Meg Whitman, Millionaire Profiteer Employer of Illegal Worker, loses Ebay bid to buy California Governors Mansion
‘Buy It Now’ FAIL: Former eBay CEO Whitman Is The Biggest Loser By John C Abell November 3, 2010 | 2:39 pm | Categories: People, Politics, Silicon Valley Meg Whitman during visit to her Victory 2010 Headquarters in Temecula, Monday, Nov. 1, 2010. Photo by Eric Draper/Meg Whitman for Governor 2010. Used with gratitude via a Creative Commons license. Despite big gains for Republicans at every level in this year’s mid-terms election, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman lost big despite bidding huge to win California’s governorship. The failed attempt cost Whitman an estimated $160 million, mostly from her own pocket, in what was by far the biggest chunk of personal fortune any person in the United States has ever spent trying to get elected to anything. Don’t cry for Meg — Whitman is still a billionaire. She won’t be searching her attic for potential auction items to make ends meet. But Whitman did outspend once-and-future governor Gerry Brown six-to-one and now joins the ranks of some pretty wealthy people, many with zero political cred, who couldn’t paper over inexperience and an imperious CEO’s manner with glossy TV ads. On which, by the way, she spent about $107 million alone, according to California Watch, for nothing nearly as memorable as the “Demon Sheep” spot that Carly Fiorina put on YouTube for free. Whitman may be Queen of the Hill in personally-funded futility, but she was hardly alone. Former professional wrestling entrepreneur Linda McMahon spent $47 million of her own moeny losing to Richard Blumenthal in the Connecticut Senate race. Another techie, former Microsoft VP Suzan DelBene, spent $2.28 million on a losing bid for the House seat in Washington’s 8th District. In all some $500 million was spent by 58 candidates who contributed at least $500,000 to their own campaigns, Bloomberg reports, and 30 lost or dropped out. Fiorina doled out “only” $5.5 million in her losing bid to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer. But the former Hewlett-Packard CEO was up against a popular incumbent while Whitman’s loss was for an open seat. And in Brown her opponent was a candidate who, though he is the state’s current attorney general, is best known as an ultra-liberal former California governor whose heyday was in the 1970s, is not-always-fondly referred to as “Gov. Moonbeam” and didn’t even have enough money to run TV ads until September. So Whitman’s loss has to hurt, just a little. While we’d never be so crass as to suggest that she was trying to buy the election maybe Whitman’s wondering what she might have spent that $160 million on instead. Wired.com is here to help. Here are a five back-of-the-envelope ideas: Building something like Bill Gates’ house. It cost an estimated $100 million. That leaves plenty left over for … A 767-200 — just like the one Sergy and Larry have. The Google founders are thought to have paid about $25 million to buy and fix it up theirs, but a new one goes for as much at $140 million. The landing rights they have at NASA’s Moffett Field? Priceless. Embarrass that piker Mark Zuckerberg by going 60 per cent better than the Facebook founder’s charitable contribution to the Newark, N.J. school system. Commission some “big” and “reasonably expensive” boats, like former Netscape CEO Jim Clark’s Hyperion. Clark denied that his 155-foot yacht cost as much as $50 million when he got it in 1998, but even if it was that pricey you could have still funded your own flotilla. Invent and then sell the iPad for one day — no, wait, that’s how to make $150 million. Buy your own private island. If you’re as savvy as Johnny Depp, you’d have had about $154 million left over to run for something else. Got your own ideas? Leave us a comment. Read More http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/11/the-biggest-loser/comment-page-1/#ixzz14Fnn4V7r -- Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time. Have a great day, Tommy -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
