Republican Bill Simon Announces Campaign for State Treasurer in 2006

It’s official: Palisadian Bill Simon is running for California state treasurer. Although the election is not until November 2006, Simon is already campaigning. Last Saturday evening he spoke to the California Republican Assembly in Sacramento, and he plans to continue his weekly radio commentary, which is syndicated through Radio America to approximately 400 stations in the U.S. (including KRLA 870). He will also make his views known on talk radio, a forum he used extensively during the gubernatorial race. ‘I wanted to declare my intention to run early,’ Simon told the Palisadian-Post. He is, of course, expecting competitors but hopes to get the support of key Republicans, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom Simon presumes will run for reelection. It was just two years ago in March that Simon, a newcomer to politics, shocked both himself and the Republican party when he overcame a 40-point deficit in just eight weeks to win the nomination for governor in a landslide. ‘Simon Trounces Riordan, Storms to GOP Nomination,’ read the headline in the L.A. Times. Simon spent the next eight months campaigning against incumbent Gray Davis. Happily traveling the state, his down-home ‘meet ‘n’ greet’ style was often compared to that of former president Ronald Reagan, whom Simon greatly admires. Even after losing the governor’s race last fall by a surprisingly close margin, Simon continued to travel the state, speaking ‘two to three times a week’ as head of his own political action group called the California Grassroots Leadership Committee. Then came the California recall election. ‘My wife Cindy and I have been saying for two years that we need to recall Gray Davis,’ Simon said at a Palisades Republican Club fundraiser at his home in the Huntington last June. ‘It makes me feel as if we were right all along!’ Simon decided to run, but three weeks later he quit, saying there were ‘too many Republicans’ in the race. Whether an L.A. Times poll at the time showing Schwarzenegger in the lead influenced Simon’s decision, he won’t say. But he does say he is supportive of the new governor, whom he considers a friend. Both are parishioners at St. Monica’s Catholic Church and both have vacation homes in Sun Valley. ‘I think Arnold is doing a good job,’ Simon said, ‘and should be given a chance to work through his financial recovery plan. I voted in favor of both Proposition 57 and 58 [the government’s $15-billion bailout bond to deal with the state deficit] because I didn’t see that there were many alternatives.’ Simon also said that if he had been elected he ‘probably’ would have proposed the same solution. ‘While what I would like to see the governor do, ultimately, is to cut government and government spending, we all know something needed to be done in the short term.’ Simon, 52, who is back managing his family investment firm, William E. Simon & Sons, when not campaigning said he sees job creation as key to California’s economic recovery. Asked why he is now running for state treasurer, after investing some $9 million of his own funds on the governor’s race, Simon said he feels he has the ‘skills to handle the job.’ While Simon’s experience as a litigator is well known (after graduating from Boston College Law School in 1982, he served as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York under then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani), his experience on Wall Street, which is ideally suited to being state treasurer, is not. From 1973-1978 he worked as a foreign exchange trader and manager in the municipal bond department of Morgan Guaranty Trust, now known as J.P. Morgan Chase. During that same period his father, Bill Sr., served as both Secretary of the Treasury under President Nixon, and U.S. energy czar, giving Bill Jr. access to the likes of George Schultz, Henry Kissinger and Alan Greenspan, who at the time was an economic advisor to the government and is now Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Those years, and the family’s escapades (including a visit to the Middle East, where Bill Jr. was gifted with a camel) are detailed in Bill Sr.’s autobiography, ‘A Time For Reflection,’ which was released in February, almost three years after his death at the age of 72 from heart disease. Was Bill Jr. greatly influenced by his father? ‘Yes, I was. He was a remarkable man. That’s why both my brother [Pete] and I wanted to go into business with him.’ Asked how he is like his dad, who has been credited with bringing an end to the energy crisis in 1974, Simon said: ‘We are both very results oriented. We don’t suffer from ‘analysis paralysis,’ which can often bog down the decision-making process.’ Asked why he wants to get back into the political fray after two disappointing tries, Simon said: ‘Cindy calls it getting out of our ‘comfort box.’ I think it’s a good thing to do, to serve your community, if you can. I applaud Jerry Brown as an example of a humble public servant. He was California governor [1975-83], now he’s mayor of Oakland, and I hear he’s going to run for attorney general.’ Asked who will tend the business (which he manages with Pete) while he’s off campaigning, Simon said: ‘One thing the gubernatorial campaign proved is that I am not necessary to this company for it to survive and continue to do well.’ His business advice to clients these days? ‘To be cautious. And focus on the cash flow.’