Poizner aides say Barnes & Noble protesters represented ‘status quo’
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It seemed like one of those disastrous campaign moments, a triumphant book signing that gets drowned out in conflict and covered in the local media. But the morning after Steve Poizner, a Republican running for governor, was besieged by angry protesters at a Barnes & Noble in East San Jose over his new book about a local high school, his campaign declared the episode a victory for Poizner, who ‘took on school board bureaucrats …. in his attempts to challenge the status quo.’
It may have been the first time that a crowd of young, largely Latino teenagers from East San Jose were cast as the forces of entrenched government bureaucracy. The above language, from Poizner press secretary Bettina Inclán’s e-mail to reporters, mainly referenced a confrontation at the store Thursday between the candidate and East Side Union High School board president Eddie Garcia.
The book, ‘Mount Pleasant,’ details the year Poizner spent in 2002 and 2003 guest teaching at the East San Jose school, and many in the area are upset over what they see as condescending and excessively negative treatment of the students.
As Garcia lit into him, Poizner intermittently tried to walk away and keep talking before aides ushered him away. A few minutes later, he had a similar encounter with the school principal, Teresa Marquez. (The interview, with this reporter looking on, is captured in the video below.)
Inclán wrote, ‘As much as we tried to pull him away, Steve Poizner refused to walk away from a hard question…
‘Last night proved once again, Steve Poizner will not back down to anyone, not to teacher unions, not to government bureaucrats or the status quo.’
Inclán did not mention how Poizner tried and failed to avoid the protesters by entering through a side door, or the cringing expressions on the faces of his campaign staff as the scene unfolded (and continued to unfold seemingly forever), or the exhausted half-smile on his face when he finally ran the gauntlet and sat down at a small table, barricaded from the protesters, and waited for people to come in and actually let him sign some books.
-- Michael Rothfeld in Sacramento