Arnold held a cocktail and dinner reception
at his Brentwood estate on Wednesday for his top donors, all of whom
paid $100,000 to $250,000 for the honor. These are the folks who,
according to the invitation,
will "be included in regular conference calls with the Governor and
leading and well-known Californians from the public and private
sectors." Founding members will even get Arnold to come to them – as
hosts of one of the group’s quarterly meetings. The ‘inner circle’
status the gov is selling his gazillionaire donors is unprecedented
entry into the inner workings of a governor’s administration.
So who paid that much for access to the highest echelons of power? The
fundraiser invite was first disclosed by the Los Angeles Times on March
14. Here are the donors Arnold has received six-figure checks from
since the March 13 (we’ve mused on what some of these industries
want from the governor before):
California Hospitals Committee on Issues: $100,000.00
William Powers, Managing Director, PIMCO-Pacific Investment Management
Company: $250,000.00
Chevron: $100,000.00
John Hotchkiss, Chairman & CEO, Ramajal, LLC (investment management): $100,000.00
Robert A. Day, Chairman & CEO, Trust Company of the West (TCW): $100,000.00
Marc Stern, Vice Chairman, TCW Group (investment management): $100,000.00
Warner Henry, Owner, Henry Wine Group: $100,000.00
Diane S. Lake, Homemaker: $100,000.00
Rick Caruso, CEO, Caruso Affiliated (developer): $100,000.00
William E. Bloomfield, Retired CEO, Web Service Company (laundry vendor): $200,000.00
Paula Kent, KenQuest Executive (and inventor of Redken beauty products): $100,000.00
