Governor’s cause gets gift after he signed law
AT&T; has given $500,000 to one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pet causes, six months after the governor signed a law lifting barriers to the company’s bid to sell pay television service in California.
The money went to After-School All-Stars, a tax-exempt group founded by Schwarzenegger in the early 1990s to provide tutoring, recreation and other programs to poor children.
The organization’s board includes some of Schwarzenegger’s closest friends and aides, including Bonnie Reiss, a former senior aide in his administration, and Paul Wachter, his financial advisor.
Government watchdog groups said the contribution underscores the eagerness of major corporations with business in Sacramento to curry favor with the governor.
“It’s all to the good for low-income kids, but it’s also noted on AT&T;’s balance sheet in more ways than one,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C. “There is a benefit to [Schwarzenegger] regardless of his technical affiliation with the charity. It’s one of the charities he supports, and so [the contribution] is certainly noted by the governor.”
One reason companies make such contributions is to “be on the good side of public officials,” said Robert M. Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles.
Schwarzenegger makes a handful of appearances each year in support of the charity, its officers said Wednesday. But to avoid perceptions that he is getting favors in return for official action, the governor never solicits donations, Reiss said.
Schwarzenegger flew to San Antonio on Tuesday for an event at which AT&T; announced the donation. Henry Cisneros, a former San Antonio mayor who heads the All-Stars organization, said Wednesday that he helped raise the money from AT&T.;
Cisneros said the group is careful not to “put the governor in a position where he would have to be asking for funding from people who may have operations in the state, or business before the state. We want to observe that.”
AT&T; spokesman Gordon Diamond said the company has been contributing to After-School All-Stars since 2004, the year after Schwarzenegger took office. Diamond denied that the money was given as part of any quid pro quo.
“Certainly any sort of allegation like that is absurd,” he said. “As you know, the AT&T; Foundation does a lot of work with children.”
AT&T; has given All-Stars a total of $1.2 million since 2004, including the $500,000 donated Tuesday.
None of the money collected by the charity goes to Schwarzenegger, Reiss said.
“Arnold never takes a dime to pay any expenses. No jet, hotel, food -- nothing,” Reiss said in an interview. “It’s the opposite.” Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver “actually contribute money to the charity,” Reiss said.
After spending more than $121,000 in 2003 to oppose the recall campaign that resulted in Schwarzenegger’s election, AT&T; later contributed $127,000 to the governor’s campaign accounts, state records show.
In a busy legislative session last year, the cable TV bill was the subject of an extensive lobbying campaign. AT&T; spent more than $23 million on lobbyists and television commercials aimed at passing the bill, which also benefited telecommunications giant Verizon.
The measure allowed the companies to get statewide permits from a state agency, the Public Utilities Commission, taking oversight of pay television away from local governments. Supporters said the switch would foster more competition.
“The goal was to bring choice and competition -- along with new jobs and investment in our infrastructure -- into California,” Diamond said. “Who wouldn’t support that sort of legislation?”
In response to the new law, the PUC issued a decision March 1 that said its regulatory authority was “limited.”
