Your eyes on California Government

I was perusing a Web attack ad by Carly Fiorina:

Boxer and Campbell both Supported the Gas Tax
Boxer and Campbell are both Wrong for California

But at the top of the Web page — the part above where it says “File Edit View”, etc., on Windows — we read: “Barbara Boxer has Only Passed Three Bills in Her 18 Years as a Senator.”

Was this changed from a previous ad?

Anyway, Carly obviously is trying to appeal to conservative, anti-tax Republicans. But she doesn’t understand that such voters like it when politicians don’t pass many bills — or any bills. Almost all bills increase government or taxes; only an occasional one ever reduces them. Therefore, although Boxer’s voting record is awful, her record on introducing so few bills — one of the lowest records ever — is something conservatives might find attractive, but for Boxer’s other negatives.

And as to Campbell raising taxes, the only reason Carly can make that claim is that she’s never held office herself. But OpenSecrets.org reports on Hewlett-Packard’s politics during her tenure:

Fiorina, ousted in 2005 as Hewlett-Packard’s chief executive officer, has contributed $25,000 to Hewlett-Packard’s PAC over the years. The Hewlett-Packard PAC, in turn, has consistently donated significant sums of money to Democratic candidates — including $15,000 to Boxer this decade, $5,000 of which came during Fiorina’s tenure.

Bottom line? The Hewlett-Packard PAC funneled between 39.1 percent and 45.4 percent of its federal political donations to Democratic candidates during the election cycles in which Fiorina led Hewlett-Packard, CRP’s analysis indicates.

In 2000, Fiorina also donated $5,000 to the Technet PAC. That election cycle, Democratic candidates received more than 47 percent of the Technet PAC’s more than $133,000 in political contributions.

–John Seiler