SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is collecting money to promote his March 2 ballot measures at a clip of $121,313 a day -- far outpacing Gray Davis at the height of the former governor's fundraising.
Schwarzenegger has raised $5.2 million since the start of the year, much of it in five- and six-figure chunks, to campaign for Proposition 57, a $15-billion bond issue that would allow the state to restructure its debt, and Proposition 58, to limit future debt.
Because the contributions are not going to his reelection account, they are not subject to restrictions on the size of donations, one of several ways the fundraising illustrates gaps in the laws regulating donations and disclosure.
Schwarzenegger aides are soliciting contributions of as much as $500,000 to attend a private dinner with the Republican governor later this month. The event will be held in New York City, headquarters for the bond industry, which would vie for the right to underwrite and market California's $15-billion deficit- restructuring bond. Schwarzenegger's aides say he is seeking money from donors outside the municipal finance industry.
Several of the major donors to date are regulated by state officials or affected by their decisions.
"It is absurd to think that a $500,000 contribution to his issue campaign would not produce the same level of gratitude as would a $500,000 donation to his candidate committee," said USC law professor Elizabeth Garrett, an expert on campaign donations. "This is a ... way to evade the contribution limits."
Democrat Davis, often criticized for his aggressive fundraising and for taking money from donors who had business before the state, broke previous records for a California governor by raising $96 million during his nearly five years in office. Schwarzenegger made that an issue during last year's recall, promising not to take money from "special interests," specifically Indian tribes and public employees unions.
In his unsuccessful campaign to fend off the recall, Davis was collecting almost $97,000 a day.
"Schwarzenegger is putting Gray Davis to shame," said campaign finance expert Robert Stern, president of the nonprofit Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. "This guy is going to out-fundraise Gray Davis. That is the ironic thing."
