$100K From Special Interest For Special Session

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Nov 18, 2003 - 03:45 PM

$100K From Special Interest For Special Session

by Doug Heller

Day 2 of the Arnold Administration -- If we told you that the governor accepted a huge campaign contribution from the state's largest private workers' compensation insurer just before opening a special legislative session on workers' comp, you'd be sure that we accidentally got our wires crossed and were looking at some old story from the Gray Davis files. And if we added that the governor used a loophole in campaign limits - putting the money in an old campaign committee, so he could accept a donation that is nearly five times larger than contribution limits allow - you'd be sure we had mistakenly opened Cruz Bustamante's campaign finance disclosures. That kind of special interest politics-as-usual is exactly what Arnold came in to office to clean up, right?

Apparently not. We have just learned that mega-insurer American International Group (AIG) donated $100,000 to Arnold last week. The company wants to keep insurance rate regulation off the table during the workers' compensation special session that the governor convened today. Will Arnold treat AIG equally and look to reform the insurance companies just as he goes after other players in the workers comp debate (namely workers, doctors and lawyers) or will this big contributor get a break?

Arnold told us that things would be different, but already it looks a lot like more of the same.

ArnoldWatch is a project of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization. FTCR does not endorse or oppose candidates.