Fiorina's scant voting record could haunt her
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is armed with money and the support of well-placed Republicans for a possible run against Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer next year. But she's also got something that has dogged other wealthy political neophytes - a spotty voting record.
Fiorina, 54, of Los Altos Hills, who recently acknowledged that she is "seriously considering" a run, has voted in about 1 in 4 of the national, state and local elections in which she was eligible to cast a ballot since she registered in the Bay Area as a Republican in 2000, according to Santa Clara County records.
She didn't vote in presidential primaries in 2000 and 2004, the county's Registrar of Voters database shows. Nor did Fiorina cast a ballot in the primary or general elections in 2006, when Californians last voted for a U.S. senator, re-electing Democrat Dianne Feinstein.
In gubernatorial elections, the former HP chief didn't vote in general and primary elections in 2002 - the year Gray Davis was re-elected governor; she again failed to vote in the historic 2003 special election - the California gubernatorial recall that unseated Davis and brought Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger to power.
By not voting, Fiorina also failed to weigh in on a number of key educational, environmental and fiscal issues before voters - from library and park funding to school literacy programs. Among them: 2004's Proposition 57, the $15 billion statewide Economic Recovery Bond Act; 2004's Proposition 47, the $13 billion state bond to renovate public schools; and 2006's Proposition 84, which sought to promote clean energy and preserve California's environment.
"Carly acknowledges that she didn't vote some of the time - and she readily acknowledges that it's never good not to vote," Fiorina's chief of staff, Deborah Bowker, said Monday, adding that Fiorina doesn't dispute the records.
any ceos skip votes
But with just a year until Californians decide the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate next June, Fiorina's voting record could affect her prospects, experts say.
To many voters, "it's an abrogation of your rights as a citizen and it shows you didn't have time to care about the greater good," said Barbara O'Connor, professor of political communication at Cal State Sacramento. "It's citizens' responsibility to take their part in a democracy."
But a Business Week investigation of 100 top executives in 2000 found that "precious few" of the business elite cast ballots in often-critical state and local elections dating back as far as the 1980s. As CEO of Halliburton Co. in the late 1990s, Dick Cheney - who was elected vice president in 2000 - skipped 14 of 16 state and local elections. Oracle's Larry Ellison was registered but didn't vote during the period reviewed, the magazine said.
Meg Whitman, the 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate who was CEO of eBay at the time of the magazine's study, was cited in the report as representative of an exclusive executive group with "worse than spotty" voting records. The magazine could not find a voter registration for Whitman, who didn't register even after being notified by the magazine, the report said.
The Chronicle reported last year that Whitman, an Atherton resident, registered in San Mateo County in 2002 as a decline-to-state voter and registered as a Republican in 2007. The billionaire businesswoman did not vote in more than half the federal, state and local elections after she registered to vote in the county, records show.
Al Checchi, the unsuccessful California Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 1998 and former Northwest Airlines executive, was also hurt by admitting to failing to cast ballots in four of the six California elections before his run, missing critical primary and general election ballots.
Whitman and Checchi said they regretted not voting, adding that they were busy or traveling on business. Such excuses don't play well with voters, O'Connor said.
t's a no-brainer'
"We're all busy," she said. "You get an absentee ballot. It's a no-brainer."
The spotlight on Fiorina's voting record comes as her potential U.S. Senate candidacy has taken a higher profile in recent weeks.
Fiorina was diagnosed with breast cancer in March, and insiders say her prognosis and treatment have given her an excellent outlook. Republican insiders say she has been quietly meeting with "Kitchen Cabinet" advisers, rounding up potential fundraisers and campaign staffers, and putting out signals that she is preparing for a U.S. Senate run.
National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman John Cornyn of Texas has said he hopes to recruit Fiorina in the run against Boxer as a means of widening party appeal in California.
"I'm absolutely committed to recruiting candidates around the country that fit their states," Cornyn told Politico.com. "It really is a recipe for permanent minority status and irrelevance if we don't pay attention to the arithmetic and get back to a position so we can shape legislation."
Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo said Fiorina's voting record may hand potential opponents some potent ammunition.
"It's almost a race to see how they can frame it before the other guys get a chance," he said. "That could be one (where) the opposition side would say that she's not committed to public policy."
DiCamillo predicted that with Boxer - the incumbent and odds-on favorite for re-election - ramping up her campaign and collecting campaign cash, "you will see her trying to game voters' impressions."
candidates' spotty voting
Carly Fiorina
(former HP CEO, possible candidate for U.S. Senate)
-- Voted in 5 of 18 elections, 2000-08
Meg Whitman
(former eBay CEO, candidate for California governor)
-- Voted in 6 of 13 elections, 2002-07
Dick Cheney
(former Halliburton CEO, former U.S. vice president)
-- Voted in 2 of 16 Texas elections in five years in '90s
Al Checchi
(ex-Northwest Airlines exec, candidate for governor in 1998)
-- Voted in 2 of 6 elections before his run
