The Governor has been really, really good at raising money. The best ever, to be specific. And the thing about his fundraising is that he has a million different pots. One of them has been the California Protocol Foundation. It’s a non-profit, and thus is not required to disclose its donors.
So, if you’re looking to donate a big wad of cash to a nebulous group vaguely backed by the California Chamber of Commerce, ostensibly for an environmental conference, here’s your chance!
A top California Chamber of Commerce official is soliciting six-figure donations to help Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger host a climate change summit in Los Angeles, offering contributors private access to the governor and “first-paragraph mention in official event press release,” according to donor materials.
Schwarzenegger will host the Governors’ Global Climate Summit 2 from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 to give leaders of states and other “subnational” governments a platform to discuss clean energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (SacBee 8/7/08)
Hooray for blowing up the boxes! Now, I’m not opposed to a conference on climate change, I’m sure it’s a very important step to acting on this critical issue. But, given the Governor’s repeated rhetoric about his independence of all the “special interests,” you have to call him out on his bullshit.
But for Arnold, the definition of “special interests” is less fuzzy. If you support him, you are a “stakeholder,” if you are against him, you are a “special interest.”
Absolutely — if you oppose Arnold, you’re a “special interest.”
I remember during the recall campaign he attacked Gray Davis for his fundraising. Arnold said he had plenty of money himself and wouldn’t need any cash from special interests. Then after he got elected he started raising money all over the place.
He was interviewed on KTVU-TV and asked, since he was raising so much money, who the special interests were that he had referred to in the campaign. The first words out of his mouth were “The unions. The unions.” (Actually, it was more like “Da yuuunions. Da yuuunions.”)
His conference will have to be quite successful indeed to make up for all the pollution for which he is personally responsible; there would be no gas-guzzling civilian Hummers without him, and his private plane pollutes our skies on his LA-Sacramento commute.