** GET JERRY. L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, trailing badly in the Democratic primary for California attorney general, unveiled an anti-Jerry Brown TV ad this morning. The spot, which features the Republican Richard Riordan’s former LA deputy mayor speaking to camera (he’s good on TV) focuses on Brown’s purported inconstancy on abortion rights, citing musing comments to a Boston Globe reporter 17 years ago about the culture of “killing” and the former governor’s clemency intervention on behalf of an anti-abortion activist who stormed an abortion clinic. Mother Teresa had asked Brown to intercede on the woman inmate’s behalf.
Asked how much the campaign was spending on TV, Delgadillo general consultant Steve Smith said that $2 million has been paid to TV stations around California through the primary. Asked how much the buy is for this particular ad in the next two weeks, he said he didn’t know.
Brown says Delgadillo’s campaign has actually only bought $34,000 worth of ads over the next week in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento media markets. Making this much like the previous such exercises we have seen recently from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Small TV buys intended to get free media coverage in articles and free showings of the spot on newscasts. In this case, since Delgadillo is a badly trailing candidate and is not nearly so prominent as the former action superstar, it probably only works if Brown takes the bait. The response from Brown campaign manager Ace Smith: “Jerry is pro-choice. Period.”
** IN THE ABSENCE OF state party chairman Art Torres, who is still recovering from cancer surgery, this weekend’s California Democratic Party convention in Sacramento will be chaired by someone named Willie Lewis Brown, Jr. He is, apparently, and I am still checking out this biographical material, someone who is a native of Texas. He served for some time in the California Assembly, and then held a local office in San Francisco.
** THE NEW Steve Westly for Governor TV spot, entitled “Parent,” I reported on early this morning is now online. It continues the soft focus narrative development of the Westly persona.
** WHO THINKS THERE WILL BE A DEMOCRATIC PARTY ENDORSEMENT THIS WEEKEND? The California Democratic Party takes up the question of its pre-primary endorsement this weekend at its annual convention in Sacramento. Do you think there will be an endorsement? If so, of whom? And why? Please put your prediction, if any, in the comments section.
In a late media buy yesterday, Treasurer Phil Angelides, now trailing in the Democratic primary for governor of California, has returned to the air with a TV ad featuring his three daughters talking up their dad. Super-rich Controller Steve Westly launches a new TV ad about his surprising background as a public school parent. Meanwhile, the independence of that pro-Angelides independence expenditure campaign funded by his decades long patron and former business partner came under further question with the revelation that a top labor official participated in a critical Angelides campaign meeting three days before his union put the finishing touches on the independent advertising campaign.
The official Phil Angelides for Governor campaign suddenly bought TV time in three major markets beginning today. This late buy in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento markets will cost them in ratings points — it was not booked in advance — but buying sources say that the official ad, when coupled with the unofficial TV which began yesterday under the auspices of an independent committee funded by Sacramento development kingpin Angelo Tsakopoulos, will give Angelides a spending edge for now in those markets over his rival, state Controller Steve Westly.
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate will again rely on his three daughters to speak for him, as they did in an earlier education spot which met with mixed results. The spot features his daughters talking about how their dad fought “Wall Street insiders” to save pensions and fought “Governor Schwarzenegger’s cuts to education and health care.” (Schwarzenegger would say he increased education spending.)
They then specifically tout their dad’s endorsements by the teachers and firefighters unions and the Sierra Club (which endorsed Westly as well) before the spot closes with a rare cameo from the candidate himself saying he needs the viewer’s support to help “hard-working families.” The script follows below and the ad will be viewable on the candidate’s web site later today. (8:30 AM Update: Ad viewable now.)
For his part, Westly debuts a new ad featuring himself, his wife, Anita Yu Westly, and their two children. This is another ad in the introduction of Steve Westly to California voters. In this ad, which emphasizes his support for public education, the ex-eBay honcho tells about his background as a product of California’s public schools and now as a public school parent. Unlike the other wealthy candidates in the race, the Westlys decided to send their kids to public school. Anita Yu, an immigrant and accomplished high tech exec in her own right, is also a product of California’s public schools.
