Poizner Blasts Contributions to Ruskin's Campaign

By Mercury News staff

Republican Assembly hopeful Steve Poizner held a press conference in a Palo Alto laundromat Monday to denounce the ``laundering'' of campaign donations through political parties -- especially donations from the Democratic Party to his opponent, Redwood City Council member Ira Ruskin.

The trouble with the donations from political parties, Poizner said, is that the identity of the original donor -- the person who wrote the check to the party -- remains a mystery to voters.

``When a candidate gets a donation from a political party it's really hard to tell which special interest groups are backing him,'' Poizner said.

``I'm all for transparency,'' said Ruskin, who has received $114,000 from state and local Democratic Party organizations in his bid for the District 21 seat. But Ruskin said he would go further, using tax dollars to help fund state campaigns in order to level the playing field for candidates running against wealthy candidates like Poizner.

Poizner has put $2.2 million of his own money into the campaign, a huge amount for an Assembly race. Much of his fortune came from selling SnapTrack, a cell phone technology company, to Qualcomm for $1 billion.

``My wife and I look at the money we're putting in this campaign as a public service,'' Poizner said at AJ's QuickClean Laundromat on Middlefield Road.

In all, Poizner's campaign has raised $2.8 million, compared with Ruskin's $638,000.

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