Arnold pledged during his
campaign not to build a budget while he was building a campaign war
chest. At least some boosters of last night’s fundraiser for Arnold in
La Jolla, however, used the leverage of Schwarzenegger’s pending budget
cuts to turn out donors.
The San Diego wing of the construction lobby — Associated General Contractors of America
— urged its members to join Arnold last night to "help erase his
campaign debt" and noted in the same breath Arnold’s budgetary "raid of
funds that should be dedicated to transportation projects" a.k.a.
construction jobs.
As the contractors put it on their website: "This sounds all too
familiar, doesn’t it? Last year, Governor Davis proposed stealing over
$1 billion from transportation. Fortunately, AGC worked hard [or
contractors gave big] throughout the year to help protect a majority of
those funds."
Sound like business as usual, the very type of Gray Davis shakedown
Arnold promised not to repeat? We’ll know in ten days, when large
contributions must be reported to the Secretary of State, how much the
construction industry raised. The public expects more than a budget
constructed at fundraisers from a governor who promised to end quid pro
quos in Sacramento. As long as government dollars and contributors’
checks are dispensed in sync, the public can only assume the worst.
ArnoldWatch calls on the Governor to give back last’s night take and to
live up to his pledge not to fundraise while his administration is
determining the size of the checks it cuts.