Meanwhile, it turns out that the president of the California Professional Firefighters union — which is featured in the new TV spot for Angelides and which produced the TV ad and plays the lead role in that $5 million “Californians for a Better Government” independent advertising campaign for Angelides that is financed by the Tsakopoulos family development empire — was part of last Tuesday’s Angelides campaign labor leaders strategy session in Sacramento.
Meeting with Angelides campaign manager Cathy Calfo and longtime senior advisor and honcho Bob Mulholland over lunch, a dozen key labor leaders in the Angelides coalition gathered to discuss the state of Angelides’ troubled campaign with the campaign leadership and how they might motivate their members to help the treasurer’s candidacy.
To the surprise of several participants, the candidate himself was not present at the high-level session.
Firefighters union president Lou Paulson tells me that the independent expenditure campaign was not discussed in the session, and that is consistent with reports from other participants.
Although there is no evidence of coordination between the official Angelides campaign and himself on behalf of the group funded by Angelides’ decades long patron and former business partner, Sacramento development kingpin Angelo Tsakopoulos, Paulson’s participation in the Angelides labor leaders group places him within the Angelides campaign circle.
The union seems to understand this, and union spokesman Carroll Wills said yesterday that they established a “firewall” internally behind which the independent expenditure project operated under the direction of another union official, secretary-treasurer Dallas Jones. Wills says union president Paulson was not involved in any of the details of the independent expenditure TV advertising campaign.
“To say all this stuff strains credulity is to indulge in significant understatement,” says Westly chief strategist Garry South.
Reached for comment on his cell phone in San Diego, where he is overseeing a recount in a legislative race, Tsakopoulos lawyer Ben Davidian, a former chairman of the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission, sounded surprised by the revelation of Paulson’s participation in the Angelides campaign meeting but noted that it does not demonstrate coordination.
Angelides press secretary Brian Brokaw denied any coordination between the Angelides campaign and any of the principal players in the independent expenditure campaign, saying the purpose of the campaign meeting was “to mobilize our union supporters.”
The spot was produced by longtime Tsakopoulos business associate and veteran Democratic consultant David Townsend at the union’s “Firestar” production studio. The facility is located in Sacramento’s Natomas area, much of which was developed by Tsakopoulos and his partners.
The firefighters say they went about the task of raising money for the independent expenditure campaign and that the fact that the $5 million comes only from Tsakopoulos and his daughter, Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, is simply how the fundraising effort turned out.
“I’ve never met Angelo Tsakopoulos, others were dealing with him,” says union president Paulson, who is relatively new, a still active firefighter in the San Francisco Bay Area finishing his first two-year term as union president. (The union is about to hold its convention in Anaheim, where Paulson is expected to be re-elected to another term.) Jones, however, is another matter, a former union president with long experience in statewide politics who served as head of the state’s Office of Emergency Services in the Gray Davis Administration.
The union acknowledges that either Democratic candidate would be fine against Arnold Schwarzenegger. Why go so far out on a limb for Angelides?
“We’re supporting Phil,” says Paulson, by all accounts a stand-up guy who I find convincing in his denial of coordination on the independent expenditure, “because he’s supported us for three decades.” Like Tsakopoulos, the firefighters union first backed Angelides when, as a 19-year old college student, he made the first of two unsuccessful runs for the Sacramento City Council.
History takes many turns.
Here is the script for the new official Angelides ad:
“Family” – FINAL – Phil Angelides – 30 Second TV
Video Audio
Arianna in front of house for entire ad
Megan in a park for entire ad
Christina in front of capitol for entire ad
Arianna with b-roll of Phil at rally
Megan with Peace Corps snapshot and chyron showing Peace Corps
Christina with b-roll of Wall Street drive by
Megan with Phil w/ children and health care shot
Arianna
Building b-roll shots:
Christina with teacher b-roll
Arianna with b-roll of Phil with police & firefighters
Christina with b-roll of aerial beauty shot of coastline
Phil standing outside with Julie and daughters while behind them are group of teachers, firefighters, police, health care workers.
