FLASHREPORT

On Saturday, the San Jose Mercury News reported that Meg Whitman's personal foundation has donated thousands of dollars to protect the delta smelt - a revelation that seriously calls into question Whitman's credibility on water issues and her credibility with voters in the Central Valley.

In 2007, Whitman donated $100,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund's Center for California Rivers and Deltas. The Environmental Defense Fund is a liberal group that proudly advocates for the rights of the Delta Smelt over the rights of our farmers in the Central Valley.

A donation to the Environmental Defense Fund is bad enough, but directly contributing to the EDF's main efforts to steal water away from the Central Valley is unacceptable for a supposed "Republican" running for Governor.

It might be worth giving Whitman the benefit of the doubt on this issue if this was an isolated incident, but this isn't an isolated incident - it's a pattern.

After contributing to the EDF in 2007, Whitman went on a climate change cruise in 2008 with Van Jones and Jimmy Carter to study global warming. Following the cruise, Whitman and her liberal friends issued a joint statement calling for "substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions" and "actions at all levels of government."

In fact, Whitman was so impressed by the cruise and her new friend Van Jones that she went out of her way to praise him afterwards saying that she was a "huge fan" of Van Jones.

Whitman's radical environmental associations and donations makes one wonder exactly how she would govern on environmental issues...

All of these revelations, along with the recent news that Whitman endorsed and contributed to Barbara Boxer in 2004, is bad news for a campaign that continues to stumble as more is revealed about Whitman's liberal record on important issues facing the Central Valley.