A surprising name on State Sen. Chuck Poochigian's fund-raising list for attorney general is tennis star Andre Agassi. Poochigian was given a $10,000 contribution by Agassi for his campaign against Democrat Jerry Brown. Agassi, by the way, announced this weekend at Wimbledon that he is retiring after this year's U.S. Open.
So how did Poochigian connect with Agassi? After all, Poochigian doesn't have a lot of celebrities hanging around him like Brown, the former California governor and onetime darling of Hollywood. The Fresno Republican said a common friend hooked him up with Agassi.
Here's what Poochigian told me in an email to me after I asked why Agassi was giving him 10 grand:
"A friend of mine (and his) told him about me and my campaign and urged him to be supportive."
Agassi is half Armenian and Poochigian is Armenian and those people stick together. I know. I'm one of them.
Wow! I sure hope Andre supported him for at least another reason other than their Armenian connection.
That's like cheering on a sports team just because they're from your own town. Wouldn't you want to back the team that is most deserving of the job or the win for the reason that they're good in all areas? If that HAPPENS to be your home team then, woo-hoo.
Thus IF supporting one's own kind is the rule of campaign donations, then I know of some people that would qualify to give up some money. Only because they are small minded, double talking, wanna-bes as well.