Flag w/ logo
[Arianna]
“I’m Arianna.”
[Megan]
“I’m Megan”
[Christina]
“And I’m Christina.”
[Arianna]
“Our dad Phil Angelides is running for Governor.”
[Megan]
“Our parents taught us to always do what’s right.”
[Christina]
“It’s why as State Treasurer, Dad took on the Wall Street insiders to protect pensions and life savings.”
[Megan]
“And he fought Governor Schwarzenegger’s cuts to education and health care.”
[Arianna]
“…because it was the right thing to do.”
[Christina]
“We’re proud that California’s teachers,”
[Arianna]
“Firefighters,”
[Megan]
And the Sierra Club are all supporting him for Governor.”
[Phil]
“Now I need your support to put California back on the side of hard working families.”
Phil Angelides… for Governor.
** A NEW QUESTION HAS EMERGED ABOUT THE INDEPENDENCE OF THAT INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE CAMPAIGN FOR ANGELIDES. It’s been learned that a top figure in the “Californians for a Better Government” participated in a key Angelides campaign meeting, although there is no evidence of coordination between the official Angelides campaign and himself on behalf of the group funded by Angelides’ decades long patron and former business partner, Sacramento development kingpin Angelo Tsakopoulos.
More on this in the Tuesday AM news break.
** LATE TV BUY FOR ANGELIDES. The official Phil Angelides for Governor campaign has suddenly bought TV time in three major markets beginning tomorrow. This late buy in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento markets will cost them in ratings points, but buying sources say that the official ad, when coupled with the unofficial TV which began yesterday under the auspices of an independent committee funded by the candidate’s decades long patron and former business partner, will give Angelides a spending advantage for now in those markets over his rival, state Controller Steve Westly.
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate will again rely on his three daughters to speak for him. (4/25 6 AM Update: The script has been moved to the column above.)
** After an odd visit by President Bush to California, which left Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger empty-handed on major federal support for levee repair and flood management and scrambling to escape Bush’s dark anti-green shadow on Earth Day while he establishes his own environmental bona fides in a tough re-election bid, the former action superstar pivoted to crime today, establishing a new Crime Victims Advocate office within his gubernatorial office.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), also known as the prison guards union, is considering a major independent expenditure campaign against Schwarzenegger in the fall. Schwarzworld is highly concerned about this. Moving on the victims’ rights front may help in part to head that off. Or, of course, it may accomplish nothing of the sort.
Schwarzenegger is also segueing to emphasis of his support of the “Jessica’s Law” anti-child molester initiative for the November ballot. This may, at last, also begin to deal with his ongoing problem with his party’s base voters. With his flurry of Earth Day-oriented pronouncements, pro-solar, pro-hydrogen economy, anti-global warming, criticizing Bush for leaving California high and dry, as it were, with no emergency money for levee repair, there has been precious little of late for the conservative voter to hang on to.
MORE INSIGHT INTO THE ANGELO TSAKOPOULOS OPERATION
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly, according to sources, has expanded his media buy to cable TV in all media markets in California. Before today, the state controller’s advertising was running only on broadcast TV outlets, albeit in every market in the state.
Westly’s rival in the Democratic primary for governor of California, Treasurer Phil Angelides, has no TV advertising scheduled anywhere in the state this week, which, ending with the state Democratic convention, will be one of the most critical in the campaign.
Westly’s move, in which he is spending $1 million over the next two weeks on cable advertising, gives him approximately twice as much advertising on cable TV as the independent expenditure campaign funded by the development empire of Angelides’ longtime patron and business partner, Angelo Tsakopoulos.
Five days after I first reported that he was intervening in the governor’s race by funding an independent expenditure TV advertising campaign, Tsakopoulos, the Sacramento region’s leading developer and one of California’s richest men, still has not commented on his bid to boost the troubled campaign of his close friend and associate. Nor has he returned any phone calls from reporters for various media outlets.
The legal limit for an individual contribution to a primary campaign for governor is $22,300. But unlimited amounts can be contributed to an independent committee, if it is truly independent from the campaign it supports.
