# Whitman against Brown in California **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 16, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022 "2010-09-16T22:14:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/61 "2010-09-28T17:06:27Z")
Are you suggesting that legislative salaries make up the difference in these shortfalls? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/62 "2010-09-28T17:13:00Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Are you suggesting that legislative salaries make up the difference in these shortfalls? It’s more a matter of feeling the “pain” not having a budget causes. That “pain” might inspire a few handshakes. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/63 "2010-09-28T17:35:37Z")
Handshakes are irrelevant, because they would be trying to shake hands with them tied behind their backs. ---
**Author:** ![pinkyvee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@pinkyvee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkyvee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/64 "2010-09-28T18:16:00Z")
CalPERS has lost “billions” of dollars, according to this article in The Economist. [http://www.economist.com/node/17046748?story\_id=17046748](http://www.economist.com/node/17046748?story_id=17046748) The State is obligated to make up any shortfall. The State being ~~~\> taxpayers. The taxpayers, many of whom are facing unemployment or underemployment. > [@](#): > > Mr Crane is not the only one who is concerned. At an open meeting of the board’s investment committee on September 13th, the treasurer of a small Californian utility made a plea for CalPERS to reduce volatility in its portfolio. “It looks more like we’re gambling,” he chided, pointing to the 14% of the fund’s assets that are still invested in private equity. The snag is that if CalPERS takes less risk, generous public-pension schemes will almost certainly have to be renegotiated. That is one governance test that California’s politicians and unions will be loth to take. CalPERS has been reluctant (to say the least) to public scrutiny of a $100 MILLION investment loss. [http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2010-09/judge-orders-release-of-documents-in-failed-calpers-real-estate-investment](http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2010-09/judge-orders-release-of-documents-in-failed-calpers-real-estate-investment) > [@](#): > > Page Mill Properties purchased more than 1,800 rent-controlled units in the Woodland Park neighborhood of East Palo Alto between 2006 and 2008. It had plans to redevelop them into higher-end condominiums. The project was controversial because of its losses, and also because of allegations by community groups and city officials that management sought to oust low-rent tenants and flouted rent-control law. CalPERS had to write off its $100 million investment after Page Mill went bankrupt last year. And, while CA state workers are being furloughed … [http://www.sgvtribune.com/opinions/ci\_16187453](http://www.sgvtribune.com/opinions/ci_16187453) > [@](#): > > The country’s largest public pension fund lost a quarter of its value last year - $59billion - but it doled out six-figure bonuses and big raises to its top employees. **So, getting back on topic … I am interested in what ideas Meg and Jerry might propose … to fix the Cal PERS mess. It ain’t going to go away.** ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/65 "2010-09-28T18:22:36Z")
Meg and Jerry are facing the first of three debates tonight. I wonder if the budget will be mentioned? ---
**Author:** ![pinkyvee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@pinkyvee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkyvee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/66 "2010-09-28T18:47:49Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Meg and Jerry are facing the first of three debates tonight. I wonder if the budget will be mentioned? I hope so. The economy is the number one concern of many Californians. > [@](#): > > Brown, Whitman meet in first gubernatorial debate tonight > > Posted: 09/28/2010 11:24:37 AM PDT > > Gubernatorial candidates Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman will face off Tuesday night in the first of three debates planned before the Nov. 2 election. > > The one-hour debate will begin at 6 p.m. and be broadcast live on KABC and streamed on the UC Davis website, www.ucdavis.edu. > > According to the latest Field Poll, Brown and Whitman are running in a dead heat, with both pulling in 41 percent of voters’ support. However, Brown holds a five point lead over Whitman - 49 percent to 44 percent - in a USC/LA Times poll. > > Tonight’s debate will be moderated by Gulstan Dart of KCRA-TV of Sacramento. Questions will be asked by journalists Amy Chance, political editor of the Sacramento Bee, Kevin Riggs, political reporter for KCRA, and Marianne Russ, bureau chief for California Capitol Network. > Read more: [http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci\_16195967#ixzz10qqkNHBw](http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_16195967#ixzz10qqkNHBw) ---
**Author:** ![pinkyvee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@pinkyvee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkyvee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/67 "2010-09-28T18:49:43Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Meg and Jerry are facing the first of three debates tonight. I wonder if the budget will be mentioned? Have you made your decision between these candidates? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/68 "2010-09-28T19:54:55Z")
If I had to vote today, it would be for Jerry. I have a hard time accepting Meg as anything but an opportunist attempting to buy an elected office. I just don’t feel she’s in tune with the issues facing the average Californian. I’ll finalize my choice during the three debates though. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/69 "2010-09-29T23:02:08Z")
[Meg Whitman employed an illegal immigrant](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/29/MNHK1FLKLF.DTL), attorney Gloria Allred charges: > [@](#): > > Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor who has called for making California employers more accountable for hiring undocumented workers, faced allegations today that she herself had done so for nearly a decade - a charge that her campaign denied as an attack by Democrats playing “the politics of personal destruction.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/70 "2010-09-29T23:22:10Z")
