California Nurses Association
Web Site: http://www.calnurses.org
Join Nurses & Family Night at Anaheim Angels Ballpark
As Schwarzenegger Hosts 'Angels' Fundraiser on Tuesday 8/30
ANAHEIM, Calif., -- Registered Nurses from the
California Nurses Association (CNA) will sponsor "Nurses & Family Night at the
Ballpark" opposite an Arnold Schwarzenegger fundraiser to be held during the
Los Angeles Angels-Oakland A's game in Anaheim this Tuesday, August 30. Nurses
will be on hand to protest Schwarzenegger's record-setting corporate
fundraising and his million special election which contains a variety of
propositions that benefit his corporate donor to the detriment of nurses and
other Californians.
They will be joined by as local teachers, firefighters, and activists in
section 135 as well as during a pre-game tailgate party. Schwarzenegger,
whose fundraiser is expected to cost up to ,000 per person, will be greeted
overhead by "Air Arnold," a chartered plane towing a message for the Governor
-- this time, "Angels Don't Sell Their Souls for Corporate Checks." In
addition, CNA will pass out special collectible Schwarzenegger trading cards.
WHAT: Nurses Night at the Ballpark to Protest Schwarzenegger Fundraiser
WHERE: Anaheim Angels Stadium, Section "A" Parking Lot
WHEN: Tuesday, August 30
4:00 Tailgate Party Starts in Parking Lot
5:00 PRESS CONFERENCE, under the A in the parking lot
7:00 Play Ball!
8:00 Protest Wave During Game
"Arnold Schwarzenegger is corrupting our democracy with his corporate
fundraising and now he's corrupting our national pastime," said Deborah
Burger, RN, President of the California Nurses Association. "His special
election is a dangerous attack on the working people of California that will
only benefit his high-dollar backers. We're out here to have a good time, but
also to warn the people of Anaheim that corrupt corporate fundraising is going
on right at the ballpark.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger has attacked nurses, teachers, and firefighters.
Three strikes, you're out, Schwarzenegger," said Burger. "He's made one error
after another, never balked at any corporate check, and saved all his hits for
working people. Time to send in a reliever."
For more information about CNA's campaign on the special election, see
http://www.stoparnold.us or http://www.calnurses.org.
******
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/v-print/story/13485011p-14325714c.html
Governor calling on big spenders
By Gary Delsohn -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, August 28, 2005
When you're governor of California and need a boatload of cash in less than 80 days, you're going to be hanging out with some pretty wealthy people.
Like Rick Cronk, who paid million for Dreyer's Ice Cream in 1977 and merged it with Nestle three years ago in a deal reportedly worth .4 billion. He and his wife, Janet, are hosts for a fundraiser for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the East Bay on Sept. 28.
Or Arte Moreno, owner of the Los Angeles Angels, who is throwing a Schwarzenegger fundraiser at the team's game in Anaheim on Tuesday night against the Oakland A's.
Or Michael Milken, the former junk bond guru who spent 22 months in prison for securities violations and is one of the nation's most prolific philanthropists.
Milken and his wife, Lori, were co-hosts at a sumptuous, ,000-per-couple fundraiser for Schwarzenegger about 10 days ago near Lake Tahoe.
Schwarzenegger is in the middle of two months of feverish fundraising - something he once said he didn't need to do and now says he hates.
He has hit up political donors outside California, and will likely make another out-of-state swing. He has begun accepting money from trade associations with business at the Capitol despite saying he wouldn't. And he is getting the same kind of "pay for play" criticism leveled against the incessant fundraising of the man he ousted, former Gov. Gray Davis.
The principal sponsor of the Lake Tahoe event, for instance, was Larry Ruvo, a wealthy Nevada liquor wholesaler who gave Schwarzenegger ,000. Ruvo also has been trying for several years to build a pier on his private Lake Tahoe property. One agency that could help determine the project's fate is the California-Nevada Regional Planning Agency; Schwarzenegger has two appointments to the agency's 15-member governing board. Ruvo could not be reached for comment.
"He clearly gets donations from people who have business before the state and who are regulated by the state," said Larry Noble, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics.
"These are people who want to be close to the governor and they're buying access. Their business interests are tied up with his political agenda. And when he spends a lot of time raising money from wealthy donors, their interests are going to be the focus of discussions and he's going to be thinking about that when he makes decisions, no matter what he says."
At the Tahoe event, guests munched on lobster corn dogs and ahi tuna tartare appetizers, miso-glazed sea bass, peppered ribeye of Kobe beef and strawberry mascarpone glacage.
To get in the door, it cost ,000 per couple; for ,000, guests could attend a private cocktail reception with Schwarzenegger, pose for a photo with him and sit at his table for dinner.