I phoned Tsakopoulos last Tuesday at a private home number in Sacramento, leaving a message with his household staff. When I tried him back over the weekend, the number had been disconnected.
Tsakopoulos lawyer Ben Davidian, a prominent Republican, was available over the weekend. Davidian, who has played various roles in Republican administrations, is a former chairman of the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission, an expert on the ins and outs of campaign laws. He says that there has been no discussion between Angelides and Tsakopoulos themselves, or their agents, about the independent expenditure TV advertising campaign, which is the only pro-Angelides presence on the state’s airwaves. But he says he doesn’t know what else they have spoken about or when.
“I don’t know when they have spoken or how recently they have spoken,” Davidian said of the two men whose friendship dates back to 1973 when Angelides, then a 19-year old college student of Greek descent running for the Sacramento City Council, made his way into the office of his home town’s most prominent Greek immigrant.
Davidian, pointing out that he knows the state’s campaign laws, insists that there is no legal issue involved in this largest ever independent expenditure by a family on behalf of a gubernatorial candidate. Of the $5 million contributed to date, $3.75 million is from Tsakopoulous, $1.25 million is from his daughter, who is president of the family firm, AKT Development Corp. The issue, he says, is being made much of by Westly chief strategist Garry South, about whom the development kingpin’s associates have little good to say at the moment.
A prominent friend of Tsakopoulos phoned late last week to complain about South’s criticism of the developer and of Westly allowing the engineer of Gray Davis’s two gubernatorial election victories to make such criticisms.
The friend noted that the criticism seemed especially unfair because Tsakopoulos had given Westly $10,000 a few years ago, “when he said he wasn’t running for governor.” The controller was then intending to run for re-election. The $10,000 contribution showed Tsakopoulos’s “good faith toward Westly.” But despite that good faith, argued the developer’s friend, Westly is now allowing criticism of him.
Tsakopoulos, his friend noted, has been a major financial backer of most of California’s major Democratic politicians and some of its unions. This criticism of him, he says, could “demoralize” the man who worked his way up from farm work and waiting tables, leading him to question whether all his work for the party was worth it.
This week marks the fourth week in a row which has begun with the official Angelides campaign off the air. Only the Tsakopoulos-fueled effort provides Angelides with any TV presence in what will be one of the most crucial weeks of the primary campaign. Delegates from around the state will gather this coming weekend in Sacramento for the annual convention of the California Democratic Party. Angelides, the two-term treasurer and former chairman of the party, has long been viewed as the favorite to receive the party’s endorsement. Having no presence on TV, with Westly leading in the latest Field Poll, would be a poor way to motivate delegates coming to the capital city to vote for an Angelides endorsement.
Reports today as events warrant.
Look for a newsbreak Monday AM.
Sacramento developer Angelo Tsakopoulos placed himself in the center of the California governor’s race yesterday when he and his daughter contributed five million dollars to an independent expenditure committee promoting the candidacy of his decades long protégé and business partner, Treasurer Phil Angelides. With the exception of an $11,000 in-kind contribution of production facilities by the California Professional Firefighters, also a decades long ally of the veteran politician, all the money to fund a new TV ad which begins airing Sunday around the state comes from the Tsakopoulos family. The ad is scheduled to air on broadcast and cable outlets for two weeks.
The legal limit for an individual contribution to a primary campaign for governor is $22,300. But unlimited amounts can be contributed to an independent committee, if it is truly independent from the campaign it supports.
I’ve been reporting this development for days. The group is the cumbersomely titled Californians for a Better Government, A Coalition of Firefighters, Cops, Deputy Sheriffs, Home Builders, and Developers. The TV ad, produced by Sacramento consultant David Townsend, who has worked on development projects with Tsakopoulos, was reviewed by me yesterday.
A copy was provided by the firefighters union, at whose studio the spot was produced. It is a positive ad promoting the election of the state treasurer, a candidate in the Democratic primary for governor of California.
