Whitman lacks public service background
by Carla Marinucci
(04-29) 20:55 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Standing on stage with GOP luminaries John McCain and Mitt Romney last week at a Bay Area fundraiser for her gubernatorial campaign, Meg Whitman recited her mantra for why she wants to be the state's chief executive: "I refuse to let California fail."
Whitman's oft-stated passion about California's future raises a key question: Outside of the executive suite, what causes has she supported in recent years to help the state succeed?
The Republican gubernatorial candidate and former CEO of eBay gave $30 million to establish Whitman College at Princeton University - the campus she and her sons attended - and started a family foundation with her husband, neurosurgeon Griffith R. Harsh IV.
But compared with other leading Silicon Valley and political figures, Whitman appears to have otherwise invested less time, energy and clout on causes at the state, local and national level - until she began to dabble in politics two years ago and said she intended to invest as much as $150 million to become California's next CEO.
Her book, "The Power of Many," and her campaign Web site mention the 53-year-old candidate's rise from the finance group Bain Capital to top marketing positions at Stride Rite, Hasbro and FTD. She served for a decade as head of eBay and was included in Time magazine's 2005 list of the top 100 people who have shaped American lives.
No causes mentioned
In contrast to others who have aspired to political office, however, Whitman does not mention any work on commissions, boards, advisory groups, charities or causes in her book or on her Web site. She has acknowledged what she's called an atrocious voting record, and until she ran for office, it appears she wrote no opinion pieces to express her views on key issues facing the state.
More than a month before the June 8 primary, Whitman's relative lack of advocacy and activity could be an issue with civic-minded California voters - many of whom are "working three jobs and serving on the PTA themselves," says Barbara O'Connor, professor of political communication at Cal State Sacramento.
"One of the things you evaluate a candidate on is their history of public service - it's a window into someone's value system," O'Connor said. "And that's what we expect from people (in politics) - that no matter how you do or how rich you are, you pay it forward."
Whitman stands in contrast to many top California politicians who established an activist profile as private citizens, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (physical fitness, a 2002 initiative for after-school programs), Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner (teaching, charter schools) and U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina (women's economic development in developing countries).
In the Silicon Valley executive stratosphere, many of Whitman's key supporters - including Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers and venture capitalist Floyd Kvamme - have been active advocates for issues like education, science and technology.
Adviser to politicians
As eBay's CEO, Whitman was tapped to advise British Labor Party Prime Minister Gordon Brown, then-chancellor of the exchequer, on trade. She counseled President George W. Bush on technology issues - and served on a committee called "Technology Leaders for Boxer" to endorse Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2004.
Today, she argues that her background qualifies her to provide fresh vision and the experience to "run California like a business." Her platform says she will reduce the state government workforce by 40,000 people, create 2 million jobs in the private sector and implement targeted tax cuts to boost business.
She declined to be interviewed for this story.
"Meg's political activism is consistent with her story of engaging at a new level as a result of what she experienced and saw firsthand at eBay," said Tucker Bounds, Whitman's campaign spokesman. "She identified a need for real change in the business climate in California that is often burdened with troublesome regulation, taxation and barriers to the type of growth needed for job creation and prosperity."
An unusual status
But others say billionaire Whitman's record on civic engagement underscores her unusual status as the wealthiest political candidate ever in California - she already has broken state records for spending.
"This is the new extension of a trend we've seen in the last 20 years in California regarding outsiders running for office," said Bruce Cain, director of UC Berkeley's Institute for Governmental Studies Washington Center.
In the past, he said, candidates with no political experience "felt they should prepare themselves for running by at least voting or writing opinion pieces - or in (Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's) case, getting involved in an initiative and getting to know people that way."
But Whitman is "taking it one step further, coming out of the cold completely with respect to civic engagement - and just running on your business credentials," he said. "It was inevitable ... and if you have the money, you can do it."
'Nontraditional routes'
Lisa Hetfield, interim director of the Rutgers' University Institute for Women's Leadership, says the rookie political candidate's life may underscore how "people are taking nontraditional routes to higher office. And certainly, for the benefit of leadership, we ought to be open to all kinds of talent and diversity."
In addition, voters today may be more likely to "look at each candidate and think about that experience and the current context - what is needed now," Hetfield said. It's possible that Whitman is being held to a different standard than men who "regularly make this leap," she added.
In 2006, she and her husband created the Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation, which she said at the time would focus on health care and education issues.
The charity, to which Bounds said she has donated nearly $87 million, made news in 2007 for investing $4 million in hedge funds based in the offshore tax havens of Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. The next year, to the dismay of GOP conservatives, the charity donated mostly to liberal causes, including a $1.5 million gift to Colorado's Telluride Valley Floor Preservation Partners, a group formed to protect the area from development.
Whitman's charity also gave $200,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund for work in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
As late as January 2008, Whitman made no mention of her political interests, telling CNBC as she left eBay that she planned to "work on our family foundation that we just set up - and take a little time off and rest."
Getting involved
But she became a national finance chairwoman for the 2008 presidential campaign of Romney, her longtime mentor from Bain Capital and son of the late George Romney, the former American Motors CEO who became Michigan's governor. Whitman later signed on as adviser to presidential candidate McCain.
Since then, her biography notes that she has "personally contributed to and participated in numerous get-out-the-vote efforts on behalf of congressional and legislative candidates."
In February 2009, Whitman announced her campaign to be governor of California. "Mitt and John inspired me to actually think beyond my business career, '' she said, "and how I might contribute to California and its future."