[Brown was already leading 52%-43% by the latest poll.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_gubernatorial_election,_2010#General_Polling) ---
**Author:** ![pinkyvee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@pinkyvee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkyvee)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/71 "2010-09-30T17:32:09Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > [Meg Whitman employed an illegal immigrant](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/29/MNHK1FLKLF.DTL), attorney Gloria Allred charges: > > > [@](#): > > > > Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor who has called for making California employers more accountable for hiring undocumented workers, faced allegations today that she herself had done so for nearly a decade - a charge that her campaign denied as an attack by Democrats playing “the politics of personal destruction.” After representing Tiger Wood’s whores, Gloria Allred and her clients are suspect. (Not to mention Gloria’s shameless involvement in the Octomom fiasco) ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/72 "2010-09-30T17:35:32Z")
Gloria Allred has made a career out of representing people who don’t, strictly speaking, need a lawyer. But that is probably no reflection on the veracity of the charges. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/73 "2010-09-30T17:37:47Z")
> [@pinkyvee](#): > > > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > > > [Meg Whitman employed an illegal immigrant](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/29/MNHK1FLKLF.DTL), attorney Gloria Allred charges: > > After representing Tiger Wood’s whores, Gloria Allred and her clients are suspect. > (Not to mention Gloria’s shameless involvement in the Octomom fiasco) What in those cases reflectsmnegatively on Allred’s credibility in terms of the likelihood that her statements are truthful? ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/74 "2010-09-30T18:01:06Z")
Meg Whitman stated that she would ‘Declare War on Public Employee Unions’. Being a member of a Public Employee Union myself, this does not bode well. Its been stated she plans to cut 10% of jobs in California- something to the tune of _40,000_ positions :eek: . As one of the grateful who still has a stable job in this economy, I can’t stand for someone who would want to pull that out underneath me, and stick it to the poor and underprivleged just to give tax cuts to the rich. She is also going to gut the public education system to prop up UCs…great for those privleged few that can afford to go to college, not so great for the rest who being able to get through High School is a challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/75 "2010-09-30T20:08:37Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Gloria Allred has made a career out of representing people who don’t, strictly speaking, need a lawyer. But that is probably no reflection on the veracity of the charges. Allred has said that, now Meg has denied the charges, she will provide more evidence. Even assuming that Whitman was telling the truth (hah!) this makes her arrogant and stupid. If your housekeeper suddenly fesses up to being an illegal, and you have to fire her, you damn well had better give her a nice severance bonus. Not doing so makes it seem like she disdains the woman so much that it would never cross her mind that she would go to someone and talk. You’d also want to fess up that you were shocked, shocked to find out that there are such things as undocumented women working as housekeepers. Oh well, when the election over we can thank her for the $100 million media stimulus fund. ---
**Author:** ![pinkyvee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@pinkyvee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkyvee)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/76 "2010-09-30T20:44:15Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > What in those cases reflectsmnegatively on Allred’s credibility in terms of the likelihood that her statements are truthful? Gloria’s clients tend to tearfully (boo-boo) announce how they have been wronged … only when there are television cameras. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/77 "2010-09-30T20:53:19Z")
Okay, and that levee they’re lying? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/78 "2010-09-30T21:10:37Z")
California once upon a time had free college education. People flocked there to get it and many stayed and developed the industries that made Cali what it was. Reagan did not like it. The attack on schools persists. There is too much money in it to allow public schools to succeed. College tuition just leaps past the cost of living rise year after year. It is beyond the reach many . Enron made California a test tube for gouging customers. it worked so well, that it has spread . We are doomed. The rich want it all. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/79 "2010-09-30T21:37:35Z")
Whitman has produced the evidence that led her to believe Diaz was legal. When Diaz confessed that she was not, Whitman fired her. While awaiting further information, such as the evidence that Allred said yesterday she would produce today, my tentative stance is that it seems to me what we have here is a classic case of a disgruntled former employee who is teamed up with a publicity-hound lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022/80 "2010-09-30T21:53:27Z")
Allred [produced the 2003 letter](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/30/MN3P1FMCVT.DTL) from the Social Security Administration informing Whitman that the SS number Diaz supplied was fraudulent. > [@](#): > > Attorney [Gloria Allred](http://topics.sfgate.com/topics/Gloria_Allred), in a news conference from her office that was streamed on [TMZ.com](http://topics.sfgate.com/topics/TMZ.com), said the April 22, 2003 letter addressed to the Whitman’s home in Atherton included a handwritten note - which Diaz said was that of Whitman’s husband, Dr. Griffith Harsh - saying “Nicky, please check this. Thanks.” > > Harsh never asked about the letter again, Allred said. The Whitmans fired Diaz last year after she told them she was an undocumented immigrant. Whitman continued to employ Diaz for six years after she was notified that Diaz had suppled a fraudulent SS number. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whitman-against-brown-in-california/554022.md?page=5)