It’s a high-energy, glossy ad, featuring sirens and flashing lights and purposeful-looking cop and firefighter figures talking about how tough their beats are and how Phil Angelides is always standing up for them. Angelides is seen briefly himself in still photograph. There is a chiron on screen throughout proclaiming that he is the only candidate backed by 100,000 police and firefighters.
And very prominent at the beginning of the ad, displayed after the very long name of the committee mentioned above, is the funding disclaimer. “Major funding provided by Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis and Angelo Tsakopoulos.” Those are the funders of the campaign, as first revealed here several days ago. Angelo Tsakopoulos, of course, is the gubernatorial candidate’s decades-long patron, friend, leading funder of his political career, and business partner. Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis is Angelo’s daughter, and president of his firm, AKT Development Corp. $3.75 million comes from Angelo Tsakopoulos, $1.25 million from his daughter.
There is much to the story for coming days. And several things to consider today.
** The TV ad itself is good. However, it suffers from the same problem as the ads for the official Angelides campaign. The product is neither revealed nor explained. You barely glimpse Phil Angelides in the ad. The story of Phil Angelides is not explained. Who is he? What has he done that prompted these public safety figures who look like actors to say that he stands up for them?
** $5 million is an enormous amount of money. However, the committee can’t get the candidate rates on advertising and is buying late. So it is not getting the $5 million worth of advertising that the official Angelides campaign would get with this money if it were legal for it to receive this money. It may be more like $3 million worth.
** Then there is the deeper issue about the committee itself. The “firefighters, cops, and deputy sheriffs” listed before the “home builders and developers” are not paying for this campaign. The Tsakopoulos family is. The committee does not exist without the money provided by Angelides’ closest professional associate of his career. No bucks, no Buck Rogers.
Will people believe that they are not acting in concert?
The few unions involved — the California Professional Firefighters, the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), and the local deputies group, the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs Association — all face risk as well.
They are providing their good names and the well-earned imagery of their members to supply the public credibility to this effort. Each was a relatively early endorser of the Angelides candidacy. The firefighters union, in particular, has a very long association with the treasurer’s career.
Like Angelo Tsakopoulos, the firefighters union first began supporting Phil Angelides in 1973, when the 19-year old Harvard undergraduate ran his first losing race for the Sacramento City Council. The firefighters union has long participated in the councils of the Democratic Party, of which Angelides is a former state chairman.
Will people believe that they are not acting in concert with Angelides?
This is a fascinating move with many questions associated with it.
HAPPY EARTH DAY!
I’ve just watched the new pro-Phil Angelides TV ad produced by consultant David Townsend for the brand new independent expenditure campaign previously revealed here, Californians for a Better Government, A Coalition of Firefighters, Cops, Deputy Sheriffs, Home Builders, and Developers. A copy was provided by the firefighters union, at whose studio the spot was produced. It is, as promised, a positive ad promoting the election of the state treasurer, a candidate in the Democratic primary for governor of California.
It’s a high-energy, glossy ad, featuring sirens and flashing lights and purposeful-looking cop and firefighter figures talking about how tough their beats are and how Phil Angelides is always standing up for them. Angelides is seen briefly himself in still photograph. There is a chiron on screen throughout proclaiming that he is the only candidate backed by 100,000 police and firefighters.
And very prominent at the beginning of the ad, displayed after the very long name of the committee mentioned above, is the funding disclaimer. “Major funding provided by Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis and Angelo Tsakopoulos.”
Those are the principal funders of the campaign, as first revealed here a few days ago. Angelo Tsakopoulos, of course, is the gubernatorial candidate’s decades-long patron, friend, leading funder of his political career, and business partner. Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis is Angelo’s daughter, and president of his firm, AKT Development Corp.
The ad begins running in multiple markets around California on Sunday.
** The firefighters union has invited me to take a look at the TV ad that the new pro-Phil Angelides for Governor independent expenditure committee will begin airing on cable TV around the state this Sunday. That will happen some time this afternoon.
