Ending The End Around
Back in November, I posted on the rather canny way California Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger was collecting funds for his world travels to promote California businesses. It took a couple of weeks for the LA Times to catch up to the news uncovered by the Sacramento Bee, but today's Los Angeles Times has published an editorial slamming the governor's acceptance of the travel funds without disclosing their sources.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was already so rich, his supporters claimed, he wouldn't need to make political deals with campaign donors. Look, they said, he's not even going to take his salary! What a deal for California!
What a deal indeed. Instead of taking a salary, Schwarzenegger takes overseas trips that feature private jets and luxury suites. His purpose is ostensibly to promote California, but his expenses are paid by donors who want something from him, like a signature or a veto at bill-signing time. Those donors funnel their cash to the governor, in anonymity, through something called the California State Protocol Foundation. Because it's a nonprofit organization, campaign laws that limit how much contributors can give simply don't apply.
In his first year in office, the governor duly disclosed how much he was being reimbursed for his promotional junkets. But then he was advised that filing the forms was unnecessary. The reason? The foundation wasn't giving the money to the governor personally but to the governor's office. Now his aides may be doing little more than making mental notes of how much foundation money he spends.
To be fair, the governor isn't the only one traveling in style. Democratic Assemby Speaker Fabio Nunez has also taken advantage of the various loopholes special interests (usually business in nature) have discovered. What is particularly damaging about these specific loopholes is that not only are these special interests able to legally buy the leverage, there is no current state law that forces the recipient to even report the 'donations'.
Closing the loopholes is only the first step, however. If the political culture is to change in any kind of meaningful way, the press is going to have to start shining some powerful klieg lights on the way the people's business is done. That it took the Los Angeles Times years to discover the practice and nearly three weeks to even notice the issue raised by the much smaller Sacramento Bee is deplorable and says as much about the current state of journalism as it does about government.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was already so rich, his supporters claimed, he wouldn't need to make political deals with campaign donors. Look, they said, he's not even going to take his salary! What a deal for California!
What a deal indeed. Instead of taking a salary, Schwarzenegger takes overseas trips that feature private jets and luxury suites. His purpose is ostensibly to promote California, but his expenses are paid by donors who want something from him, like a signature or a veto at bill-signing time. Those donors funnel their cash to the governor, in anonymity, through something called the California State Protocol Foundation. Because it's a nonprofit organization, campaign laws that limit how much contributors can give simply don't apply.
In his first year in office, the governor duly disclosed how much he was being reimbursed for his promotional junkets. But then he was advised that filing the forms was unnecessary. The reason? The foundation wasn't giving the money to the governor personally but to the governor's office. Now his aides may be doing little more than making mental notes of how much foundation money he spends.
To be fair, the governor isn't the only one traveling in style. Democratic Assemby Speaker Fabio Nunez has also taken advantage of the various loopholes special interests (usually business in nature) have discovered. What is particularly damaging about these specific loopholes is that not only are these special interests able to legally buy the leverage, there is no current state law that forces the recipient to even report the 'donations'.
Closing the loopholes is only the first step, however. If the political culture is to change in any kind of meaningful way, the press is going to have to start shining some powerful klieg lights on the way the people's business is done. That it took the Los Angeles Times years to discover the practice and nearly three weeks to even notice the issue raised by the much smaller Sacramento Bee is deplorable and says as much about the current state of journalism as it does about government.
Labels: California, Free Press
posted by Diane at 4:10 AM
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