Governor’s high-priced event is wrong tactic

The San Diego Union-Tribune

As noted in the editorial above, this page strongly supports Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s economic recovery plan. Nonetheless, his trolling for large contributions from Wall Street executives who stand to profit from his proposed $15 billion bond sale is nothing short of deplorable.

Schwarzenegger, who is visiting New York today, must have had second thoughts about the propriety of charging a whopping $500,000 per head for tonight’s fund-raiser in support of Propositions 57 and 58. After coming under considerable fire, he cut the unseemly fee for the event at the home of Robert Wood Johnson IV to $25,000.

The worthy cause of resolving California’s budget crisis should not be compromised by the corrosive perception that Schwarzenegger is using his office to put the arm on Wall Street officials eager to cash in on the mega-sale of state bonds.