GOP candidates out of touch with Silicon Valley roots
Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner, Carly Fiorina, and Tom Campbell are all Republicans campaigning for state wide offices this year who like to tout their connections and successes in Silicon Valley. But when it comes to the environment, these candidates couldn’t demonstrate more of a disconnect with leaders in the high-tech business community.
AB 32, The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, is a cornerstone of environmental policy in California as well as an example for the rest of the world. Silicon Valley leaders not only know that the science behind this bill is solid, they know that the bill is a huge boon to California’s economy. In addition to the growth of the green jobs market, AB 32 has attracted billions of dollars of investment for green technology. California is currently getting 60% of the clean tech investment dollars in the entire country, because investors know that California has made a commitment to sustainable development. If California’s pioneering global warming law is rolled back, that money could evaporate as investors get cold feet about an uncertain investment future, and that’s precisely what these candidates propose to do.
“These candidates are incredibly bright and often in alignment with valley leaders - but in this case there is a serious disconnect,” said Carl Guardino, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Silicon Valley Leadership Group, in a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. The questioning of global warming science by these candidates strikes a rather disingenuous tone. Silicon Valley, explained Guardino, “is dominated by scientists and engineers - there is no question about the science behind climate change. It's a shame that people who are so well-respected in the valley are trumpeting these fallacies.”
It is truly a shame that these candidates would take such outrageous positions to get a reactionary base of voters to the ballot, especially when polls indicate that a majority of Republican voters in California do care about the environment and our state’s amazing natural resources.
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