Making high-tech history, Silicon Valley political consultant Jude Barry has announced his resignation from John Garamendi’s campaign for governor on his Facebook page.
A class act, Barry wouldn’t go beyond the statement he posted to his FB friends when we reached him Tuesday. But it’s not hard to imagine why he bailed: Eight months into the mission, Garamendi has yet to find campaign co-chairs or, more importantly, finance co-chairs, which suggests his fundraising reports won’t be front page news. He and wife Patty seem set on running a Ma and Pa Kettle operation. And don’t even get us started about trying to get an email answered by the campaign.
Beyond the organizational problems, however, there is simply no clear rationale for a Garamendi candidacy: Dudley Do Right has already run and lost for governor twice — to Tom Bradley in the 1982 Democratic primary and to Kathleen Brown in the 1994 primary; now he’s facing the Three Strikes law for politicians (In an earlier post, we incorrectly reported that Garamendi had also run in the 2003 recall election for governor; calbuzz regrets the error).
“I like John Garamendi and appreciate the opportunity to have worked with him and many other good people on his team, both on the campaign and in the Lieutenant Governor’s office,” Barry said in his Face post on Monday. “But, at this point, I’ve done all I can to help him. I don’t think I can do much more and it doesn’t feel right to just hang around the campaign. I wish John and the campaign good luck.”
