Posted on 09/24/2002 6:17:40 AM PDT by RonDog
Posted on Tue, Sep. 24, 2002
Davis postpones tech-sponsored fundraiser
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO - Three days after abruptly canceling a Silicon Valley fundraiser, Gov. Gray Davis on Monday postponed a second high-priced campaign event amid a swirling controversy over raising money from special interests.Davis had been slated to take part in a town hall forum in Palo Alto this evening before heading off to attend a small, $10,000-a-person fundraiser organized by his high-tech allies at an upscale restaurant.
Late Monday afternoon, Davis delayed both events, with the campaign citing the governor's appearance today at a women's conference in Long Beach and his need to weigh the fate of hundreds of bills he must sign or veto by midnight Monday.
``With all of the work that the governor has before him, the best thing to do was to work with the sponsors and see if we couldn't move the events to a date in October,'' said campaign spokesman Roger Salazar.
The tech fundraiser, co-sponsored by venture capitalist John Doerr, was organized at the same time that the industry has been aggressively lobbying Davis to veto so-called e-waste legislation. A bill that passed the legislature in late August would impose new fees on companies to pay for recycling environmentally hazardous computer parts that sometimes end up in trash dumps.
The decision to delay the fundraiser came three days after Davis canceled another Silicon Valley campaign event organized by Rod Diridon, a former Santa Clara County supervisor and Davis appointee to chair the state's High-Speed Rail Authority.
The $1,000-a-person event at Diridon's home was set to take place one day after the governor signed a $10 billion bond measure that, if approved by voters, would jump-start California's high-speed rail system. In an e-mail, Diridon had solicited donors ``who will build, operate and maintain'' the state's fledgling high-speed rail system to attend.
Davis canceled the fundraiser after Diridon's e-mails became public.
But that didn't stop the governor's GOP challenger, Los Angeles investor Bill Simon, from joining protesters outside Diridon's Santa Clara house and accusing Davis of selling state policy to special interests.
Monday afternoon, Davis called a co-sponsor of the TechNet event, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, and asked him if they could postpone the event because he is pressed for time.
Hastings said he asked Davis if his decision was at all related to the latest controversy and the governor said no. Hastings also dismissed suggestions that Davis makes policy decisions based on who gives him money.
``The governor has been unafraid to take on core constituencies that typically contribute a lot of money if he felt like that wasn't the right policy,'' said Hastings, whom Davis appointed to the state school board.
Contact Dion Nissenbaum at dnissenbaum@sjmercury.com or (916) 441-4603.
Great job RD but I agree with feinie. You should be placed on double secret probation and you should serve time in the Delta House until the elections are over!
There is a trade-off, of course.
If we keep our FReep details OFF the public forum, then anyone who is not on my private FReep-mail list will not know about it.
(Hint to other FReepers: If you have not gotten any private "Dump DAVIS" FReep-mails from me recently, you are NOT on that list.For now, we plan to keep them guessing over at eGray Central, and post SOME details here, and keep SOME details private.
Please FReep-mail me to get ON that list.)(We may even post some DIS-information here - like the bogus details about Patton's role in the invasion on D-Day. Shhhhh.)
You two are amazing! Great job!
Hundreds of people saw this demonstration and they laughed.
What luck Davis saw you! Only the Davis people aren't laughing!
What luck Davis saw you!Perhaps, but as they say...
"Fortune favors the brave."Chicken Man was in the right place because he has good INSTINCTS.and
"The harder you work, the luckier you get."
(And, because we have had some Providential intervention in this endeavor, IMHO.)
You and the Chicken Man worked really hard and were really brave in the admirable task, so you deserved the luck!
Chicken Man was in the right place because he has good INSTINCTS.
Those are some great instincts. In a place as large as a convention center, it's easy even to lose one's own car, let alone meet the guy who's trying to avoid you!
Dump Davis!
In a related note, Hastings lives in f**king la-la land.
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