"I will bet you that when it's all said and done, we'll reach our goal of million," said Marty Wilson, Schwarzenegger's chief fundraiser.
His political team hopes the fundraising blitz will allow him to air TV campaign ads virtually nonstop for the final weeks of his special election campaign. They already have said they are unlikely to begin running ads immediately after Labor Day; Schwarzenegger's opponents already are on the air.
"These initiatives win or lose on the airwaves," said investor Bill Oberndorf, who will host a dinner for Schwarzenegger on Thursday night at Oberndorf's home in Napa. "At the end of the day, it's all about money and how they are messaged. He's tackling some really important and tough issues, and the fundraising is just part of the territory."
Other wealthy business people hosting upcoming fundraising events for the Republican governor include Paul Folino, a big Schwarzenegger contributor who owns Emulex, an Orange County technology firm; and Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke, owners of Kendall-Jackson winery.
"If he is really the people's governor, why isn't he launching a grass-roots fundraising campaign à la Howard Dean instead of having his tin cup out at out-of-state country clubs?" asked Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles.
Schwarzenegger's critics have harped on his constant fundraising, saying he's beholden to corporate interests despite boasting when he ran for the job that he didn't need anyone's money.
But to Oberndorf and others throwing the fundraisers, the criticism is unfair.
"He's raising money because he has to," Cronk said. "He has no choice if he wants to change the political landscape and agenda in California. When the CTA (the California Teachers Association) can raise million in 10 minutes, he's got to go out and raise money.
"It's going to be a battle of dollars. It's unfortunate. I'd rather see the 0 million that's going to be spent on TV advertising go to education in California. That would be a much wiser use of that money. But he's not going to go out and humbly spend million of his own money and compete against organized public employee unions. That's not going to happen."
Katie Boyd, a well-known Bay Area interior designer who is a close friend of the first President Bush and a "Bush Pioneer" fundraiser for the second, said she's co-hosting a fundraiser Sept. 14 because Schwarzenegger needs the help.
"I believe thoroughly in what he's doing," she said. "He's a remarkable man. He doesn't need all this stuff but he really believes and wants to help. He could care less. He's got everything."
Schwarzenegger was asked about the constant fundraising last week in San Jose. It's not something he enjoys, he said, even though he acknowledged raising millions for Special Olympics, after-school programs and other charitable causes before entering politics.
"This is very tough for me to do," he said, according to a transcript released by the governor's press office. "I have never, ever, asked anyone for money. Never in my life. ... But to go out now and to go and beg people for money, it's tough to do. But I have to, because it's the only way we get the message on television, and to communicate with the people, because we know the other side is going to spend 0 million."
That elicited a sarcastic "boo-hoo" from Gale Kaufman, the principal Democratic strategist opposing Schwarzenegger's initiatives. The governor is pushing measures on state budgeting, teacher tenure and legislative redistricting.
"It's a phony election that he creates on issues that every poll says voters don't care about and he's complaining about having to raise money for it?" Kaufman said. "Let me get my hanky out.
"But much more important, here is a man who got elected on the promise that he wouldn't need special interest money and wouldn't take it. He now says he needs it and he'll be happy to take it. How many promises does he get to break before no one believes anything he says?"
Schwarzenegger's coziness with the rich and powerful raises concerns.
"The governor doesn't necessarily meet the hoi polloi of California when he goes to these events," said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles and one of the principal authors of the state's Political Reform Act.
"If you're just talking to rich people, you're probably not going to hear a lot about health care for the poor. But then again, they're probably not talking too much policy at these events. Most of the wealthy people who attend know the rules. They're not supposed to talk policy or ask for things. That doesn't mean they can't call up later on when they have a problem."
GOVERNOR'S CALENDAR
A look at some of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's fundraising events in the next month, including the sponsors:
Tuesday: Anaheim, Angels-A's baseball game, Arte Moreno (owner of Angels), Paul Folino (CEO of Emulex, Costa Mesa computer peripherals), Jackie Autry (former team owner)
Thursday: Sonoma, lunch, Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke (husband-and-wife founders and owners, Kendall-Jackson winery) Thursday: Napa, dinner, Susan and Bill Oberndorf (investors)
Sept. 12: Lancaster, dinner, Frank Visco (former GOP chair)
Sept. 13: Bakersfield, dinner.
Sept. 14: Bay Area, dinner, Ann and Charles Johnson, Katie Boyd (interior designer)
Sept. 23: San Diego, dinner
Sept. 26: Los Angeles, dinner
Sept. 28: East Bay, dinner, Janet and Rick Cronk (former owner, Dreyer's Ice Cream)
Source: Bee research
###
|
