This morning I'm listening to This American Life as is my wont of a Saturday, and here comes this amazing take down of Steve Poizner.
Poizner is Meg Whitman's opponent for the R side of the California governor's race. He's way down
in the numbers, in part because Meg has, so far, spent $59 million of her own money and nearly drowned us in her tv advertising.
Poizner wrote a book, Mount Pleasant, which supposedly describes his experiences as a volunteer one semester government teacher at an East San Jose public high school.
It is, by all reports, and most devastatingly by "TAL," complete crap.
Ira Glass is a national treasure, as many of you already know.
But this piece is the reason why we need to seek information about political candidates in lots of other places. Ira, in this piece, does an excellent job of real journalism.
He interviews Poizner, teachers and students from Mount Pleasant High School, and reviews the many issues raised by this book. (Which he did actually read, unlike some other folks who discuss books...)
Poizner, who sold two Silicon Valley companies and made well over a billion dollars in the process, had nothing to do with himself at that point. So he decided to volunteer at this public high school.
He makes it look like a combination of the back stories of "To Sir With Love" or maybe "Stand and Deliver" with not even a dash of the humor of "Welcome Back Kotter."
It looks like he created a narrative to use for his political ambitions and/or just plain made shit up. It also looks like he may have purchased enough copies up front himself to drive the book to #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list. (It dropped to #33 shortly thereafter.) He hasn't admitted buying any copies, of course.
He did pledge proceeds from the book to the school. The school has mixed feelings about accepting any money, but in these days of budget crunches in schools everywhere, they are probably going to take whatever he gives.
He failed at his first political run, a try at the State Assembly. He managed to get elected State Insurance Commissioner, although one has to wonder what he's been doing lately in that regard.
Now he seemed to think he could buy the governship. But it looks like Meg Whitman has a bigger bankrole than even Mr. Poizner.
Jerry Brown, on the other hand, only has a life-time of political experience. Meg Whitman is trying very hard to make that the supreme disadvantage.
Sometimes you have to wonder.