GOP hopefuls eschew policy, get personal
The three top Republican candidates shared a debate stage for the first time Tuesday and spent more time shredding each other personally than taking stands on policy.
Their attacks may be mostly existential, as analysts predict only 42 percent of voters in California’s June 5 primary will cast a ballot for a Republican. That makes it harder for a Republican — any Republican — to be one of the top two primary finishers to advance to the November general election, where they would face one of two Democrats: Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom or former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — both of them far ahead in the early polls.
So the goal at the 85-minute forum presented by The Chronicle at the City Club in San Francisco was to be the Republican to remember.
Former Sacramento-area three-term Rep. Doug Ose cited his experience while simultaneously criticizing his rivals, Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach (Orange County) and Rancho Santa Fe (San Diego County) businessman John Cox, who was born in Chicago.
“I haven’t spent six years in the Legislature doing nothing, and didn’t move here from Illinois without knowledge of California,” a blustery Ose said. “I know the rules. Democrats do not want to see me on the ballot. I intend to be the governor and, Travis, I’ll invite you to my reception.”
Allen said he was the only Republican on the stage who could beat Newsom, who he mentioned several times as the likely Democrat to advance to the general election in November.
“I have never lost an election,” Allen said. “These candidates here are both three-time losers. California Republicans need a real, common-sense Republican.” Ose, who has lost only two races, pointed out that Allen runs in a strong GOP district.
Cox, who has never held elective office, repeatedly boasted about his business background.
“We’re not going to change California with more politicians,” Cox said. “Nineteen states have elected Republican businessmen, and they’re some of the most successful and popular governors in the country.”
Allen took several hits for being the only Republican named last week in documents released by the Legislature outlining 20 substantiated complaints of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior against other lawmakers or high-level legislative staffers over the past 12 years.
Allen was found to have routinely gotten “unnecessarily close” to one female staffer in 2013, including sitting close to her while sliding his foot to touch hers.
Allen derided the report as an “attack by a Democrat-led committee.” He applauded the #MeToo movement but was hardly apologetic. He said the movement “is about women who have been violated. This is exactly what has not happened in my case.”
“In my case, there may have been a misunderstanding because I was too friendly,” Allen said. “If any time my friendliness was misconstrued, then it was simply that,” he said.
Ose took that lead and ran with it: “I’ve been in the public eye for 20 years. You’ve never heard any report of this type of behavior about me because it’s never occurred — there’s nothing on me.”
Cox, 62, described inappropriate behavior as a failure of leadership.
“When you represent people, you can’t engage in any behavior that would be considered risky in any way whatsoever. Because what you’re doing is you’re opening yourself up to blackmail, you’re opening up yourself to attacks and complaints that will affect your decision-making.”
However, neither Allen nor the other candidates mentioned President Trump’s multiple reported infidelities, nor the 19 women who have accused him of sexually inappropriate behavior. Instead, they battled over who was the biggest Trump booster.
Ose, who was a state chairman of Trump’s California campaign, was on the Trump train the earliest — in February 2016 — and chided Allen for overstating his Trump credentials.
“You were asked six times to help on that and we didn’t receive your written endorsement until October,” Ose, 62, said, then made one of several agerelated jabs at Allen, 44. “I just want to make sure that you don’t make a youthful error here.”
The candidates agreed on nearly every policy point raised, whether it be opposition to the Affordable Care Act, the need to reform California’s environmental protection laws, their desire to repeal the state’s recently approved gas tax and their push to curb the power of public sector unions.