Brown
SACRAMENTO (Legal Newsline) - This week, California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman launched a statewide television ad calling her Democratic opponent "a puppet of the unions."
Whitman's campaign announced the airing of the TV spot on Tuesday, according to her website.
The 15-second spot, titled "Puppet," shows California Attorney General Jerry Brown as a dancing puppet, complete with strings attached.
The former eBay CEO's campaign said the ad "underscores that Jerry Brown is bought and paid for by the entrenched unions that control Sacramento's status quo."
Whitman claims that the unions have spent more than $20 million propping up Brown's campaign and attacking her.
In several debates, she has criticized Brown, who once served as the state's governor, for being beholden to the unions.
In the ad, she does so again.
The announcer begins the spot saying, "Unions have spent over $20 million against Meg Whitman. Millions in cash for Brown."
According to the ad, teachers unions "just spent millions more" attacking her.
Last month, the California Teachers Association ran a 30-second spot aimed at Whitman for supposedly backing education cuts. In fact, the teachers union ad said Whitman would cut $7 billion from the schools and lay off 100,000 teachers.
Its rival union, the California Federation of Teachers, also has scrutinized the billionaire.
At the end of Whitman's new ad, the announcer asks, "Jerry Brown again? He sure comes with strings attached."
Brown currently has an 8-point lead over Whitman, according to the newest poll results.
With less than two weeks until the Nov. 2 election, Brown is ahead of Whitman 44 percent to 36 percent among likely voters, according to a survey by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.
Sixteen percent remain undecided, according to the results, which were released Wednesday.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by e-mail at jessica@legalnewsline.com.