Governor Schwarzenegger doesn’t mind when California lawmakers take lavish trips and junkets paid for by special interests. In fact, he recommends it, especially if those lawmakers are from small towns, according to today’s Sacramento Bee.
While attending a conference today with billionaire Michael Milken on infrastructure, Arnold said he has benefited by riding high-speed trains in France and China, and condescendingly added that it’s good for lawmakers "from those little towns" to go out in the world and see worldly things like "an airport," "a highway that maybe has 10 lanes" or even "a highway on top of a highway."
Of course Arnold didn’t mention that most of the cushy overseas travel junkets for him and his staff have been paid for by the purported non-profit California State Protocol Foundation, which conveniently shares it’s offices and officers with the California Chamber of Commerce. And add to that the Governor’s Residence Foundation — which forks out $100,000+ a year for Arnold’s Sacramento “home suite home” at the Hyatt.
Schwarzenegger also has no problem taking corporate money to help finance a CA ballot initiative to change the way California draws its district boundaries. Alex Spanos, the Stockton-based developer, gave Schwarzenegger $100,000 recently, along with SE Corporation, an Arnold-friendly development company, which gave $100,000, and PG&E also donated $50,000, all to support the ballot initiative. And let’s not forget the over $100K the gov raised while in New York last week…
As Arnold continues to set new fundraising records for a California governor, he keeps pretending that all those millions won’t sway him one way or the other while governing our state. Why don’t I believe him?
