Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Governor and California Republican Party Raise $2.5 Million and PROTESTS
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about the importance of education to some 900 high school choir members, staff and families at the 17th annual High School Choir Festival at Disney Hall in Los Angeles on Monday, March 20, 2006. Schwarzenegger was to host a major fundraising dinner later in the evening.
ASSociated Press: Schwarzenegger, GOP raise $2.5 million at SoCal fundraiser
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state GOP collected an estimated $2.5 million at a fundraiser headlined by Sen. John McCain that helped replenish coffers drained by a failed ballot measure campaign last year.
Top donors kicked in as much as $100,000 to attend Monday night’s dinner and reception at the Beverly Hilton while about 200 protesters from teacher, firefighter and other unions protested outside.
Some of the donors are listed here on ElectionTrack and here on the invitation.
Members of the California Nurses Association push what looks like a gurney with a giant soap bar down a hallway as they try to see California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a fundraiser attendeded by U.S. Sen. John McCain, in Beverly Hills, Calif., Monday, March 20, 2006. The nurses are wearing protective gear and want to hand the symbolic soap bar to Schwarzenegger to clean up corporate corruption.
Security guards and police turned away about two dozen members of the California Nurses Association who tried to march into the reception shouting, “Shame on Arnold.”
“This fundraiser is the prime example of what is wrong with our system,” said Jill Furillo, Southern California director of the nurses association. “They write their $100,000 checks because they hope to get a favor in return.”
The scene was reminiscent of 2005, when union activists angered by the governor’s agenda hounded his public appearances and ran millions of dollars of TV ads. Their campaign contributed to the November defeat of Schwarzenegger-supported ballot measures to slow state spending and curb public union power in Sacramento.
Flap supposes the acquiescence of Governor Schwarzenegger to the nurse staffing ratios sought by the California Nurses Association immediately after the November 2005 California Special Election has had little deterrent effect on labor protests. But, then, we knew that didn’t we?
Apparently, those nurses have not forgotten how Schwarzenegger stated he would “kick their butt.”
It looks to Flap it is the reverse on whose ass is getting kicked.
A man in a mask of U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., joins a protest outside a gala fundraiser for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at which McCain was to be a featured speaker, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., Monday, March 20, 2006. One organizer explained the visual metaphor as meaning the governor should ‘come clean’ about his special-interest financial support. Scores of union members protested, calling for his ouster in November.
McCain, R-Ariz, headlined the governor’s reelection fundraiser, hosted by donors from the entertainment and business elite that included “The Terminator” director James Cameron, Interscope Records chief Jimmy Iovine, Yahoo Inc. Chairman Terry Semel and Univision Communications Inc. Chairman A. Jerrold
McCain has urged Schwarzenegger to push for campaign finance reforms in California in 2006. But the governor has spent much of his time talking about building highways, levees and schools, not restraining the flow of campaign dollars.
McCain spokesman Craig Goldman said that to his knowledge, the senator and governor did not discuss campaign finance reform at the fundraiser.
It is trolling for dollars season to fund the June and November campaigns. The Democrats have filed a complaint against McCain for soliciting money above the federal limits, but it will go nowhere.
Democrat candidates for Governor are trolling for the same dollars and believe, Flap, they will turn NO donor away.
The Democrats running against him in the June primary – state Controller Steve Westly and Treasurer Phil Angelides – were also busy fundraising, sometimes appealing to the same corporate and entertainment industry donors pursued by the governor.
Schwarzenegger has collected at least $5.2 million for his reelection, according to state reports, while Angelides has raised about $2 million. Westly has collected $3.4 million but that includes $2.5 million of his own money.
Here are some more photos from the union protests:
A man wearing an Arnold Schwarzenegger mask is wheeled in a bathtub with a bubble-making machine during a protest outside a gala fundraiser for the California governor.
Members of the California Nurses Association, some wearing hazardous infection protection gear, blow soap bubbles as they walk outside after being escorted out by hotel security at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., Monday, March 20, 2006. The nurses wanted to hand over a large soap bar to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger who at the hotel holding a fundraiser with Sen. John McCain.
Stay tuned…. The campaign for California Governor is just beginning……..
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