California Gubernatorial Candidate Meg Whitman's Voting Record Problem
Despite not having run for or held public office, would-be 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, the former eBay exec, has a voting record problem. That is, she's staggering under accusations that she might not have much of a record of voting.
The Sacramento Bee has slammed her for allegedly not having registered to vote until she was 46. Her campaign is calling b.s. Among other complaints, the campaign says that using the same standard of consulting the San Francisco registrar would find no verifiable voting record for Dianne Feinstein or Nancy Pelosi either during the 1980s. The records, the campaign insists, just don't exist.
In her pre-San Francisco life, the campaign also swears it has records proving Whitman was registered in Ohio and that her San Mateo county registration began three years before the Bee reported.
Whitman does admit to many gaps in her voting record, but pleads innocent to an adult lifetime of ignoring her alleged civic responsibility to vote.
I blogged about the early stages of this civic crisis last week at my California news and politics blog "City of Angles."
Whitman scrambles to defend herself in this campaign video.
And I say, don't be cowed Ms. Whitman--be proud! Read my rousing libertarian defense of not voting here at Reason Online back in 2004.
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/snark of the pissed off variety
How does that come into play with her politics? I mean in most elections you have to choose between crap and shit. so yeah sometimes its not worth the effort. i mean obama or mcain, same asshole different cheeks.
Whitman does admit to many gaps in her voting record, but pleads innocent to an adult lifetime of ignoring her alleged civic responsibility to vote.
If she stood up and said "I didn't vote because all the candidates were f***heads", I'd like her better.
I guess she's trying not to burn any bridges, Aresen.
Actually, it's funding the "Meg Whitman Bridge" that will someday be built if she gets elected that I would rather avoid.
If she stood up and said "I didn't vote because all the candidates were f***heads", I'd like her better.
Isn't that sort of implied? That or "I was too busy doing something useful".
To us, yeah, but the general implication seems to be that it's a lapse in one's civic duty, and she's just riding along with it.
This woman was busy building a useful service. And not only that, she built a service that along with Craigslist is helping to destroy newspapers. Too busy being productive and destroying dated business models to bother voting. That is a slogan I can get behind.
Meg Whitman: "I was too busy making boatloads of money to vote, losers."
Meg Whitman: "I do not regret never having voted for any of the parasites now in office. In retrospect, I do regret not having voted against them. It is a mistake I am trying to rectify by getting one of them out of office."
On the plus side, Meg Whitman did NOT vote for George W Bush in 2000, and did NOT vote for Pete Wilson for Governor.
Balancing this is a big negative:she contributed to Sen. Barbara Boxer's re-election campaign and joined a Tech Executives for Boxer committee in 2004. Not sure whether she actually voted for Boxer.
Also in 2004, while she was supporting Sen. Boxer, Meg Whitman also contributed to President Bush's re-election campaign.
Supporting Bush in 2004, and supporting Boxer for re-election do reflect on her judgment. If she had any principles, these votes for reflect on her principles also.
How does whether she voted or not during most of her life have anything to do with how good she will be at the job she's running for? It says nothing meaningful.
Meg is a HUGE fan of Van Jones!
It's the height of irony that a fellow who makes his living pissing and moaning about the activities of elected officials refuses to take part in the election process. Sure, you can argue that your vote wouldn't have changed the outcome, but frankly Mr Doherty, nothing you write here or anywhere else is going to change the behavior of our government either.
I'm looking at you too, KMW. All that is necessary for the forces of evil to get elected is for enough good people not to vote.
From Doherty's "rousing defense"
But complaining about the results of a game other people play, and you could play but refuse to do so, is SO much better. And you're going to be subject to government power regardless of whether you vote or not, so don't pretend that voting "legitimizes" that power. And if you don't like being subject to the results of elections, there are scores of countries in the world that don't have elections where you could emigrate to.
Meg's citizen voting record, or lack there of, will blow away. But if the reports that Meg Whitman gave Babs Boxer $4000 bucks and a signed endorsement for Boxer's senate race are true, Meg is burnt toast as far I'm concerned.
You can always vote None of the Above, or drop in an empty ballot.
I agree with Tulpa. Not voting doesn't register as a protest, it registers as apathy, and the powers that be are fine with that. I agree that if the only choices are (R) and (D), than perhaps not voting is a principled thing to do. (I omitted votes for most of the races on my last ballot). However, the Libertarian Party, as ineffective and pointless as they often are, generally field candidates for President, and depending on where you live, sometimes lower offices.
Yes, the system sucks. But how do you expect to change it by just talking or blogging?
Yes, the system sucks. But how do you expect to change it by just talking or blogging?
How do you expect to change it by voting? How's that working for you?
What if they held an election and no one showed up?
What if unicorns shit cupcakes?
Yes, the system sucks. But how do you expect to change it by just talking or blogging?
I refuse to participate in a game that is massively stacked against me. How is that wrong? Do I call you apathetic for not playing the lottery?
And if you don't like being subject to the results of elections, there are scores of countries in the world that don't have elections where you could emigrate to.
Now that's funny: you just did the "love it or leave it" argument.
Like shit, in part because of libertarians like you, Episiarch and Doherty.
I didn't mean to call you, Doherty, or Craig apathetic. I meant to say that's simply how it's going to appear to the (R/D) party in power.
There is a reason why there are the constant "get out the vote" campaigns (or Puffy's "Vote or Die" being my favorite): your participation legitimizes this shitty system.
Every vote you make is a vote for the system. Why would I do that? I'm a fucking anarcho-libertarian, for fuck's sake.
Maybe she could just buy the Bee and turn it into a penny saver, it would probably be more profitable that way.
Sometimes I vote, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I just throw up.
It could be worse ... it could be Carly Fiorina. The words Scylla and Charybdis spring to mind.
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My ineffectual third-party votes are, IMO, a more effective way to give a middle finger to the State Parties than complete abstention would be.
Now, granted, if you hate the notion of voting, yes, voting serves to legitimize the system. *shrug* For those of us who want the system to suck less, prodding repeatedly helps.
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