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THE MAGAZINE
India Abroad December 20, 2013
M3
e may have not formally declared his intent to run for the governorship of California yet, but Neel Kashkari, 40 once dubbed the $700 billion man for administering the Treasurys bailout of the nations leading banks under the Troubled Asset Relief Program for all intents and purposes, has been in campaign mode for nearly a year. He has been crisscrossing the state and traveling across the country, meeting with potential donors and financiers and the hierarchy of the GOP establishment, receiving their blessings and pledges of support, and is already talking like a winner whos prevailed in the Republican primary and is rearing to go toe-to-toe with the Democratic incumbent Jerry Brown, 76. Brown is highly likely to run for re-election, much to the chagrin of California Attorney General Kamala Devi Harris, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsome, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa all of whom, according to sources, had been exploring a gubernatorial run but were said to be frustrated that Brown had no intention of vacating the post. Kashkari has already met with the likes of former President George W Bush, in whose administration he served as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, his former boss and mentor Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and a host of other GOP heavyweights, who have all promised to back him to the hilt. He has also been arming himself with facts and figures and policy formulations by meeting with policy wonks at leading think tanks and education institutions, ranging from the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC to the Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has met more than 700 potential donors in California and across the country, including Indian-American Silicon Valley heavyweights. Sources have said he already has pledges to the tune of $10 million. He could use this to drown out the message of his primary GOP challengers with their anemic resources and have plenty left over to take on Brown, who also has a campaign chest of $10 million leftover from 2010 when he thrashed Meg Whitman, the former eBay chief executive officer, in a landslide despite her $144 million campaign. But its not just the fat cats Kashkari has been cultivating. His grass-roots activism has extended to spending nights at homeless shelters, picking strawberries in fields, working in the docks, volunteering at food
Neel Kashkari, the $700 billion man, is in campaign mode for the governorship of California. He tells Aziz Haniffa why his message will resonate across party lines, race and the socio-economic spectrum
Neel Kashkari as the Acting US Assistant Secretary of Treasury for Financial Stabilization testifies before the Domestic Policy Subcommittee hearing about the Troubled Asset Relief Program on Capitol Hill in 2009. The post earned him the moniker $700 billion man.
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banks, marching with over 80,000 Sikhs at the Yuba City parade, interacting with students in indigent and minority neighborhoods and, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, even worshipping at a Pentecostal Church in South Los Angeles.
The former Wall Street banker, who cut his teeth at Goldman Sachs, has also been scrupulously using social media to get his exploratory message out. And, as any serious candidate would do, he has deployed some of the leading hired
guns in the political business from both former Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romneys campaign and also operatives from former California Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggers team, including the latters Communications Director Aaron McLear as his spokesman. According to McLear, who also doesnt want to let on when Kashkari will officially declare his intent to run for governor, Hes doing exactly what he said he was going to do which was travel the state, learn about the challenges and see how he can best help. Carla Marrinucci, the most plugged in political columnist in the Bay area who writes the popular The Spin Cycle in the San Francisco Chronicle, has said the Democrats have been watching Kashkaris stealth campaign with bemusement and not been averse to snide jabs. She quoted Democratic campaign strategist and Jerry Browns political spokesman Dan Newman as saying, A Goldman Sachs guy appointed by Bush to ran TARP? I guess the head of IRS wasnt available. Marrinucci also said that according to pollster Ben Tulchin, Kashkari would be pummeled in the solid-blue California as the Bush guy who led the bailout of Wall Street, and would have to explain how they successfully bailed out banks whole the homeowners got stuck. Others have said that while the progressives and moderates in the Republican Party led by the likes of Jeb Bush would like to show off Kashkari as the new face of the GOP a party that is diverse and encourages a big tent it wouldnt be easy to appease the partys conservative base, considering his track record as the one who oversaw the bailout. Also, these conservatives wouldnt take too kindly to Kashkari who has said hes pro-choice, supports same-sex marriage and voted for Obama in 2008. An Indian-American heavyweight in Silicon Valley, who recently brought together some leading Indian-American Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to listen to Kashkari and pledge their support, told India Abroad that although defeating Brown would certainly be an uphill if nigh impossible task, Even if he loses, he will get major name ID and recognition, and if the Republicans take the White House in 2016, you bet he will be up for a senior administration post, maybe even a cabinet job, perhaps Treasury Secretary. It could also be a launching pad for a future, more viable run in 2018 for the governorship, and who knows, even a run for the US Senate. In his first interview with a South Asian newspaper and any media outlet outside California, Kashkari spoke to India Abroad about what pushed him to consider a gubernatorial run in 2014 and why he is a candidate with a difference.