Second governor hopeful comes to town
| Thursday, Apr 30 2009 06:23 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Apr 30 2009 10:27 PM
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Michael Fagans / The Californian Insurance Commissioner and Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner talks with The Californian news and editorial staff during a campaign visit to Bakersfield on Thursday afternoon.
Michael Fagans / The Californian Insurance Commissioner and Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner talks with The Californian news and editorial staff during a campaign visit to Bakersfield on Thursday afternoon.
He earned his MBA at Stanford, made multi-millions as a high-tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley and spent 12 months as a volunteer teacher at a struggling high school in San Jose.
In 2006, Steve Poizner was elected California insurance commissioner, a job he describes as "an extremely important obscure post."
Now the 52-year-old Republican wants to be governor of California.
Poizner arrived in Bakersfield Thursday, one day after gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom made a campaign stop here -- and one day before Poizner is scheduled to speak at the California Republican Assembly convention here.
Another GOPer running for governor, former eBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman, is also expected to speak at this weekend's conference. But an aide said Whitman did not have time for an interview.
Poizner talked to editors and reporters at The Californian Thursday about his gubernatorial campaign, his opposition to the May 19 ballot measures and his vision for the state, which he says is "out of cash" and in need of vibrant, innovative ideas.
He described one of the most interesting episodes of his life: the extremely challenging yet rewarding year he spent as an unpaid teacher.
"What I want to do when I tackle an issue is to get in the trenches," he said.
Poizner: I taught 12th-grade American government at Mount Pleasant High School, which is in east San Jose, gang members and all ... probably the hardest thing I've ever done ...
My first day on the job, it rained and the roof in my classroom leaked .. Now this is Silicon Valley and that's just shameful.
Why on earth can't they fix the leaky roof? Who's in charge? Why can't they fix the roof at Mount Pleasant High School?
Well, as it turns out, the teachers aren't running the place. The principal doesn't control the budget. Who does? Well, the Legislature. It's a fact. The Legislature has taken over the running of the public schools through the state education code.
My solution for the problem of public schools starts with the basic concept of how we need to rip control of the public schools out of Sacramento and push it back down to the local level where it belongs ...
As governor, my goals for the educational system will be pretty straightforward ... No one, no one will leave first grade until they can read. No one will graduate fifth grade until they can compute.
TBC: On water, do you support the peripheral canal?
Poizner: I do support more above-ground storage and I do support more water conveyance systems to get the water from where it is to where it needs to go, without completely destroying the delta.
The peripheral canal -- the only reason I wouldn't say yes to that, per say, is when you say peripheral canal, you might be referring to a very particular project ... I'm not sure I support that particular path, per se, but I support the concept.
TBC: What do you think about the state budget package and the Legislature's response to the fiscal crisis?
Poizner: The Republicans and the Democrats, both, who voted for this $42 billion package made a mistake. Lo and behold, within two weeks of passing this $42 billion package, we had an $8 billion budget deficit. Within two weeks? That should tell you something right there -- that their solution to this budget mess didn't work ...
When you raise taxes by such a huge amount, there's an impact. People spend less. People move out of state. Revenues go down. And then you get in this death spiral.
Poizner on the unique history of California:
We (Californians) have created more wealth and solved more of the world's problems than any other collection of people ever. People get that there's something special about California. It's in our DNA, it's the weather, it's our natural resources. We just attract great innovators in all different fields.
All of it's at risk. All of it now, because of the new global economy ... and 3,000 people a week leave California permanently. It's an exodus of successful people leaving, and we need to turn that around ...
I love California and just absolutely cannot sit on the sidelines and watch California deteriorate.
