Boxer draws crowd in Santa Rosa

Senator Barbara Boxer made a brief appearance last Saturday,
taking advantage of the Sonoma County Democratic party 4th annual
barbecue at Doyle Park to talk about her platform and fire back at
her opponent, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.
Boxer, the three-term California senator and former Marin County
congresswoman, found a receptive audience of about 200 on hand as
she played up a widely-publicized gaffe Fiorina made in June about
how the Senator’s hair
“At first, I was taken aback, but then decided I was going to go
with it,” Boxer said. “She said my hair is ‘so yesterday.’ That may
be so but my politics is for today and tomorrow.”
Boxer went on to say that Fiorina “supports the policies of
George W. Bush,” and her policies on such issues as abortion rights
and offshore oil drilling are “so yesterday.”
“Her plan is more tax cuts for the wealthy and more
deregulation,” Boxer said.
Boxer also assailed Fiorina’s record as CEO of Hewlett-Packard,
where she was forced out by the board of directors in February 2005
after a controversial deal to buy Compaq in the spring of 2002 led
to a precipitous drop in HP’s stock value.
“She sent jobs overseas and tripled her own pay,” Boxer
said.
Fiorina’s campaign disputes Boxer’s claim that HP jobs were
shipped overseas and turned the rhetoric back on Boxer.
“The only job Barbara Boxer cares about saving is her own,” said
Andrea Saul, Fiorina’s press secretary in an e-mail. “After more
than three decades as a career politician, Boxer has a record of
abject failure for Californians, supporting job-killing policies
that begin with voting for more than a trillion dollars in tax
increases, a decrease in the amount of federal funding coming back
for California and record high debt that Californians will have to
foot the bill for decades to come.”
Several prominent Sonoma County Democrats were on hand enjoying
the chance to talk about issues and posit on the chances for
Democratic success in the upcoming election.
“I think the Democrats need to be aggressive when it comes to
creating jobs, balancing budgets, protecting the environment and
funding schools,” said 4th District Supervisor-elect Mike McGuire
in a subsequent interview. “We should be able to create jobs and
protect the environment.”
McGuire is also holding out hope for both Boxer and Democratic
gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, who was in Santa Rosa for a
fundraiser just a few days before Boxer.
“I feel honored that Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown chose to come
to Sonoma County, and think that Brown is the right man for the
job,” he said.
Boxer’s campaign website can be found at www.barbaraboxer.com. Fiorina’s
is at www.carlyforca.com.