isn’t a real conservative in the race for governor for the Republican party this year. So, I’ve decided to endorse Steve Poizner. He isn’t perfect, but I believe he can be coached into doing the right thing.”
The room laughed at the ‘coach into the right thing’ comment, agreeing with the senator’s conservative desire.
Aanestad continued, “I’m tired of wealthy individuals casting themselves as conservative Republicans for statewide races. As far as I am concerned, Steve Poizner has the experience where the others do not. He can be coached…we can coach him.”
As the senator was making his comments about experience, I thought about his reference to Steve Poizner and immediately my thoughts turned to Tom Campbell. Here we have another evaluation for the three Republicans running for the gubernatorial nod come June of 2010.
As I thought about it, I know where Aanestad is headed with his Poizner pick, but if the measuring stick is one’s political resume former Representative Tom Campbell must be the choice on battled tested merits of ‘experience’ alone. In this category Campbell is the hands-down winner – easily the most experienced Republican candidate in the race.
The only Republican who has placed his fingerprints on a recent state budget is Campbell. A former South Bay congressman, handled the California budget from 2004 to 2005, was the last state finance director to preside over a balanced budget.
I believe it is his experienced background that has him polling right behind Meg Whitman, and ahead of Steve Poizner at the present. As early campaigns go, Campbell owns the ‘experienced choice’. He displays character, has a engaging, classy personality and outdistances anyone in the room as it relates to budget intelligence.
But the glaring weaknesses for Tom Campbell are his egregious violations on social issues and an occassional fiscal walk off of the conservative spread sheet.
Sitting with Tom Campbell and listening to him describe the state’s fiscal hell is comparable to a well-tuned symphony. He is hands-down intelligent, articulate and bright. He knows where the bodies are buried, and he knows what he is talking about.
Tom Campbell conservative problems rests with ‘some’ of his fiscal solutions, and ‘most’ of his social issues.
Campbell has already released a 30-page budget plan.
He recently updated his solutions, arguing that the state should save $8 billion to $13 billion a year by purchasing private health care insurance for its neediest residents. He says the plan would be cheaper than the $42 billion the state now spends on the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families projects.
Although that idea brings about some interesting conversation, his other positions create a shrill of regret from the conservative core.
Campbell is pro-choice; he is also supportive of same-sex marriage.
He has stated that he will never take a ‘no new tax pledge’ as an elected official. Campbell believes “it handcuffs a governor”, and it interferes with his budget solutions – one that includes his idea of a single-year gas tax increase to help balance the deficit, rather than borrow and raid local treasuries.
Tom Campbell is against the legalization of marijuana, but some believe his desire to find ways to back-fill budgeting holes will lead him to be convinced that legalization is the way of the future for California commodities and revenue.
Regretfully Campbell doesn’t support offshore drilling, he is against a part-time legislature and he believes in the party killing open primary system.
Tom has been supportive of the ‘blue-ribbon commission’ headed by investor Gerald Parsky. He has been quoted saying that Parsky is, “right on target when it comes to a new business net receipts tax to replace the corporate and state sales tax.”
For the thinkers of the party, some of Campbell’s ideas are captivating.
He would cut back all social spending on health-care, welfare and the aged and disabled in the state – making it more reflective of the federal, national average.
He is a big fan of the “God Squad” as it relates to California’s water crisis. He would call for help from the federal panel that could exempt the Delta smelt from endangered species protection and pump water back into San Joaquin Valley using ditches. He has been quoted as saying he supports the transplanting of the small fish (smelt) into another body of water.
Campbell support dams and reservoirs, as he would heighten the Shasta Dam, develop an off-steam reservoir and build the controversial peripheral canal around the Delta.
Once again crossing over to the surreal side of the social aisle, Campbell would also support the merits of the environmentalists’ global warming worshipping AB-32, as he is also a strict conservationist. Yet, he remains highly supportive of the desalination plants system for Southern California locations.
At the end of the day, Tom Campbell is seen by many as a “somewhat- fiscal-conservative”, but an extremely social moderate, at times bordering on being a true centrist.
Again, if we rest upon the gauge of experience, Tom Campbell is the man.
For the party; can experience alone be a prerequistite to the office?
The voters also care deeply about moral conviction, core societal beliefs and a complete understanding of the free market system that can produce a thriving profit for the economic engine of California’s future.
Many voters are impressed; experience looks great on a resume, as it has thus far in the race. But is it the deliverance that California needs at a time like this?
Time will tell, but if this race was determined on experience alone, Tom Campbell might be wearing the GOP moniker during the summer months leading up to the November 2010 Election.
Yes, but what was his life before politics? Do tell. No longer interested in career politicians.
He was the Dean of the Haas school of business at Berkely, a professor of law at stanford, and a student of Milton Friedman studying monetary policy. Of course he has a lot of political stuff too, but those are his outside political accomplishments.
I believe that hands down Tom Cambell would make a great governor. The idea that social conservatives are going to advance their agenda except at the move marginal of margins is just not realistic. Too much of the state has a liberal and libertaian bent – always has and always will. The problem with both Steve P. and Meg Whitman is that they just haven’t grappled with the hard stuff. They are mouthing platitude that are DOA the day that they get to Sacramento. All they will get to do is veto stuff for the first 2 years as they grapple with the true reality and if, like myself, you hate the status quo you don’t relish 2 years wasted. Plus both will get punked by Governor moonbeam who knows more than twice as much as either about the state and can thus run ciricles around them. Cambell, on the other hand, will be well prepared to debate the commune dweller and can hit the ground running as a fiscally conservative governor who can actually begin shifting the state back from the brink. Cambell could, for example, actually sell a tax reform package in Sacto. Poizner will get laughed out of the capitol building.
I will not support anyone that supports same sex marriage. If a Democrate is going to be elected let him be a Democrate not a Rino. I was born here and will probably die here and the Demwits have totally destroyed this state. If people are not bright enough to see what is happening now, electing another Rino will not correct anything, what good did electing Arnold the turn coat due. The Democratic party is the party that perverts everything that they touch. They claim to be for the environment but give us MTBE that poisons our water. I have not seen anything that they claim to fix that was not totally screwed up instead and then lie or say we had good intentions. Obama is doing another LBJ/Jimmie Carter with his monetary and government policies. The war on poverty cost over 4 Trillion Dollars and gave us more poverty and destruction of the black family. Other than spending what is the difference between Tom Campbell, Meg Whitman or Moon Beam Jerry Brown? I am sick to death of the lot.
I spent two tours in Vietnam and then came home and watched the Democrats cut funding to the South Vietnamese Army so they could not even have Medical supplies for their wounded. I fought side by side with those guys and will never forgive the Democrats for abandoning our Allies and leaving them without even the basics for their wounded. Cowards and Traitors, Sincerely Mike
I was interested in Mr. Campbell’s PR and researched him with hope. I find his statements to be limited to recommended safe talking points. I find his comments to be grossly disingenuous, superficial and portrayed in a manner that is either against my values (I support Arnold and despise Campbell’s prior allies, Issa and Condit), or would be if implemented in the way he implicitly states he would achieve his results.
I recently asked Mr. Campbell to clarify his points on major issues. He avoided the multi-part question. When I restated the questions he pretended I was not there. I expected better from an experienced professor.
I will not be supporting Mr. Campbell. This individual is not qualified to run the 6th largest economy in the world.