Tickets to Schwarzenegger Fundraiser in New York Will Cost Up to $500,000

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking his fundraising machine to Manhattan for a dinner with a top price tag of $500,000 a plate.

The event is to help pay for the governor’s campaign promoting two measures on the March 2 ballot.

The minimum donation for admission is $50,000. But the price goes up to $500,000 -- a level that surprises even longtime critics of California’s campaign finance system. Those who give $500,000 will be dubbed “California Recovery Team Chair.”

Organized with the help of New York Gov. George Pataki, the event will take place Feb. 24 at the Central Park West home of Robert Wood Johnson IV, heir to the Johnson & Johnson Co. fortune, owner of the New York Jets football team and a major GOP donor. The invitation offers a “private dinner” with Schwarzenegger.

“One Central Park West -- that pretty much says it all,” said Blair Horner, legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group in Albany, N.Y. “You are talking about one of the most elite ZIP Codes in the country.”

Horner, who has been tracking political fundraising for 25 years, said he has never seen a solicitation for $500,000. He predicted that some donors with an interest in California bond deals would attend, but that most would be seeking to ingratiate themselves with Pataki.

Schwarzenegger scheduled the event to follow the National Governor’s Conference later this month in Washington, D.C. By making the New York stop, the Republican governor is taking a page from former Gov. Gray Davis’ playbook.

Davis, who was recalled last year, made a practice of visiting New York to raise money after attending the annual governors conferences, and generally would tap donors with ties to the investment banking and financial services industry.

Schwarzenegger is campaigning for Proposition 57, a $15-billion bond proposal to restructure California’s budget debt, and Proposition 58, a companion measure intended to curb state spending.

California’s celebrity governor, a major fundraising draw, has more than $1 million in an account to pay for the twin campaigns and is seeking $8 million or more.

“Look, New York is the financial capital of the world,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic consultant in New York. “The bond houses are in New York. Why not have the governor of New York help you out? It is telling the bond houses they better participate.”

There are federal restrictions on political donations by investment bankers and others in the securities industry. It is unclear whether the invitation was sent to bankers. Political aides to Pataki did not return calls.

Martin Wilson, a political aide to Schwarzenegger, said the event is not intended to attract money from such donors.

“If you’re going to be involved in public finance, you can’t give,” Wilson said. “While it may sound salacious -- like we’re going to shake down bond houses -- those people can’t participate, and if they do, they take themselves out of the market.”

California’s campaign finance law caps donations directly to Schwarzenegger at $21,200 from individual contributors.

But the caps do not apply to committees established to support or oppose ballot measures.

Still, “I can’t ever remember a fundraiser with an asking price this high,” said Jim Knox, director of California Common Cause, who called the $500,000 solicitation “staggering.”

State Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), a foe of the two March measures, also was taken aback.

“If I was a New Yorker, I’d want to see these bonds passed,” said McClintock. “Wall Street types will be making all the money off the bond.”

Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, is holding a fundraiser in San Francisco tonight and another Friday for his California Recovery Team.

On Friday, Sacramento Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof will host a $100,000-a-plate dinner at Gavin Maloof’s home. For $25,000, donors can sit in a luxury suite with the governor and watch the Kings play the San Antonio Spurs.

Times staff writer Joe Mathews contributed to this report.