Posted on 05/06/2002 11:40:00 AM PDT by John Jorsett
The latest scandal facing Gov. Gray Davis is providing great fodder for his Republican challenger, Bill Simon.
The issue is a $95 million computer software contract awarded to Oracle Corp. of Redwood City. Two weeks after winning the no-bid contract, a representative of the firm gave a $25,000 check to Davis' re-election campaign.
All that would be fine, except state officials say the computer software doesn't work and might require an additional $41 million to fix. The scandal has resulted in the resignation of two appointees and the suspension of a third.
Simon, naturally enough, voiced shock at the situation.
Kind of the same outrage experienced in the movie "Casablanca," when the character portrayed by Claude Raines said he was shocked that gambling went on in the nightclub run by Humphrey Bogart's Rick.
Simon is backing the effort of state Republicans to have a full-blown inquiry in the situation.
"The scent of scandal surrounding this administration is growing," Simon said in a conference call with reporters last week.
As if he needed any more ammunition, Simon has been attempting to boost his campaign over the governor's handling of the energy crisis and the loss of a record $12 billion surplus into a projected deficit that could reach $20 million.
Unfortunately for Simon, those issues haven't changed the polls. The most recent Field Poll gives Davis a 14 percentage point lead.
If money does mean anything, there is another sign Simon has yet to build much of a popular base.
Simon and Davis are both scheduled to be featured at a Southwest Voter Registration Project event in July at the Sheraton Universal Hotel.
But the cost to hear Simon is running sponsors $1,250 to $50,000 a table -- a sizable enough price for a lunch.
However, the price tag to hear Davis at the dinner event is double the Simon price -- with tables going from $2,500 to $100,000.
And, in a final note, Davis is not sitting idly by while Simon attacks him.
The governor's campaign committee has launched a Web site to try to counter all the attacks against Davis from Simon.
It is on the www.gray-davis.com Web site, with what they are calling a microsite on it called, "Simon Says."
On it, the Davis campaign basically finds anything negative it can about the GOP nominee to spread to true believers.
Just like them, it's everybodies fault but his. He is as pure as the wind driven snow.
No mention of the other SIX polls, showing Simon in the lead... Just this 10-day-old "field poll" of "adults", not registered voters or likely voters. Media biased? Hell no, just ask them.
Is that true? Hard to believe Simon is that incompetent, given what a boob Davis is..
Probolsky & Associates; Apr 2-4 02; 825 RV; Simon 44%, Davis 38%, 53% view Gray-out unfavorably; Link 1
Field Poll; Apr 19-25 02; 546 Adults; Davis 44%, Simon 29%, 47% said they will not vote for Davis' re-election; Link 2
Unknown firm for labor union; Mar/Apr 02; Simon 41%, Davis 37%; Link 3
Public Opinion Strategies for Simon Camp; Mar 6-10 02; 800 LV; Simon 48%, Davis 41%; Davis with 50% disapproval rating; Simon led among women 46-43% Link 4
Field Poll; late Feb 02; Simon 44%, Davis 42%; Link 5
And another Field Poll came out today showing registered voters disapproving of Gray-out Davis by a 55%-39% margin. No matter how you slice it, the very well-funded Davis has miserable re-elect numbers for an incumbent.
If another poll or two comes out mirroring the outlying Field Poll, then I'll believe there's been some kind of a voter shift. Until then, I think the media's desperately trying to promote one poll over several others showing results they don't care for. This is anybody's race, but Davis has miserable re-elect numbers (and a ton of money to console him).
Dump Davis!
No, the LA Daily News published this, not LA Times. They used to have about the same bias, though now it looks like the Daily News is even more biased. It has a smaller audience, perhaps because it is often written poorly.
Thanks for pointing out the mistake.
Note that the article devotes only two sentences to the facts of the scandal. Then it compares the scandal to gambling in a nightclub. Finally, it devotes half the column to week-old news about the April Field poll, the Davis website (but not note about the Simon website), and fundraising.
The title is also flawed:
"California: Simon capitalizing on Davis' lucrative software deal"
There's nothing wrong with a lucrative deal, and, in fact, it sounds really good. It also seems to imply that Simon gets to benefit from a deal for which Davis had to work to make lucrative. The title doesn't mention anything to do with scandal, and the column only mentions the software.
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