CA: Companies help pay for governor's trips

SFGate.com ^ | 3/4/07 | Tom Chorneau

[NormsRevenge]

Sacramento -- Legislators aren't the only ones around the Capitol whose travel to distant countries is financed, in part, by companies that have interests before the state.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's foreign trade missions are paid for by the California State Protocol Foundation. Though neither the governor's office nor the foundation will disclose the group's funding sources, tax records filed by other nonprofits doing business with the foundation show that it received $75,000 from agribusiness interests and banking.

The foundation is led by two of the state's most influential business groups -- the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Roundtable.

Proponents dismiss ethical concerns, arguing that the arrangement allows the public to benefit from the governor's promotion of the state to foreign investors without a cost to taxpayers.

But some experts in political conduct said that even if a gift poses no direct conflict of interest for an elected official there's still an issue of perception.

"You have to raise the question, what is the essential cost to the public integrity of allowing the public official to accept this gift," said Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.

"In a democracy, you care not just about what is or is not a formal conflict of interest -- you also care about the public's belief in and trust of the government," she said. "One of the reasons you regulate public integrity is to ensure a high level of trust in the government."

Allan Zaremberg, head of the California Chamber of Commerce and president of the Protocol Foundation, said the use of nonprofits to offset gubernatorial travel and other expenses dates back to the time when Gov. Pete Wilson was in office.