Schwarzenegger names donors, supporters to Calif jobs panel

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday he will turn to a privately funded commission studded with corporate chief executives and political supporters to advise him on how to create jobs, streamline business regulation and market state products.

The commission, headed by investor F. Warren Hellman and Rand Corp. Chairman Ron Olson, will have a pipeline to the governor to offer suggestions on issues from foreign trade to unemployment insurance to environmental regulation. Schwarzenegger, who's contending with a budget crisis and costly workers' compensation system, said the group will help him "make this state boom again."

Oh Yeah !!! Open Government.. Great Idea,, But not right now, OK? ;-)

The commission "creates a huge potential for conflicts of interest across the board," said Carmen Balber of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer advocacy group, comparing it to the controversial industry group that advised Vice President Dick Cheney on energy issues.

"With the litany of corporate CEOs who are also Schwarzenegger donors running this private organization, it's clear their advice to the governor ... will be geared to the business interests they represent," she said.

Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, a nonpartisan group that monitors ethics and campaign finance, questioned why the governor didn't create a state commission subject to disclosure rules.

"This commission can meet in private, a state commission cannot meet in private," Stern said. "It's fairly normal for governors to appoint contributors because that's what they expect for their money. ... If the governor is relying on it, you want the public to be in on what the commission is doing."

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