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35 posted on 09/24/2002 7:50:17 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Here is an UPDATE from the San Francisco Chronicle:
Davis cancels second pricey fund-raiser
Scrutiny of tactics used to solicit donations ramps up

Carla Marinucci, John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writers
Wednesday, September 25, 2002

Just days after Gov. Gray Davis hastily canceled a fund-raiser his campaign officials admitted was inappropriate, the governor dumped a Tuesday event designed to raise $10,000 a person from a small group of high-tech businesspeople.

The Technology Network, a Silicon Valley advocacy group, scheduled the fund- raiser, co-sponsored by venture capitalist John Doerr, a major Democratic Party donor.

High-tech leaders have been pressuring Davis to veto a bill that would put a waste disposal fee on computer monitors.

But Roger Salazar, spokesman for Davis' campaign, said Tuesday there was no link between the proposed "e-waste" legislation and the campaign event. Salazar said the TechNet event did not conflict with the governor's pronouncement this weekend that he disapproved of fund-raisers "targeted" to a specific special interest groups.

"There were going to be people from all over Silicon Valley," Salazar said.

The governor also planned a Tuesday town hall meeting on technology in Palo Alto, but both events were canceled late Monday, after the Davis campaign said the governor didn't have time for them. Salazar said the technology fund- raiser would be rescheduled in late October.

But Bill Simon, the GOP candidate for governor, said the governor's claim of scheduling problems was nothing more than a hasty attempt to draw a curtain over unseemly behavior.

"The governor was too busy? He knew this was the bill-signing period and knew exactly what would be required," Simon said after a speech in Mountain View. "The fund-raiser was canceled because it was wrong to have it, not because he was busy."

Davis, who has raised more than $50 million thus far for his re-election effort, has faced questions over his fund-raising activities throughout the campaign. The governor's total contributions, likely to set a record for a gubernatorial campaign, far outpace those of his Republican challenger.

The scrutiny of Davis' fund-raising practices intensified again after he canceled a $50,000 event for high-speed rail advocates in Santa Clara scheduled for Friday, the day after he signed a bill putting a $9.95 billion bond issue for the state's first high-tech rail system on the 2004 ballot.

The governor later said he had known nothing about the event with the rail advocates and didn't approve of it.

"We don't like specific (fund-raising) events," Davis said Saturday. "We like general events where people of all types are invited, not a specific, targeted event."

GOP insiders say the two cancellations show the Davis campaign is feeling the heat on the issue.

"Targeted fund-raisers have been as much a hallmark of Gray Davis' administration as photo ops and hair spray," said Dan Schnur, a GOP strategist.

"Davis' fund-raising has been so over the top that voters are alarmed by it. If voters didn't care, they wouldn't have canceled Friday's fund-raiser."

Simon also challenged Davis' support for a new family leave measure the governor signed Monday. The employee-financed measure provides up to six weeks of paid leave for workers who stay home with a new child or sick relative, but business groups have argued that it will hurt California's struggling economy.

"Paid leave is a tax on all workers," he said. "We have to be careful about the full impact of new rules, even though they may sound good on their face."

Simon, on leave from his family's Los Angeles investment firm, spoke about the California economy at Synopsys in Mountain View before about 60 members of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Association. He told the group that while "the tech industry represents the very best of what California has to offer," he recognizes that many businesses are facing tough times.

"More than any other part of our economy, the tech sector has felt the brunt of the recent downturn," Simon said. "Our future success will depend on rebuilding this important field."

Simon was talking to a crowd eager to grasp at any suggestion that better days are coming. A study released Tuesday by the trade association reported that the region had lost nearly 100,000 jobs in the past two years and suggested that it would be at least five years before employment returned to the levels of late 2000.

"The last couple of years haven't exactly been easy," Simon said. "We've made some investments in technology, too. But I believe things are getting better."

California's power problems, combined with the well-publicized budget woes and a host of other concerns, are driving businesses out of the state, Simon said.

"Silicon Valley needs a governor who understands that restoring the vibrancy of this economy means streamlining workers' (compensation), curbing crazy litigation that have made us the lawsuit capital of the world and fostering a business climate friendly both to employers and working families," Simon said.

The latest news about Davis' fund-raising came even as the incumbent Democrat signaled he would ramp up his attacks on Simon -- this time by mail. In the next week, Salazar said, state voters will receive more than 1 million pieces of direct mail as part of a "multimillion-dollar" effort before the Nov.

5 election. The first two mailers -- designed primarily for women -- will hit Simon on the issue of abortion.

E-mail the writers at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com and jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com.


40 posted on 09/25/2002 8:10:14 AM PDT by RonDog
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