** BUSH’S BIZARRE VISIT TO CALIFORNIA. Someone explain to me why it makes any sense for President George W. Bush to spend Earth Day (tomorrow) in California. The man can’t be politically rehabilitated in California. His environmental ratings, in particular, are in the tank. The state’s Republicans have an incumbent governor, one Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger, running a very difficult re-election race, trying especially to establish his own green bona fides. And not one but two members of the Bush Cabinet — in just the last month — have stiffed Schwarzenegger on his request for federal emergency funding for levee repair after touring the scenes with the former action superstar. Unless the play is to have Arnold denounce the president — of whom he has historically been none too personally fond to begin with — it doesn’t make much sense.
** THE UNITED FARM WORKERS JUST ENDORSED WESTLY AND ANGELIDES BUT THEY LIKE ARNOLD, TOO. Here is what the union leadership said about the Republican governor when I asked: “Gov. Schwarzenegger’s willingness to seriously and honestly consider the concerns of farm workers stands in sharp contrast to his two Republican predecessors, Govs. Deukmejian and Wilson. We have differing philosophies and we have disagreed on some issues, but we have found some common ground in advancing the cause of justice for farm workers. We have found areas to work together. For example: He issued the first-in-the-nation state regulation preventing heat deaths and illnesses of farm workers in response to appeals from the UFW. He signed a UFW-sponsored pesticide protection bill (SB 391, by state Sen. Dean Florez, in 2004). Among other actions, the Schwarzenegger administration banned most forms of hand weeding, which causes crippling injuries to farm workers.
“We have had disagreements with the Governor on immigration reform. But the Governor’s recent statements make us hopeful we may be able to find common ground on a critical issue for farm workers and our nation.”
The new independent expenditure campaign for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides has just bought TV advertising time beginning this coming Sunday, April 23, according to two media buying sources. The pro-Angelides campaign, registered with the California Secretary of State as “Californians for a Better Government, A Coalition of Firefighters, Cops, Deputy Sheriffs, Home Builders, and Developers,” spent just under $600,000 so far on cable TV advertising time over two weeks in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Fresno, Monterey, Bakersfield, and Santa Barbara markets. No broadcast TV time has been bought as yet, but pro-Angelides sources say that is coming.
The official Angelides for Governor campaign, meanwhile, remains off the air.
While the role of longtime Angelides patron and business partner Angelo Tsakopoulos, regarded as the Sacramento area’s leading developer and one of California’s richest men, and his associates looms larger, the firefighters union and the other labor members of the new group are insistent that their actions are independent of the official Angelides campaign.
“We approached Angelo Tsakopoulos to fund this effort,” says California Professional Firefighters spokesman Carroll Wills of his union. “He didn’t approach us. We’re happy to have his backing.” Nor, he says, did the Angelides campaign direct them to approach Tsakopoulos. “Of course we would go to Angelo Tsakopoulos for his contributions and his help with funding this,” he said. The close Angelides-Tsakopoulos relationship is very well known in California political circles.
The firefighters have long been involved with Angelides, having endorsed his first campaign, a losing bid for the Sacramento City Council as a 19-year old college student. The union is heavily involved in TV commercial production as part of the Democratic coalition, with its Sacramento studio, dubbed “Firestar,” a regular port of call for Democratic media consultants.
“This is definitely an independent expenditure campaign for us,” explains Wills of his union, “because we are operating independently of Phil’s campaign and we control the production of any commercials and their placement on air.”
Wills noted that his union was already very familiar with the work of consultant David Townsend, the producer of the advertising, who has also worked on development projects with Tsakopoulos, most notably the recent effort to build a new arena for the Sacramento Kings National Basketball Association franchise. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that neither he, firefighters union president Lou Paulson, nor any of the other labor figures in the coalition could comment with any certainty about communications between Angelides and his longtime patron and business partner Tsakopoulos.
Other sources say that Tsakopoulos’s involvement in an independent expenditure campaign has been discussed for months, and that the Sacramento Valley development kingpin and his associates were waiting to be asked for financial support by the union members of the new group.
