| Garry,
Please resign.
For the good of the progressive movement, for the good of the state of California, and for the good of your candidate, Janice Hahn, you should resign your post as chief strategist to the Hahn campaign.
In this time of profound economic and political crisis, California deserves a campaign that is focused on solving the issues that have brought our state to its knees, a campaign focused on restoring the California Dream. Petty attacks like those you have begun to level against other candidates -- including attacks on Jerry Brown's age -- not only distract from those issues, but they undermine your own candidate.
Your attack on Gavin Newsom is highly unethical. (See below the fold.) By using against him conversations you held with Newsom while he was a client of yours you are not only breaching the trust you held as a senior advisor to Newsom's gubernatorial campaign, you are also potentially making Newsom into a sympathetic figure, further undermining Hahn's cause.
Janice Hahn has a lot to offer Californians -- she is a successful local government official who has a long record of effectively implementing progressive policies. She has built a considerable amount of support across the state during her campaign because of her pledge to bring a local government perspective to a profoundly broken state government. You risk undoing that work by resorting to your typical, failed approach of attacking the opponent instead of showing the electorate why your candidate deserves their support.
We write not as supporters of any particular candidate or potential candidate, but as progressive Californians who are sick of watching you run promising campaigns into the ground with your destructive style of vicious personal attacks. All you accomplish is electing Republicans. Do the ethical and honorable thing and resign from the Hahn campaign immediately.
Signed,
Dante Atkins
Calitics Editorial Board
Robert Cruickshank
Public Policy Director, Courage Campaign
Marta Evry
Venice for Change
Rick Jacobs
Founder & Chair, Courage Campaign
Brian Leubitz
Calitics Editorial Board
Julia Rosen
Online Political Director, Courage Campaign
Shayera Tangri
Dan Ancona
Joel Wright
David Atkins
Note: for an in-depth explanation of why Garry South is a disaster for Democratic candidates, peruse the open letter Calitics posted laying out South's failures in January 2007.
Note 2: It should be emphasized that this isn't really about Janice Hahn, we were impressed with her during our interview last year. But Garry South is really doing her a disservice over the last few weeks. Mudslinging just isn't the way to win a Democratic primary. |
