Simon Loyalists Say E-Mail Dirty Trick Backfired

Los Angeles Times ^ | 7/14/03 | Patt Morrison

[TheAngryClam]

Nope, it wasn't us, they say.

Supporters of Bill Simon for governor — both last year, and now as a candidate in a probable recall election — say it wasn't their loyalists who sent out an e-mail letter signed "Team Simon" volunteers and advising Simon to sit out the election to avoid splitting the party vote and worse.

Joel Strom, the Team Simon chair, says no one from his statewide leadership group wrote such a letter, and whoever did "did not accomplish the goal he/she apparently set out to achieve and, in fact, only helped to sharpen our focus on our work as volunteers."

A letter to the "Team Simon Statewide Leadership" characterized the "PLEASE BILL, DON'T RUN" letter as a "silly prank concocted by a nervous potential opponent who fears our strong statewide organization." The effort "to distract and divide us" in fact "failed miserably," it said, because Team Simon remains "strongly intact" and "highly supportive of Bill's bright political future."

Who might be behind such a dismissive missive? Team Simon's leadership wouldn't speculate, but you know you've got an election on your hands when this sort of thing gets up and running.

[TheAngryClam]

If anyone's interested, here's the "Team Simon" email:

Subject: An Open Letter to Bill Simon

Dear Bill:

Rumors are persisting that you are readying to actively campaign for governor once again.

We hope these rumors prove untrue. If you become a candidate you WILL hurt the efforts of so many who’ve worked so hard for the last year; first for your campaign and now to make this historic recall happen. You will hurt the Republican Party, spoiling its chances of replacing Gray Davis. By splitting the Republican vote, you will also ultimately hurt yourself, forever damaging your credibility in the Party.

We can only assume that you are getting considerable encouragement from campaign professionals to run, probably from the same campaign professionals who destroyed your chance to unseat Gray Davis last year. We cannot believe you have sought the opinions of a wide range of party leaders, donors or grassroots activists about your potential candidacy. If you had, you would have received a resounding “PLEASE BILL, DON’T RUN!”

We know of no Republican who is objectively in support of you running in the recall election, in fact quite the opposite is true. Republicans we have spoken with are mortified at the prospect of your candidacy and its effect in reshaping the recall campaign. Aside from the obvious prospect of you splitting the Republican vote in this winner take all contest, you will give Gray Davis ample ammunition to mislead the voters about the recall.

If your campaign is anything like the stumbling, clumsy performance we painfully but nonetheless enthusiastically supported last year, the Democrats could conceivably manage to elect one of their own, or Gray Davis could even survive the recall. The Simon for Governor Campaign has already once saved Gray Davis from the jaws of defeat. This performance does not need a sequel.

The conflicts of interest of those supporting your potential candidacy are very transparent. Some see their power disappearing before their eyes, some see you as little more than a welfare check, but they all share little more than a yearning for the limelight once more. Bill, we beg you to look beyond these tainted motives and seek the guidance of those who genuinely have your best interests, and the best interests of the Party, in mind. Your wife Cindy is opposed to you running again. That should tell you something.

We beg you not to file as a candidate for Governor. Please, break away from your former and current political handlers and speak with the party’s leadership, donors and activists. You will find that you are liked and respected and people are willing and eager to support you for a statewide run sometime in the future. You will also find a united group who are against your rumored candidacy.

Bill, we hope you will listen to your former supporters, and ignore those campaign professionals who served you so poorly in the past and not file as a candidate in the upcoming campaign to replace Gray Davis. Now is the time, that only together can we renew the California Dream.

Sincerely,
Team Simon Volunteers

*TEAM SIMON VOLUNTEERS are a statewide group of Republican Activists. For the past year they've spent countless thousands of hours working the grassroots leg of the campaign for Bill Simon and are now as busy as ever collecting signatures for the Recall.*

-----------
If you have any thoughts about Bill Simon's prospective candidacy, let us know. If you would not like to recieve future email updates, please respond with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Team Simon's email

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[TheAngryClam]

ping

[nickcarraway]

Probably more of the ``Republicans for Davis''-type crowd. Some people won't be happy until the chase every conservative out of California.

[Carry_Okie]

Joel Strom, the Team Simon chair, says no one from his statewide leadership group wrote such a letter, and whoever did "did not accomplish the goal he/she apparently set out to achieve and, in fact, only helped to sharpen our focus on our work as volunteers."

I wish they had, although even I would have toned it down a bunch.

[research99]

Thanks for posting this letter!

[TheAngryClam]

Well, there's also the fact that a Simon candidacy in the recall would be bumbling like it was after he won the nomination, and that it would split the conservative vote, allowing a "moderate" (liberal) Republican or a Democrat to win.

I personally want Simon to sit this out and run for Attorney General in 2006. If he runs in the recall election, though, I want him run out of California.

[TheAngryClam]

You got it.

If anyone is interested in these kinds of things, like the partywatch emails, I'll keep posting them. My email gets on all the lists, apparently.

