Humboldt Republican Women Federated will host Meg Whitman, a Republican candidate for California governor in 2010, at Baywood Golf and Country Club on Tuesday.
Whitman is best known for her tenure at eBay. She led the online company from 1998 to 2008, taking it from a 30-employee operation to more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in revenue.
She served as the national finance co-chair for the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney in 2008, then later as the national finance chair for John McCain.
Joy Finley of Humboldt Republican Women said it's a pleasure to host a woman of Whitman's caliber.
”This is her last leg of a swing through the state,” Finley said, adding that Whitman is speaking to small business owners and others to find out how to attract more jobs for people in California.
The event is free and open to the public. Call Joy Finley at 845-2575 for more information.
If you go:
What: Meg Todd Whitman speaks to Humboldt Republican Women Federated
Where: Baywood Country Club, 3600 Buttermilk Lane, Arcata
When: Aug. 25, 5:30 to 7 p.m.
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| HRWF President Colleen Hedrick Introduces Meg Whitman |
Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
Posted: 08/26/2009 01:21:14 AM PDT
ARCATA -- Of the litany of problems facing California, Republican Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman intends to focus on just three.
”If we don't focus on jobs, government spending and education, it doesn't matter what else we do,” Whitman said, addressing a friendly crowd featuring a virtual who's who of the local Republican party at the Baywood Golf and Country Club Tuesday evening.
Hosted by the Humboldt Republican Women Federated, Whitman addressed the crowd for about 45 minutes, offering a brief personal history and her prescription for all that ails California.
Whitman received a warm reception and a closing standing ovation from the crowd, which featured a variety of elected officials from Humboldt and Del Norte counties.
Introducing Whitman, Humboldt Republican Women Federated President Colleen Hedrick presented Whitman with an honorary membership to the group.
”We don't give this away lightly,” Hedrick said. “Typically, it costs $20 ... but we're going to let you in at a bargain.
Whitman then took the podium, telling the crowd of her upbringing in Long Island, New York, where she went through the public school system to become one of only 100 women in a class of 1,200 at Princeton University. After graduating from Harvard Business School, Whitman said she found a “mentor” in former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who was her first boss at Bain & Company, a business-consulting firm.
Later becoming CEO of a fledgling company, eBay, Whitman helped the Internet auction site grow from a 30-employee endeavor to a global giant with more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in sales in 2008. Of her decade with the company, Whitman said she is most proud of a single statistic.
”Today, 1.3 million people make most, if not all, their living on eBay,” she said.
After helping first with Romney's presidential bid as a national finances co-chairwoman, and later with the McCain-Palin campaign as a national co-chairwoman, Whitman said she was inspired to pursue civil service and soon set her sights on the California Governor's Mansion.
Faced with the prospect of fixing a state beset with chronic budget deficits, a skyrocketing unemployment rate and a failing public education system, Whitman said her leadership and conviction will be her greatest assets as governor.
”It's very simple -- I refuse to let California fail,” she said.
In her business career, Whitman said she's learned that it's better to address three things at 100 percent than 15 things at 20 percent, and that's the approach she would take in California. Job growth, government spending and education are the three largest issues facing the state, Whitman said, before telling the crowd how she would address each.
To address job losses, Whitman said she would attempt to streamline the state's regulator process in a “very aggressive” way, saying, “regulation is strangling every business in California.” Further, she said she would help the state find a “more appropriate balance” between environmental regulations and keeping jobs alive.
As to government spending, Whitman harkened back to a popular Republican refrain: “Trust me when I tell you we don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem of epic proportions.”
Saying the state government's spending has increased 80 percent over the last 10 years, Whitman said she would try to cut the government work force and make government more efficient by consolidating programs and reducing the overall size of state government.
California currently ranks 48th out of 50 states in education, and Whitman said that has to stop.
”We simply cannot tolerate this because if we don't fix this, we will have a second-rate work force and second-rate state,” she said.
To fix the problem, Whitman said she would look to increase accountability by assigning each public school in California a performance-based letter grade, much the same way schools grade students. She said she would also look to increase the autonomy of local schools, believing they know what's best for their students. Finally, Whitman said that of the $70 billion currently spent on the state's public schools, roughly half goes to administrative and overhead costs.
”We need to change that mechanism so 80 percent is spent in the classroom and 20 percent is spent on administrative costs,” she said.
Finally, Whitman said she would look to increase teachers' salaries based on performance, boost pay to retain quality math and science teachers and bring vocational training back into high schools.
In a closing question and answer period, Whitman said that, as governor, she would use four levers of power to move her agenda forward. She said she would place good people in the thousands of governor-appointed positions in the state, rely on her leadership skills and focus energy and resources to effectively use the state's proposition system. The fourth lever would be to wield her veto pen freely, saying the Legislature has turned into a “bill factory,” often producing legislation that does little to address the state's major problems.
”I have half a mind to say, 'I will veto every bill that comes out of this Legislature until we get this fiscal situation under control,'” she said, drawing applause from the audience.
Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or at greenson@times-standard.com
