Yesterday Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor in California and former eBay CEO, got caught up in the growing controversy over the statements made by White House green jobs czar Van Jones. A tape surfaced of Whitman praising the "marvelous job" Jones had been doing in his environmental work. Whitman made the statement in May, a year after she'd met Jones on a cruise through the Arctic -- and long before Jones's radical Communist past and connections to the 9/11 Truth movement had been reported. THE WEEKLY STANDARD asked the Whitman campaign for comment and received the following statement from the Republican hopeful:

“My husband and I met him and many others on a cruise sponsored by National Geographic and The Aspen Institute. He talked about supporting job growth in California, but of course I did not do a background check of his past over dinner. As these reports have surfaced, it’s clear that he holds views that I entirely reject; any suggestion otherwise is ridiculous.” --Meg Whitman