Republican Gubernatorial Candidates Tim Donnelly vs Neel Kashkari

By Mei Mei Huff

Governor Brown is widely believed to be the candidate who will win the Governor’s race in the November general election this year. There is no other Democrat candidate, so the real choice in the June 3^rd primary is who will be the other candidate to appear against Brown in the Fall election. While Brown is presumed to win November’s election for a 4^th term, should something happen between then and now, the Republican nominee who runs against him needs to be a quality candidate who can govern our state.

 Republicans have been working hard for the past several years to quit fighting with each other, work better with people who hold opposing viewpoints, and concentrate on core values of public safety, quality education, job creation, limited government and personal responsibility, as well as to, overall, stop scaring people. The person running at the top of the ticket—this year that is the Governor’s race—is seen as the flag bearer of the values of his or her respective party. Brown’s values become associated with the Democrat’s priorities; the Republican nominee will be associated with the Republican priorities. Except, Tim Donnelly does not represent the mainstream Republican priorities. He was elected to the State Assembly with no previous government related experience, and little evidence of being able to handle complicated issues, or work collaboratively to solve them. As an Assemblyman, Mr. Donnelly has not engaged to work with either his Republican or Democrat colleagues to get things done in our legislature. He doesn’t even meet or “caucus” with his fellow Republicans.  He has become known for voting against most everything, without offering solutions, and would perpetuate the perception that the Republicans are the party of “no”. Mr. Donnelly has come into conflict with the Law a couple times, including carrying an unregistered handgun into airport security, demonstrating he doesn’t think the laws apply to him. Assemblyman Donnelly would be in way over his head if elected to the Governor’s office, and even as nominee, he would take the Republican Party in the wrong direction in a state with rapidly changing demographics. He has some rants captured on Video and audio that make him toxic as a viable candidate. Beyond his library of sound bites and witty sayings, Donnelly has little substance.

Former California Republican Governor Pete Wilson and other prominent Republicans have blasted Donnelly as unfit to run for Governor.

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/05/pete-wilson-blasts-tim-donnelly-saying-he-would-damage-gop.html

Neel Kashkari

Neel Kashkari is a new person to the political scene, who has the qualifications to actually run the state should he be elected. As interim Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability from October 2008 to May 2009, he was responsible for overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that was a major component of the U.S. government's response to the financial crisis of 2007–08.

Born and raised in Ohio and educated at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Kashkari worked initially as an aerospace engineer. After attending business school at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he became an investment banker, covering the information technology security sector for Goldman Sachs.

When Henry Paulson, the former head of Goldman, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 2006, he brought Kashkari on as an aide. Kashkari was eventually named Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Economics and Development. At Treasury he played a number of roles in the response to the financial crisis and the subprime mortgage crisis that preceded it, most notably administering TARP.

Kashkari left government in May 2009 and began working for Pimco later that year, leading that company's push into the equities market. In January 2013 he resigned from Pimco to explore a run for public office. On January 21, 2014, he announced his candidacy for Governor of California.

Mr. Kashkari has no elective governmental experience, but he has demonstrated during his tenure at the US Treasury Department, a high capacity to bring solutions to complicated problems. Kashkari has a very inclusive style of leadership, and is focusing on Education and job creation to turn our state around.

Neel Kashkari endorsements (partial list):

Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff

Former Governor Pete Wilson

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-condoleezza-rice-endorses-neel-kashkari-governor-20140513-story.html

Former Governor and Presidential candidate Mitt Romney

Former Governor Jeb Bush

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/04/mitt-romney-pete-wilson-endorse-neel-kashkari-for-governor.html

And here is where things get a little interesting. The mainstream Republican leaders, including my husband, Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff, endorse Neel Kashkari for Governor. In 2012, our election rules changed where we could vote across party lines. In other words, Democrats can vote for Republicans in primary elections, something they were not able to do in 2010, the last time we elected a governor. With all voters being able to now vote across party lines, mischief is being plotted by some Democrats. Who would THEY prefer to have Brown face? Some Democrats are talking about voting for Tim Donnelly, because they know he is not supported by the Republican leaders, and Donnelly would be easier to defeat in November. Additionally, since Republicans have been more effective in reaching out to those outside of the party over the past few years, they know that Brown versus ineffective Donnelly would allow them to continue to drive a wedge between their base of voters and the Republicans. More important, having Donnelly as the Republican Governor nominee in California would taint and hurt other Republicans running for Assembly and Senate seats, in a year where Republicans must win additional seats to beat the Democrat’s supermajority in the Legislature. Additionally, Donnelly as the Republican nominee would allow Democrats across the nation to once again seize upon the image and values of one crazy Republican, and use it to rally rational voters across the nation against Tim Donnelly defined “Republican Values”. On so many levels, for so many reasons, we need to vote for Neel Kashkari for Governor on June 3^rd.