Talk:Steve Westly

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To me, this seems to be written by a publicist, displaying political bias. TROGG 01:09, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

I think it is ok. Dapoloplayer 23:10, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree that it sounds too much like a campaign message. "Proud California native"? "He's led the fight against tax swindles"? It appears too NPOV to me. Imdugud 21:33, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Come on! This page is comically biased. "Steve Westly is a proud California native. An innovator throughout his career, Steve was an early executive at eBay, which he helped to build into one of America’s most successful companies. Serving as State Controller of California since 2002, he’s been a tough fiscal watchdog. By championing innovation and --Caliwiki 07:57, 5 June 2006 (UTC)accountability in government, Steve is a strong advocate for Democratic values..." Please!! Such "articles" are an insult to all Wikipedians. /Ulrikgade.

• Problem solved. Turns out this was a copyvio added by 206.184.208.50. See page 3 of http://www.westly2006.com/atf/cf/%7BE01F1A71-840E-4CAE-8F78-7ABC0EEA3C2C%7D/STEVE%20WESTLY%20HANDOUT.PDF. OCNative 02:29, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

I made several factual and balancing edits yesterday that were removed by another user. I spent a lot of time yesterday trying to make both this page and the Angelides page fresh and accurate given that the primary election is on Tuesday. I'm puzzled about their removal, but I'm also fairly new to wiki, so maybe I didn't do it in the right way. As others have noted, this page has had a habit of collecting biased rhetoric. For instance, I balanced what sounds like campaign rhetoric about bringing in $4 billion with a source (one of several) that calls this # into question. Here's my deleted addition:

". . . but some--including the state's non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office--dispute this, pointing to the fact that most of the money would have come in anyway, or will have to be refunded [1]."

Here's the relevant passage from that citation, which is a San Francisco Chronicle article:

"If I can bring in $4 billion without raising taxes, think what I can do as governor, he told an audience in Oroville this year.

But of the $3.8 billion collected under the tax amnesty program, the state Finance Department and the Legislative Analyst's Office estimated that only about $380 million was new money for the state. That means $3.4 billion was either refunded to taxpayers or represented advance payments of tax money California would have received anyway.

Westly's Controller's Office and the Franchise Tax Board put the collections for the program at $4.8 billion, but they agreed that all but $800 million represented advance payments or refunds.

A program easing penalties on people in abusive tax shelters brought in $1.4 billion, about half of which was new money.

I removed the phrase, "His campaign has picked up considerable momentum." That's clearly an opinion, isn't it?

I updated the polls section, but it was reverted to include the phrase "a recent LA Times poll showed Westly up 13 points" despite the fact that a more recent LA Times poll showed him behind by 3 points (http://www.latimes.com/la-me-poll28may28,0,5948271.story?coll=la-home-headlines). Again, I'm not sure why this would get reverted.

Finally, the statement about opposing Schwarzenegger on Prop 98 is vague (and if you're a California voter, virtually worthless, since nearly every Democrat in the state supports funding Prop 98). Rather than delete the phrase, I put it into context by saying that "scores of Democrats" also took this position, and point out that he differs with many other Democrats, including his opponent Phil Angelides, on this issue when it comes to funding schools (there might be a better way to say it). Perhaps someone else can say it better, but I think more info needs to be added.--Caliwiki 05:22, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Neutrality, folks

I readded the quote about Westly's plans being overambitious since it's factually sourced. But comparing your edits to those of the Phil Angelides page, I would like to ask if you are a Campaign Operative for the Angelides campaign or not? If so then you are welcome here, but all contributers have to follow WP:POV and Wikipedia:POV_pushing. Taunting Westly by saying "Despite Feinstein endorsing Angelides" and saying (this group endorsed Angelides too) is not acceptable under Wikipedia rules. You can add the fact that these groups have endorsed Angelides on his page. And the term "momentum" is used on Angelides page as well, and I agree to the usage on both gentlemen's pages because their campaigns seem to alternate momentum weekly. I also added a quote about Westly supporting the Internet tax and Angelides' stance on immigration to balance things out. Just so you know, I am not a registered Democrat and have cast an absentee vote for another party, and I have absolutely no stake in the Democratic primary except that I am most likely not voting for Mr. Westly or Mr. Angelides.--Folksong 06:52, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm not an operative. Didn't mean to "taunt"--you'll notice that I mentioned the dual endorsements on both pages, and I don't think the Angeldies campaign wants that EPA thing anywhere near his entry. I was going for balance, but I'm not up to speed on wiki style yet. Thanks for your understanding.--Caliwiki 07:41, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

couple other points: though I think the internet tax statement is legit, it is an existing tax that isn't getting collected, not a new tax, which some people might think is an important point. Also, both Westly and Angelides have essentially the same position on Prop 98 (for it, though they differ on how to fund it) and on National Guard troops at the border (against). When someone has the time (and if it's not Tuesday yet!), they might want to mirror those issues in both candidate's pages.--Caliwiki 07:57, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Spammer

Steve Westly endorses the use of SPAM (broadcasting messages to a wide variety of uninterested people). During his 2006 campaign to become govenor, he copied recorded messages to telephone answering machines.Chuck Simmons 01:31, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Robocalling, as it is known, is a common practice; singling Westly out for doing it when many other politicians and campaigns do it as well seems, frankly, ludicrous. Also, it is inaccurate to call robocalling SPAM, since political recorded messages are legal in California. (This comment is not meant to express an opinion on the practice of robocalling or on Steve Westly, just to belatedly set the record straight.) - gohlkus 20:28, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Sierra Club endorsement

I covered the race way back when for a small community college paper, and from what I recall the Sierra Club endorsed both Westly and Angelides. Ergo, it's probably unnecessary to write that he was endorsed by the Sierra Club.

Age incongruity

Under "Political Career", it says he was elected as the Northern Treasurer of the California Democratic Party at age 23, in 1981. If his birthday is correct, he would have been 24/25 in 1981, not 23. Either the year he was elected is incorrect, or the year he was born. — Preceding unsigned comment added by BigGreenKayaker (talk • contribs) 00:45, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

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