Salon: Meg Whitman's NY shout-out: Did she just tell Californians that Wall Street wants her to win?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Monday, Aug 23, 2010 12:18 ET
How The World Works
Decoding Meg Whitman's shout-out to New York
Did the candidate for governor just tell Californians that Wall Street wants her to win the election?
By Andrew Leonard

http://www.salon.com/news/meg_whitman/index.html?story=/tech/htww/2010/08/23/meg_whitman_shout_out_to_goldman_sachs

Calbuzz spots a bizarre outburst in Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's otherwise un-noteworthy speech to the Republican state convention in San Diego Friday night.

"Do you know who's as excited about this election as we are? The people of New York. They have suffered the financial reforms that are going to crimp our ability to raise capital and they want California to turn the corner."

The people of New York? I haven't seen any good polling numbers about how Meg Whitman is regarded by the people of New York, although presumably she still has some fans among the horse-riding set in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, where she grew up. And while it's true that a return to strong economic growth in California would be good for the whole country, Whitman's emphasis on those "who have suffered the financial reforms" seems to refer to a specific group of New Yorkers -- the executives of financial institutions with headquarters in Manhattan.

Calbuzz labels Whitman's baffling Back East shout-out a "secret message to Goldman Sachs." But what could she possibly be thinking? Whitman is the poster girl for sleazy dot-com-boom-era you-scratch-my-back I'll-scratch-yours corruption.

From 1998 to 2002, while she was CEO of eBay, Whitman helped steer millions of dollars of her company's investment banking business to Goldman, court records show.

In 2001, Goldman put Whitman on its corporate board, paying her an estimated $475,000 for little more than a year of part-time service. The company also gave her insider access to the initial public offerings of hot stocks worth millions, according to the records.

Whitman left the board in 2002 after she was targeted in a congressional probe of bond underwriters and "spinning" -- a financial maneuver, now banned, in which Goldman and other firms allegedly traded access to hot IPOs for bond business. Whitman later settled a shareholder lawsuit related to profits she and other execs made from buying the IPOs.

[RandomThoughts]

1. I don't believe in scratch for scratch.

That is buying and selling. Nor do I give for anything in return when I do, or when I have something to share.

[wiggs]

2. It's not complicated and I'm sure Brown won't be pulling punches the way other

dems do.....she is the Goldman Sachs candidate in an era where corporatism and concentration of wealth are two of the most important issues facing the nation. She is not in the top 1%. She is in the top .1%, at least.

This is an easy case to make.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. Brown is playing the classic rope-a-dope.

He's letting Meg shoot her wad, spend her six figure war chest, and then he'll make his move.

I know the world at large has mixed feelings about Brown. That's OK...I like the man, warts and all. I liked him when he was zipping around on private jets with Linda Ronstadt and I like him now. I want this man to send Meg home broke and fucking PISSED OFF.

:patriot: