Bad blood in governor's campaign goes back to 1993 [Westly & Angelides don't like each other]

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 6/5/6 | Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross

[SmithL]

You can't turn on a TV without being hit with either state Treasurer Phil Angelides slamming state Controller Steve Westly for taking campaign money from a crook, or Westly slamming Angelides for being in the pocket of big developers.

But that's nothing compared with the behind-the-scenes beef in the Democratic gubernatorial primary between Angelides and Garry South, Westly's campaign manager.

Angelides calls South the "King of Mean.'' South retorts that Angelides "is a sleazy campaigner at the core.''

To hear South tell it, the feud started in 1993 when Angelides -- who was winding up his tenure as chair of the state Democratic Party -- started casting an eye toward the lieutenant governor's office.

South, who had been brought in by then-Controller Gray Davis to manage his campaign for lieutenant governor, was determined to knock Angelides out of the race early. He did it by circulating some very unfavorable poll numbers to Angelides' financial backers in the Greek American community.

Angelides and Co. fought back hard, and dirty, South maintains.

"Rumors about Gray being gay, about him having an arranged marriage that was a sham ... that he's anti-Semitic, hates women and abuses women," South said. "Even about him being on anti-psychotic medication that he's supposed to take to control his behavior.''

South charges that Angelides and his supporters are using the same tactics this time around, fueling false rumors that Westly is gay and that he's had plastic surgery.

"He knows no bounds,'' charges South.

"Absolutely false," Angelides campaign strategist and longtime Democratic operative Bob Mulholland said of the dirty-play accusations.

"We never would have said anything about Gray -- that's complete horse manure,'' said Mulholland, who worked closely with Angelides at the time. And the campaign isn't spreading any rumors this year either, he said.

[BenLurkin]

Either one would be bad for California.

[Al Simmons]

Bob Mulholland is one of the dirtiest political operatives anywhere.

As for these two arseholes, I am sick of their commercials.

Angelides looks and sounds like a typical 'Rat machine snake-oil salesman;

Westley looks and sounds much better, and it picks up your ears to hear he was involved with ebay; but just yesterday one of his commercials violated my TV:

It opens with Westley saying: "Hi, I'm Steve Westley, and I am strongly pro-choice!"

If I'd had a brick handy I would be needing a new TV today. What kind of human SCUM would parade the fact that he supports the murder of unborn babies, and then, 3 seconds later, be showing off photos of his family (which includes 2 young children)?

These people aren't from Planet Earth. They are from he**.....

[calcowgirl]

Cat fight!

What a bunch of goons!

[Chesterbelloc]

I've been watching the ads on tv and it appears that Phil Angelides personally drove sewer truck after sewer truck up to Lake Tahoe to dump many millions of tons of raw sewage into the lake.

Now Steve Westly on the other hand appears to be so much in love with Arnold that I suspect that he wants gay marriage to be leagalized so he can marry him.

At least that is the take I get from the ads they are running.

[Uncle Hal]

I hope Angelides wins. I think he will be easier for Arnold to defeat.