[research99]

Just to make sure everyone gets it:

Selected, unsolicited FR Quotes on Bill Simon
(in order of their appearance):

"I voted for Simon, and signed the recall petition, but I think a rerun by Simon looks like sourgrapes."
2 posted on 06/20/2003 9:56 AM PDT by My2Cents

"The only guy who ran a worse campaing was when Matt Fong ran against Boxer. Wait a minute. I take that back. As boring as he was, Fong ran a better campaign. Simon was well beyond horrible."
22 posted on 06/20/2003 3:13 PM PDT by CdMGuy

"Interestingly, Simon's advisors (BEFORE Parsky, et al. for those of you in denial about Simon's suck) are the same ones who ran Fong. Anyone who calls for Parsky's head should call for Sal Russo's too."
23 posted on 06/20/2003 3:40 PM PDT by TheAngryClam
Source of above: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/932657/posts

"Oh no, the CA Republicans are going to blow it again. With all due respect to the Simon supporters, he lost and that makes him as stale as a bag of month old bagels."
2 posted on 06/22/2003 5:58 PM PDT by JoeFromCA

"Dear Bill Simon, I voted for you in November. You didn't win so PLEASE, for all of Californias' sake, stay out of this! You couldn't beat a corrupt, disliked, worthless governor like Davis so just let us handle it, will ya?"
5 posted on 06/22/2003 6:33 PM PDT by Bullish

"Hey Bill, you fooled us once! - Sure, support the recall. But, California has enough problems, we don't need any more B.S. in an important election. This time, NO B.S. on the ballot!"
7 posted on 06/22/2003 7:04 PM PDT by Golden Gate
Source of above: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/933785/posts

"Bill, we hope you will listen to your former supporters, and ignore those campaign professionals who served you so poorly in the past and not file as a candidate in the upcoming campaign to replace Gray Davis."
1 posted on 06/28/2003 10:47 PM PDT by TheAngryClam

"Mistakes like Bill Simon’s cannot be tolerated this time around. We have GOT to have someone who knows what they’re doing."
31 posted on 06/29/2003 12:04 AM PDT by Owens08

"Bill Simon is the biggest *EMBARRASSMENT* to the Republican Party in California *HISTORY*! He is an *EMPTY SUIT* who *BETRAYED* us all with his *HOPELESS* campaign! MESSAGE TO SIMON: *GO AWAY*!"
58 posted on 06/29/2003 11:21 AM PDT by Sir Valentino
Source of above: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/937489/posts

"Simon lost for a reason. HE SUCKS. He should take a hike."
32 posted on 07/10/2003 5:26 PM PDT by xm177e2

"Simon blew it in 2002. CA rejected him."
34 posted on 07/10/2003 5:59 PM PDT by jagrmeister

"I do NOT want him to run again. And for the sake of the party, I hope he doesn't." "I am so pissed with Bill Simon right now I could spit nails!"
14 posted on 07/10/2003 2:45 PM PDT by Saundra Duffy

"He can get in if he wants, but he won't win. He's the GOP's AlGore (meaning he lost, already)."
6 posted on 07/10/2003 1:40 PM PDT by truth_seeker
Source of above : http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/943856/posts

"Simon should go away and not run for office again.
The real reason he lost is that he is an empty suit with no real beliefs. If he had a clear vision to present to the voters and if he had really taken it to Davis on things like the energy crisis he would have won. No incumbent Governor in the modern history of California has ever been nearly as unpopular as Davis. Running Riordan though would have been even worse. As would running Arnold next time."
9 posted on 12/07/2002 5:50 AM PST by Princeliberty
Source of above: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/802118/posts

Suggested Recall Slogan: "If Simon can't manage a campaign, how can he manage the state"???

I've compiled this, as a service to those who want to see Davis recalled. <

[The Old Hoosier]

If Simon stays out, we could have a conservative governor of Calif. If not, it's going to be Arnold.

[TheAngryClam]

I made the ping list I used from these quotes.

If anyone wants on or off, let me know.

[nickcarraway]

Allowing a ``moderate'' Republican? The state party wanted to support someone left of Davis in the election. The state party should take responsibility for what happened in November: the Simon campaign was fine until they got involved and bungled things. Plus, they did nothing to stop voter fraud, without which Davis wouldn't have one. If the state party refuses to learn any lessons, they can keep blaming everyone else.

[nickcarraway]

So the real answer is to run someone like Dick Riordan who openly detests Republicans and was to the left of Davis?

I guess this proves that even some Freepers believe everything the New York Times says, because this is exactly their position.

[My2Cents]

Thanks for the unsolicited list of comments. Since mine is at the head of the list, I'll re-endorse it. If indeed the email to "Dear Bill" wasn't sent by "Team Simon," I wish I would have sent it to him.

[TheAngryClam]

No, the real answer is to run a conservative who doesn't suck and has a chance at winning.

Take a look at McClintock or Issa.

[ElkGroveDan]

BTTT

[research99]

RE: "The state party should take responsibility for what happened in November: the Simon campaign was fine until they got involved and bungled things."

If Simon were a true leader, he would have set a steady course for his campaign and run it like a business. Instead, he was wishy-washy, and delegated to incompetent managers like Sal (aka "$al") Russo. Playing the "blame game" is the mark of the incompetent.

If you still support Simon, try answering this slogan:

"If Simon can't manage a campaign, how can he manage the state"???

[research99]

RE: "So the real answer is to run someone like Dick Riordan who openly detests Republicans and was to the left of Davis?"

No, the real answer is to:

(1) Don't split the GOP vote by running a proven loser like Simon, and

(2) Persuade interested candidates to agree amongst themselves as to who's best prepared to run the state, or

(3) Select one candidate by means of open discussion and a delegate (or acclamation) vote at a Summer convention.

[nickcarraway]

Wait, you're right. If someone lost an election they have no business pursuing another election. Let's go back and retroactively recall Ronald Reagan! After all, he couldn't even win in the primary in '76 against a mediocre Gerald Ford. "If Reagan can't manage a campaign, how can he manage a country, right???'' And don't forget Jeb Bush, among others. He lost the race to governor of Florida in '94. He must not be doing a good job, right?

[nickcarraway]

McClintock is great. But will the state party attack him, then not support him, if he's the candidate? Something tells me, they will do everything in their power to make sure the candidate isn't him.