Republican gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari was already facing an uphill climb to unseat Gov. Jerry Brown this year, and now a new poll shows just how steep that hill is — he’s trailing a registered sex offender.
The private poll shows the one-time federal bailout czar lagging behind not just Brown but also a field of Republicans that includes Glenn Champ, who was put on the state’s sex offender registry after he was convicted in 1993 of two counts of assault with intent to commit rape. Before his professed conversion to Christianity, Champ also killed a man while driving and was convicted of soliciting a prostitute.
Kashkari is also trailing other Republicans running against Brown, including Assemblyman Tim Donnelly of Twin Peaks (San Bernardino County), Mayor Andrew Blount of the Orange County town of Laguna Hills, and a political unknown named Alma Marie Winston.
The statewide poll was administered by Clear Path Strategies, a public opinion research firm with offices in San Francisco and Washington, D.C.. It was done for a private client and was conducted April 2-6 of 1,000 likely voters, said David Bluestone, a founder and partner of the firm.
Respondents were shown a list of all 15 candidates followed by their occupations as they will appear on June 3 ballot. Brown, for example, was described as “governor of California.”
Champ didn’t have “convicted sex offender” next to his name — he was “business owner/engineer.”
Kashkari, described on the ballot as a “businessman,” is a former administrator of the $700 million Troubled Assets Relief Program, which saved banks and other financial institutions from doom after the 2008 crash. He has been campaigning in California for months and just released a 33-page educational reform program.
What the results showed was “the more people you put on the ballot, the more diffuse you get,” Bluestone said.
Champ, not exactly your typical Republican candidate, addressed delegates at the party’s state convention in March before the Fresno radio station KMJ reported on his rap sheet.
It includes a conviction for carrying a concealed firearm in 1992, the subsequent attempted sex assault, a 1998 guilty plea for soliciting a prostitute and a 12-year sentence that same year for voluntary manslaughter.
Champ told the Los Angeles Times he has since found God and turned his life around.
“I found the Lord when I got arrested for picking up the prostitutes,” Champ said. “I was like most people, ignorant in the darkness, in the very dark. I had no peace, had no love, had no joy. And now I do. Praise God for that…. I’ve grown considerably since I met Christ.”
As for the manslaughter conviction, Champ called that a “tragic accident.”
“There was a situation where the gentleman, he was a little bit drunk and was trying to get violent and I left the area as quick as I could and apparently he got in the way,” Champ told the Times. “I didn’t see him or even know I hit him until about four hours later, till it came on the news.”
Kashkari, asked at The Chronicle editorial board Thursday about his poor showing in other recent state polls, including the Field Poll, said he believes voters are still largely unfamiliar with the field of GOP candidates.
“These polls are basically meaningless,” he said. “I’m unknown until we start doing formal outreach, paid outreach” to voters in the next weeks.
Still, Bluestone said he was flummoxed by Champ’s ranking in third place.
“Far be it from me to explain the wisdom of California voters,” Bluestone said, adding that born-again Champ has tried to represent himself as “the true social conservative, a unique voice” in the race.
“Quite frankly, people have little memory,” the pollster said. “There hasn’t been a lot of information out on these candidates, and that probably contributes to it.” ..Source.. by Carla Marinucci
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