Poochigian to Target Jerry Brown's 'Moonbeam' Past (California AG election)

Never mind that nine of 10 Californians have not heard of him. Never mind that his opponent enjoys blanket name recognition throughout the Golden State, more campaign cash and a double-digit lead in the polls.

Chuck Poochigian — state senator from Fresno, a conservative Republican with a tough record on crime and punishment — has a blueprint for beating Jerry Brown in the race for California attorney general.

Poochigian plans to cite Brown's progressive past ... He wants to spotlight Brown's record as mayor in crime-rattled Oakland. He will rail against Brown's personal distaste for the death penalty. He hopes to reap campaign dollars from corporations fearful that Brown would push a litigious, anti-business agenda.

"For me, the greatest challenge will be to overcome his high name identification," said Poochigian, 57. "His greatest challenge is to overcome his record. I can move my name ID up. He can't change his record."

Though one recent poll put Poochigian down by 25 percentage points in a head-to-head contest with Brown, the Republican's campaign team remains confident that the race will become a tossup by election day.

Poochigian is counting on unified support among the GOP, which embraced the popular Fresno Republican early on. Though an unabashed conservative, he also hopes to win big among California's growing pack of independent voters, now more than 18% of the electorate.

[Poochigian] won an Assembly seat in 1994 and moved to the Senate in 1998, earning plaudits as a collegial straight-shooter, a law-and-order conservative capable of the occasional bipartisan compromise.

During his tenure, he has backed tougher penalties for sexual predators, gun-toting felons and identity thieves. He also has opposed legislative efforts to roll back the state's "three strikes" law.

http://www.pooch4ag.com/aboutchuck/index.cfm?ID=6

Biography

Born and raised in Fresno, Senator Chuck Poochigian is a third generation resident of Central California. Chuck and his wife, Debbie, were married in 1977 and have three grown children. He received his degree in Business Administration from California State University, Fresno, in 1972 and his law degree from the Santa Clara University School of Law in 1975. He served for six years as a member of the California Air National Guard. Chuck practiced general civil and business law from 1975 until November, 1988.

Chuck Poochigian got his start in politics in 1978 working on the campaign of then-State Senator George Deukmejian, who was running for Attorney General. While practicing law, Chuck served as a county chairman for President Reagan's 1984 campaign and a number of other political campaigns. In 1988, he was chosen to serve on the senior staff of Governor George Deukmejian and then was named Appointments Secretary to Governor Pete Wilson, whom he assisted in the selection of common sense judges.

Chuck was elected to the California State Assembly in 1994, and to the State Senate in 1998. He has served in various leadership positions throughout his tenure in the Legislature, and has received numerous awards and recognition for outstanding public service.

His legislative accomplishments include making permanent the Citizens Option for Public Safety (COPS) program, creating and expanding rural crime prevention programs, authoring laws to improve training at crime laboratories in their use of DNA forensics, and requiring notification of victims upon the release of inmates convicted of a violent felony. In 2004, he authored landmark legislation to reform California's broken workers' compensation system which has reduced workers' comp costs by $15 billion.

As Vice-Chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee, Chuck has led the fight against identity theft, worked to protect children from dangerous sexual predators, and authored bills to increase penalties for repeat auto thieves, and incarcerate felons with firearms before they become cop killers. He also co-authored a law that closed a loophole that had allowed child molesters who target family members to avoid harsh penalties by pleading down to an incest charge. Chuck has fought against efforts to impose a moratorium on the death penalty, and consistently supported laws like Three Strikes that have contributed to a significant reduction in our crime rate -- serving as a Central California Co-Chair of the 2005 campaign that defeated Proposition 66. He has also advocated tougher laws concerning gang violence and was state Co-Chair of Prop 21 in 2000.

Senator Poochigian is running to be California's next Attorney General on a decades-long record that has been unwavering in its support of tough criminal justice policies that put public safety first. He has won the endorsement of two former Governors, dozens of elected district attorneys and sheriffs, every Republican legislator in the state Assembly and Senate, numerous police chiefs, the California State Sheriffs' Association, California Peace Officers' Association, California Organization of Police and Sheriffs (COPS), and dozens of other prominent political, community and law enforcement leaders and organizations from across California.

...which reminds me of an old Xeroxed joke my dad once brought home from work, back when Jerry Brown was governor, Gray Davis was his boy-genius chief of staff, and Mediterranean fruit flies roamed the land:

(...and I thought I'd never have another chance to use this...heh heh heh...)

MEDFLY CRISIS: GOVERNOR FORMS FRUIT POLICE

SACRAMENTO (AP) To combat the rapidly spreading Medfly infestation, Governor Jerry Brown has established a new corps of law enforcement officers known as Fruit Police. The governor, a renowned expert on California fruits, will take personal command of the Fruit Police.

The Fruit Police will go door to door and strip fruits in the Santa Clara Valley. They will set up roadblocks on highways leading out of the quarantined area, stopping all suspected fruit-carrying vehicles, ordering the fruits removed, and throwing them into the bushes to be dealt with appropriately.

The new officials will be clad in pink berets, lavender jumpsuits, and chartreuse scarves, so they can be readily distinguished by motorists. Fruit Police will be issued State of California flyswatters, carrying a photograph of Governor Brown on one side and Cesar Chavez on the other.

According to a source very close to the governor, flight-trained Fruit Police will pilot helicopters that will drop massive quantities of Brown for U.S. Senate leaflets over the infested precincts--I mean areas--and our laboratory studies indicate that large doses of the literature make the Medfly nauseous and cause him to lose interest in mating. The source refused to confirm, however, reports that the material has the same effect on humans.

To assist the Fruit Police there will be several volunteer auxiliary organizations, including the Womens' Motorcycle Patrol (Dykes on Bikes), the Swish Brigade, and Faggots Against Maggots.

Governor Brown insisted that his vigorous attack on the Medfly was consistent with his previous policies. "My administration has always given top priority to all fruits, nuts and flakes," said Brown.

The new Fruit Police commissioner, Gray Davis, was asked whether the program was designed to help Governor Brown politically. Davis' only reply was noncommittal, saying, "Our sole motivation is to protect California's number one fruit."

As usual, they're rewriting history.

http://www.hearstcastle.org/whats_new/exhibits/remarkable_women.asp

California’s Remarkable Women in Spotlight At State History Museum

The achievements of nearly 200 of California’s remarkable women will come to life for visitors to the California State History Museum in a major exhibit sponsored by First Lady Maria Shriver and presented by California State Parks.

(snip)

The exhibit honors women for their public service, women like: State Supreme Court Chief Justice Rose Bird, Ambassador Shirley T. Black, State Treasurer Kathleen Brown, U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and many others.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.