A prominent friend of Angelo Tsakopoulos called yesterday to say that Westly chief strategist Garry South is going to be “a great fundraiser for Phil Angelides.” How so? Because South, a notorious hardball player, sent a “threatening e-mail” to Steve Churchwell, treasurer for the new independent expenditure campaign on behalf of Angelides. The pithy missive, says the Angelo friend, instructed Churchwell, a former general counsel for the Fair Political Practices Commission, to “tell Angelo he’s in for a rough road.”
What is the problem with this, you might wonder, does Tsakopoulos imagine that he will not become a political lightning rod if he intervenes in the election backing a campaign on behalf of his decades-long protégé and business partner?
No, says his friend, that is not it. The South e-mail is viewed as an open-ended threat to use the power of the Westly governorship, should it come to pass, to interfere with Tsakopoulos projects. “Angelo and his family and friends weren’t sure how much they were going to do,” says the Tsakopoulos friend, “but when Garry South sent that e-mail yesterday morning after your column appeared they all read it and thought about it and decided to take up the challenge in a big way.”
Finally reached for comment, South denied that the e-mail was a threat to use state power against one of California’s biggest developers. “I am just telling him the obvious,” says the engineer of Gray Davis’s two gubernatorial election victories. “If he and his friends come in to rescue the candidacy of a man — who he still pays hundreds of thousands of dollars a year — under the guise of a quote ‘independent’ close quote campaign, he should expect a very bright spotlight on him and his associates and his partnership with Phil Angelides.”
South then released his e-mail correspondence with Churchwell (with whom he says he worked on an initiative campaign), reproduced here, with private e-mail addresses shortened:
From: garrysouth1@
Date: April 18, 2006 5:23:32 PM PDT
To: steve.churchwell@
Hi Steve:
So, you treasuring a Tsakopoulos (gussied up with a few other entities) IE for Phil? Angelo better get ready for a pretty rough ride.
Garry
From: GarrySouth1@
Date: April 19, 2006 1:50:36 PM PDT
To: steve.churchwell@
Subject: Fwd: (no subject)
No response?
G
From: “Churchwell, Steve”
Date: April 19, 2006 6:47:24 PM PDT
To:
Subject: Re: Fwd: (no subject)
Hey Garry -
Sorry about delay. I am in oregon on vacation. Snowboarded mt. bachelor this am then biked in 70 degree weather. I will be available early next week.
SC
————————–
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
According to South and others, this is not the first time Tsakopoulos has complained about his aggressiveness on behalf of Westly. After my January 25 feature, “Democrats: The Fight Starts Now,” Tsakopoulos reportedly complained to Westly through an intermediary concerning South’s rhetoric about him.
In the story, South was quoted as describing Tsakopoulos and Angelides as “the Sultans of Sprawl” for their role in the suburban development of the Sacramento region. Westly, says South, then directed him to tone down his rhetoric about Tsakopoulos and simply stick to facts rather than labels. Which, to my recollection (and dismay as a writer), South has done with regard to Tsakopoulos. Until now.
** EVERYBODY KNOWS JERRY BROWN. Not to my surprise, but to the former governor’s quite evident delight, the new Field Poll shows that the only extremely well-known figure running for one of the OTHER statewide offices is Jerry Brown, the former two-term Governor of California, two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination, and two-term Mayor of Oakland. And that he is dominating the Democratic primary for state attorney general, leading his scrappy challenger, L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, 59% to 18%. The only other figures who are quite well-known, though nowhere near Brown, are Attorney General Bill Lockyer (unopposed for the Democratic nomination for treasurer), and Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and state Senator Tom McClintock, Democratic and Republican candidates, respectively, for lieutenant governor. The conservative McClintock has already assumed his role as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s running mate. Garamendi has to fight for the Democratic nod, and has a sizable but not yet decisive edge over state Senator Jackie Speier, who has raised more money than he.
Although a lightning rod of criticism since the 1970s, Jerry Brown has a still healthy in this contentious environment popularity level, with 45% of all likely voters viewing him favorably and 35% viewing him unfavorably. Governor Schwarzenegger, who has more than a fighting chance of being re-elected, would like to have those numbers. Tom McClintock has the best image score, i.e., favorable to unfavorable ratio. However, though I respect the senator, I have always been leery of his seeming popularity. He became famous for his Republican gubernatorial candidacy during the 2003 recall when it was in precisely no one’s political interest to attack him. (In fact, it was in a great many people’s interest to say what a great guy he was.)
