Posted on 01/20/2007 9:40:41 AM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO — Four senior aides to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger were paid nearly a quarter-million dollars in bonuses for political work they performed during the governor's race — money that came from insurers, oil companies, real estate developers and other private interests that contributed to the governor's campaign.
Chief of staff Susan Kennedy received a $100,000 bonus as a reward for the time she devoted to Schwarzenegger's reelection bid, the governor's office said Friday. With that bonus, Kennedy has collected $323,500 in campaign and taxpayer money in her year as Schwarzenegger's top aide.
Schwarzenegger paid his communications director, Adam Mendelsohn, a bonus of $75,000 for his work on the campaign — on top of his taxpayer-financed salary of $123,000. Separately, Mendelsohn earned $13,000 last year in campaign salary, bringing his total pay to $211,000.
Daniel Zingale, chief of staff to first lady Maria Shriver, received a $25,000 campaign bonus, supplementing his state salary of $123,000. And Clay Russell, the governor's personal assistant, was rewarded with a $48,000 bonus. That sum, coupled with a separate $20,000 campaign salary Russell received, boosted his compensation by 80%.
... In each case, the aides who got bonuses are those who spend the most time with the governor and first lady, or are personal favorites.
Kennedy and Mendelsohn are two of a small number of aides welcome to see the governor without an appointment. Russell is constantly at Schwarzenegger's side. Zingale is gaining influence, having recently been named a special advisor to the governor in addition to his role as Shriver's confidant.
Julie Soderlund, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, said that all four deserved the money, having put in considerable campaign work on their own time. Now that the campaign is over, no Schwarzenegger aide will be paid anything beyond a straight government salary, Soderlund said.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Schwarzenegger's practice of boosting the salaries of his most valued aides appears to be rare. A survey of the 10 largest states after California showed that nine don't allow it.
I trust this is state money and is part of the Governors plan to balance the budget.
(The) money .. came from insurers, oil companies, real estate developers and other private interests that contributed to the governor's campaign.
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slush money
(The) money .. came from insurers, oil companies, real estate developers and other private interests that contributed to the governor's campaign.
So the special interest groups are paying the increases in their salaries.
Something appears to be, in the least, unethical with the Governors office.
now, now, at least he and the donors aren't burdening the state treasury by doing this, is he?
Besides, they did all this work off the official clock too, so it's all above board, right? ;-)
Corruption, corruption, corruption.
What is the breaking point for the citizen's of California? Are we there yet?
This article is nothing more then an ANTI-ARNOLD hit piece from that leftist rag, the Times.
All of the Governor's staff are paid by the state, this was true under Dems and under Republicans. I do not recall seeing any such slams against loser's like Gray Davis and I am sure he did the same thing.
You may well be right.
Regardless, an aggressive Progressive socialist agenda is being advanced at a rapid rate and a few are doing quite well in helping to make it happen.
I'm almost jealous, almost. How about you? ;-)
I don't know, how is the California state budget doing these day's?
Let's take a closer look at what we have learned from this article:
1) The Governor of the State has a staff whose salaries are paid by the state.
2) Some members of the Governor's Staff also worked on the Governor's campaign.
3) Those members of his staff, that worked on his campaign, received additional compensation for that work.
4) The funds used for that additional compensation came from the Governor's campaign funds.
5) Some campaign donations were made to the Governor by big businesses.
Now, where is the corruption that you speak of?
What is ol' Gray up to these day's?
Busy becoming a part of the history books.
The corruption knows no end.
It's no big deal. Arnie just wanted to make sure they could afford to purchase an entry-level home at California prices. ;-) Gotta make about $300 grand for that...
And the band plays on....
Arnold: toss money around in a critical deficit and that's good.
Dubya: toss money around and turn the Clinton WOT into our favor and that's bad.
Go figure.
It was just a joke.
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