Money Money Money

It's a sad fact that money continues to be a driver in American politics. Hopefully the passage of Prop. 89 mandating public financing of statewide elections, endorsed by Phil Angelides, will change all that in California. But for now, the current election laws rule the roost, and Arnold Schwarzenegger can accept millions in special interest contributions to finance his campaign. We learned today that that the special interest money buys something very concrete and specfic:

At least 13 of Schwarzenegger's appointees, their spouses and their companies have contributed more than $1.4 million to his campaigns, according to campaign disclosure forms and a review by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has received sizable campaign contributions from people he has appointed to the Del Mar Fair Board. Contributions include money given by the board member, spouse and businesses owned by either.

DOUGLAS BARNHART
President, Douglas E. Barnhart Inc. construction firm
Appointed: 2004
Contributions: $140,900

KELLY BURT
CEO/chairman, Price Self Storage
Appointed: 2005
Contributions: $142,000

PATRICIA DAVIES
Community activist and wife of attorney John Davies, judicial adviser for Schwarzenegger
Appointed: 2006
Contributions: $16,150

VIVIAN HARDAGE
Community activist and wife of Republican leader and developer Sam Hardage
Appointed: 2005
Contributions: $36,200

BRENT WILKES
Head of ADCS Inc.
Appointed: 2004 (resigned in 2005)
Contributions: $77,400

SOURCES: state disclosure forms; Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights

Now, the Del Mar board is kind of a prestige appointment, one that is unpaid but gets you access to prime seats and club at the Del Mar Fairgrounds near San Diego. And the surfacing of the name Brent Wilkes is kind of interesting. You may know that Wilkes, a disgraced defense contractor with ADCS, is listed as a co-conspirator in the Duke Cunningham investigation (he was one of the bribers). Wilkes' recent history intersects with Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, the now-closed Alexander Strategy Group (he gave them $170,000 last year for lobbying), potential indictee and Redlands Congressman Jerry Lewis (who Wilkes described as a partner in what amounts to an extortion racket in a recent article in The New York Times), Dusty Foggo and "Hookergate" (Wilkes threw the now-infamous "poker parties" which featured Congressmen and prostitutes).

And this is a Schwarzenegger appointee. You recall he campaigned against EXACTLY this kind of "peerage for money" scheme in the recall election of 2003:

Schwarzenegger, even though he didn't mention appointments specifically, promised a different approach to state government during the campaign.

“Here's how it works,” he said in one television ad. “Money goes in. Favors go out. The people lose. We need to send a message. Game over.”

Game started. Again.

So clearly, Schwarzenegger's campaign has raked in millions. I mean, the guy rewards his friends. And heck, he had no problem breaking California election law by not reporting millions he received during last year's special election. And money still matters in this state. It's very expensive to buy ads in the many large media markets. And the size of the state means that most voters will interface with your campaign through that advertising.

That's why Phil Angelides needs our financial support. Governor Phil, the site I've been writing for on occasion, has an ActBlue donation page. I'm moving it to the front page in the hopes that we can give the State Treasurer a little financial parity as we head into the thick of this race. Money donated now stretches much further than money donated at the end of the election.

If you can, please give. Let's try to get 100 donors this week.