SACRAMENTO — While raising millions of dollars from out-of-state companies doing business in California, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides have made policy decisions favorable to some of the wealthy donors.
Schwarzenegger and Angelides, a candidate for governor, can influence billions of dollars in state spending and bond issues. No other current elected state officials have solicited and received as much money from lobbyists, corporations, law firms and investment houses outside California, state records show.
In one instance, Schwarzenegger collected contributions from 55 employees of a Texas computer firm that lobbied him to veto tougher regulations on its business in California. The governor killed the legislation. The firm's chief executive officer hosted another fundraiser in Dallas for the governor last month.
Angelides has accepted contributions from East Coast law firms that do business with his office on billions of dollars in bond issues. In addition, the treasurer has received nearly $200,000 from national unions based in Washington, D.C., that are eager to protect benefits for organized labor in California.
Aides to the treasurer and the governor disputed any notion that donations sway their decisions on public policy. But campaign finance experts say the two have leveraged their powerful positions to fund their campaigns as out-of-state firms try to influence them with contributions.
Steven Weiss, of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C., said candidates walk a fine line between courting special interests and "convincing voters they are making objective decisions on policy and thinking about the voters first and not the donors."
Since his campaign for governor began nearly two years ago, Schwarzenegger has raised $9.2 million from companies and individual donors in 42 states and Washington, D.C. That is more than 16% of the total $56.3 million Schwarzenegger has collected since August 2003.
Angelides has raised $3.6 million from contributors in 37 states and Washington, D.C. -- nearly 17% of the $21.4 million he has raised since 2001, the start of his reelection campaign. Most of his out-of-state donors are from New York, the center of the U.S. financial markets; Washington, D.C.; and Boston.
