Governor Is Piling Up Money at Record Pace
Averaging $2 million a month, Schwarzenegger has no shortage of campaign donors, including himself, finance reports show.
By Dan Morain, Times Staff Writer
SACRAMENTO â€" Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is
tapping the investment, insurance, real estate,
manufacturing and construction industries as he continues
to raise money at a faster clip than any California
politician before him, campaign finance reports show.
In turn, Schwarzenegger is proving to be a boon for
political consultants, media specialists, pollsters,
attorneys and others since taking office last year,
according to the reports filed with the state.
Since the beginning of 2004, the Republican governor has
collected at least $12.9 million from an array of
interests. He also has donated $4.5 million to his causes
from his own funds.
He has raised an average of nearly $2 million a month since
January. Gov. Gray Davis, a prodigious fundraiser, averaged
$1.6 million a month during his five years in office.
Schwarzenegger has $1.4 million in the bank to wage fights
over ballot measures, pay for a possible 2006 reelection
campaign and cover leftover debt from the recall
campaign.
Given his demonstrated fundraising prowess, he quickly can
pump up his coffers. He has a fundraising event set this
weekend in Napa Valley and another in the Bay Area later
this month.
"Is there support for his policy agenda and what he is
trying to do for California? The answer is absolutely,
yes," said Marty Wilson, one of Schwarzenegger's top
aides.
Others take a dimmer view of his fundraising
activities.
"The reason all these big special interests are giving him
money is … they want something from
him," said Doug Heller of the Santa Monica-based Foundation
for Consumer & Taxpayers Rights. "Hewlett-Packard
doesn't give $250,000 to get his autograph."
That Silicon Valley computer firm is one of at least 40
donors, including corporations, individuals and trade
groups, that have given six-figure checks to
Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team, which he
established to help pay for ballot measure battles, and to
other funds he controls.
Hewlett-Packard spokeswoman Monica Sarkar said the company
gave because its executives believed passage of March
ballot measures to help restructure California's debt was
"important for the economic recovery of the state of
California."
The governor is using his money to pay political aides to
help him campaign. He paid one vendor, Hartmann Studios,
$636,000 to help arrange his public appearances and spent
more than $130,000 on fundraising activities. An additional
$446,000 went for travel for himself, his campaign aides
and some gubernatorial staffers.
The governor has paid campaign consultants $1.5 million
since the start of the year. He spent $437,000 on attorneys
and accountants, and $306,000 for polling.
The governor's biggest single expense, $5 million, was for
television time in the successful campaign for Propositions
57 and 58 in March. The measures were designed to
restructure the state's debt.
In one of his more unusual expenditures, Schwarzenegger
reported shifting $240,000 into a separate political
corporation to pay for his efforts to influence
legislators.
Thomas Hiltachk, his attorney, said the money paid for
rallies at malls and elsewhere when Schwarzenegger called
on admirers to urge lawmakers to adopt his proposals.
Among the top Democrats contemplating seeking their party's
gubernatorial nomination in 2006, state Treasurer Phil
Angelides reported raising $2.2 million in the first half
of 2004 and has nearly $12.1 million in the bank. Atty.
Gen. Bill Lockyer has raised $615,000 in the first half of
the year and has $11 million in the bank.
Angelides campaign spokesman Dan Newman, noting that
Schwarzenegger opened his campaign for governor last year
saying he would not raise money, called the governor's
fundraising "yet another example of the governor making and
then breaking promises."
Schwarzenegger's fundraising has strained Proposition 34,
the 2000 ballot measure approved by voters that was aimed
at imposing fundraising restrictions on politicians.
A court declared that he violated Proposition 34 by lending
his campaign for governor more than the $100,000 maximum it
allows. That decision forced the governor, a
multimillionaire, to forgive himself $4.5 million he lent
his campaign.
Under Proposition 34, gubernatorial candidates cannot raise
more than $21,200 from individual donors. But
Schwarzenegger has been raising unlimited sums in the
ballot-measure accounts, a practice that could come to a
halt next year.
The California Fair Political Practices Commission ruled
that starting in 2005, candidates will not be permitted to
raise unlimited sums for such purposes but will be subject
to the cap.
Los Angeles billionaire David Murdoch, through his
companies, has given Schwarzenegger's accounts $325,000.
Individuals affiliated with the Los Angeles financial
services firm TCW have donated $262,000 this year. Its
founder, Robert A. Day, gave $100,000.
Individuals and corporations involved in the real estate,
development and construction industries account for more
than $3 million of the governor's receipts.
Donors who identify themselves as investors and venture
capitalists, or work for the financial services and banking
industries, gave $2.1 million. The insurance industry,
including health insurance companies, accounted for $1.2
million. Manufacturers, including high-tech companies, gave
$1.4 million.
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