Posted on 03/19/2006 7:55:03 AM PST by ElkGroveDan
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could find a lot of reasons why the Legislature turned away his public works plan to spend billions of dollars on highways, schools and levees, but Paul Folino wasn't one of them.
The wealthy chairman of computer-components maker Emulex Corp. who also is a personal friend of the governor and one of his most generous financial patrons was just one of the administration supporters who called legislators in an ultimately futile bid to secure votes for the massive bond issue.
Folino's participation wasn't happenstance. His informal lobbying is just one example of the close and beneficial relationship Schwarzenegger shares with Folino and the rapidly expanding political action committee he helped establish, the New Majority. Members of the centrist group have donated or raised more than $10 million for the Republican governor's political ventures.
"Our view of the world links up very closely with the governor's you have to consider the governor is a moderate Republican," Folino said. "We've become close friends. I feel like my wife and I are part of the family."
At a time when Schwarzenegger is struggling to shore up support within his own party, his ties to Republican moderates are likely to become an increasingly important financial source for his emerging re-election bid.
And the New Majority is pushing to expand its influence. The group, which has about 250 members and funnels roughly $7.5 million a year into various political campaigns, is planning to open chapters in San Diego and the high-growth Southern California counties of Riverside and San Bernardino. They could become new sources of money and support for the governor.
Its leaders want to expand membership in the San Francisco Bay area and Silicon Valley, and possibly to Arizona and other western states. Supporters of the group say its donations could reach $30 million to $35 million annually within five years.
Potential 2008 presidential contenders such as Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and New York Gov. George Pataki have had contact in recent months with New Majority members.
On Monday, Schwarzenegger and the California Republican Party are holding a major fundraiser in Beverly Hills, where at least four New Majority members will kick in $100,000 each for a spot at the head table. They include John B. Kilroy Jr., of Kilroy Realty, and Frank Baxter, former chairman of investment bank Jeffries & Co.
The organization's Los Angeles chapter also is listed as a $100,000 donor, meaning the group collectively will give the governor and the state party at least $500,000 at the event.
According to state records, Baxter alone has donated more than $175,000 in recent years to the governor's political projects and more than $300,000 to the state GOP.
Four days later, members of the group's Orange County chapter will make up most of the crowd at a fundraiser for the governor in Dana Point.
"The New Majority group cares deeply about the future of California and includes some of the most distinguished leaders in the country. The governor is grateful for their ongoing support of his bold agenda to continue moving the state forward," Schwarzenegger's campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, said in a statement Friday.
Members of the New Majority "are checkbook Republicans individuals who are wealthy and raise big bucks to support moderate candidates," said GOP analyst Allan Hoffenblum.
Unlike the party's social conservatives, he said, "they are not dominated by religious-right issues."
Schwarzenegger's relationship with members of the group goes back at least to his debut in statewide politics in 2002, when New Majority supporters contributed heavily to his ballot proposal to fund after-school programs, known as Proposition 49.
The political action committee is among the governor's top donors since he took office in 2003. It supports moderate, business-friendly Republicans and has endorsed the governor's re-election.
Folino has given more than $1 million in cash and services to the governor, state records show, not counting donations from family members or to the state GOP, which can benefit the governor.
What do they get in return?
"I've never asked for a thing," Folino said. "Most of my business is actually generated outside of California. It's not about getting anything in return."
Baxter and Folino are members of the governor's jobs commission, which advises Schwarzenegger on economic matters. Another member, Gary Hunt of the consulting firm California Strategies, is the campaign's finance chairman. A.G. Kawamura, an Orange County grower who was a member of the PAC, is Schwarzenegger's food and agriculture secretary.
Other companies with ties to the group are involved in state business.
State records show developer Irvine Co., headed by New Majority member Donald Bren, spent more than $350,000 for lobbying in 2005-06 on a host of state matters, including dealings with the governor's office.
Apria Healthcare, whose chief executive is New Majority founding member Lawrence Higby, a former Nixon White House aide, has spent more than $87,000 in that period on lobbying. The company has a minor contract with the state for liquid oxygen, according to the state Department of General Services.
Unlike the party's social conservatives, he said, "they are not dominated by religious-right issues."
They don't appear to be "dominated" by fiscal conservative issues either. What exactly is it that drives these people who want more liberalism in the GOP?
[Folino said] "We've become close friends. I feel like my wife and I are part of the family."
Could it be that it's just a big personality cult? If you are around as many Arnold bootlickers as I am all day long you will notice this "I am friends with Arnold" declaration is a common and powerful theme that runs among his minions.
ping, pass it on
"The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles."
AYN RAND
I saw that but it doesn't have the important "we're friends with Arnold" quote that I wanted to comment on.
From the Wikipedia definition of fascism:
Fascism uses explicit populist rhetoric; calls for a heroic mass effort to restore past greatness; and demands loyalty to a single leader, often to the point of a cult of personality.
Do the elements of this description have the ring of the recent rhetoric of Schwarzenegger and the repetitive call of the California Republican Party in support of their folk hero on this forum?
Populist rhetoric
Heroic effort to restore past greatness
Loyalty to only one
A cult of personality
It sounds frighteningly familiar to me!
pro gay rights, pro gun control, pro abortion/choice, pro outspend anyone
100K will get ya a seat at a table,, napkins and silverware are extra.
the nouveau rich, the moderately to stunningly wealthy, an amalgamation of successful folks with a purpose and agenda, take your pick,
Look hard at the RNC's role in California. Given recent developments with the ports controversy, I have little doubt that the party is sold out. The question is how to buy it back.
The "New Majority" is exactly why Schwarzenegger, and everybody else the organization supports, MUST be defeated. Any victory they get serves only to enable other "moderates" (liberal scumbags) to think that if they assume the Democrats' agenda of turning America into a Euro-style, secular-socialist welfare state, then they can WIN. It's the ultimate subterfuge.
Better to concentrate on keeping enough reliable conservative votes in the legislature to thwart Democrat tax-hike attempts and ride it out.
And so it goes... with confusing cross-overs all over the place. Our President is really a confusing Corporate Big Government Christian who stamps out real Taliban, but coddles lawless aliens... Go figure!!!
I sure enjoyed the Dick Cheney interview on CBS this morning with Bob Shieffer. It's off this subject, but yet it was delightful! The old Dick Cheney came rippin right through as an Individualistic Corporate Christian Big Government Conservative with slight Socialistic tendencies on some convenient issues, if you know what I mean...
Schwartzenegger, on the other hand is just a big dumb Corporate National (State) Socialist who thinks his celebrity personality is enough to take the place of a mob of militant brown shirts to bend everybody to his will. Davis... Now Davis actually had the Dem Party brown shirts for awhile!!! (funny how a Repub minority in the legislature controlled Davis a lot better than they have Schwartzenegger)
Schwartzenegger just gives me a bad case of Schwartzeneggativity!!!
There is no doubt that the New Majority organization has been a major financial supporter to Arnold Schwarzenegger -- to the tune of millions and millions of dollars. The NM is a Republican fundraising group made up primary of GOPers that are moderate on fiscal and social issues. I've gotten to know many of the leaders of this group and found them to be primarily corporate executives with a yearning to give back through their support of pro-business candidates. This website actually got off of the ground, in part, with support from some NM folks.That NM sure does get around!
The NM are NUMB MODERATES!!! God bless 'em, they probably just don't know any better...
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