The press is definitely piling on when it comes to Meg Whitman, the California gubernatorial candidate, and her ties to Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). The San Francisco Chronicle is the latest to weigh in. It takes a look at what has become familiar material: Her close ties to the investment bank as CEO of eBay, the fact that she was a major beneficiary of Goldman Sachs' "spinning" of IPOs deal allocations, the fact that she sat on the board.

My sense is that there is no way she could have guessed that Goldman Sachs would explode as a villain in the media. It's unclear if the bank is dragging down her political aspirations. But this has become something that she cannot ignore. If elected, Whitman has pledged, she will sell her Goldman stock and put the rest of her portfolio, including her Goldman-managed investments, into a blind trust. But Goldman Sachs will likely find it hard to maintain its business links to the state; it is a major underwriter now. The state may bend over backwards to avoid any conflicts by seeking out other banks--anther example of how bad PR can affect the bottom line.

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