The Democrats would not attack him because they wanted him to peel off enough votes from his fellow Republican Schwarzenegger to deny him victory. Arnold would not attack him because he didn’t want McClintock to attack him on, say, his budget “plan.” And because he wanted to train his fire on then Governor Gray Davis and Democratic replacement nominee Cruz Bustamante, the lieutenant governor, rather than be sidetracked into an internecine struggle with a smart man who would eventually figure out he could not win the election himself and would then act accordingly. Which is exactly how it played out.
** A PROMINENT FRIEND OF ANGELO TSAKOPOULOS called me today to say that Westly chief strategist Garry South is going to be “a great fundraiser for (Democratic gubernatorial candidate) Phil Angelides.” How so? Because South, a notorious hardball player, sent a “threatening e-mail” to Steve Churchwell, treasurer for the new independent expenditure campaign on behalf of Angelides. The pithy missive, says the Angelo friend, instructed Churchwell, a former general counsel for the Fair Political Practices Commission, to “tell Angelo he’s in for a rough road.”
I’ve called Garry South for comment on this but have not spoken to him yet.
What is the problem with this, you might wonder, does Tsakopoulos imagine that he will not become a political lightning rod if he intervenes in the election backing an arguably independent campaign on behalf of his decades-long protege and business partner?
No, says his friend, that is not it. The South e-mail is viewed as an open-ended threat to use the power of the Westly governorship, should it come to pass, to mess with Tsakopoulos projects. “Angelo and his family and friends weren’t sure how much they were going to do,” says the Tsakopoulos friend, “but when Garry South sent that e-mail yesterday morning after your column appeared they all read it and thought about it and decided to take up the challenge in a big way.”
4:30 PM UPDATE: Finally reached for comment, South denied that the e-mail was a threat to use state power against one of California’s biggest developers. “I am just telling him the obvious,” says the engineer of Gray Davis’s two gubernatorial election victories. “If he and his friends come in to rescue the candidacy of a man — who he still pays hundreds of thousands of dollars a year — under the guise of a quote ‘independent’ close quote campaign, he should expect a very bright spotlight on him and his associates and his partnership with Phil Angelides.”
EXPECT A FULL RUNDOWN ON THIS ITEM TOMORROW AM.
** ARNOLD RESEARCHES WESTLY AND ANGELIDES. An associate of Governor Schwarzenegger today shared some information on their research into public impressions of Democratic candidates Steve Westly and Phil Angelides. Arnold’s people are doing polling and focus groups. As you’ll notice, there’s a new emphasis on Westly.
“Neither one has made much if any impression on most voters,” says the Arnista. “They don’t know which one was on the city council, which one has the daughters.” (Actually, neither was on a city council — although Angelides lost Sacramento city council races in 1973 and 1977 — and Angelides has the three daughters.) “Westly hasn’t burned in a real impression yet with all his TV. The Democratic primary isn’t over although Westly is definitely ahead now.”
What about views of the former action superstar? “Everybody knows him,” says the Arnista. “Most like him, although he’s more controversial than we might want, many want to be on his side. They think he’s fighting to reform a broken system. Okay, you’re right, it hasn’t been a perfect fight but he has been consistent from the recall on. Most of them still see him as separate from that broken system, not inside of it.”
Schwarzenegger, he says, will run on that record. And speaking of records, “In every representation of his record that Steve Westly makes there are grotesque exaggerations. We are going to call him on that hard, if he gets that Democratic nomination. Westly has left no footprints in the snow” (using a phrase made famous by Bob Dole in his 1988 Republican primary campaign against the first President Bush).
Substantial grains of truth, with a large salting of spin. But it gives you a good idea of where they are coming from, and where they are going.
** THERE IS ANOTHER IMPORTANT NEWSBREAK COMING ON THE RACE FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA, Friday AM.
