Timing of Bush’s Fundraiser Is Bad for Governor’s Agenda

Don’t expect to see happy photos of President Bush with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when the president visits Los Angeles tonight for a Republican fundraiser. The governor doesn’t plan to go near the president. He’s upset.

Schwarzenegger is miffed because Bush is dipping into the California money pot less than three weeks before the governor’s special election. Schwarzenegger still is tapping contributors for his own political needs, trying to salvage a “reform” agenda crucial to his governorship and to him politically.

Moreover, some within the Schwarzenegger camp complain, Bush’s timing couldn’t be worse politically. Democrats are trying to wrap the unpopular president around the governor’s neck -- warning voters of a “Bush-Schwarzenegger agenda” -- and in flies Air Force One, right into the state’s largest media market.

A statewide poll last month by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California showed that the president and governor are about equally unpopular in the state. Their job ratings among likely voters: Bush, 38% approval, 60% disapproval; Schwarzenegger, 38%-55%.

Air Force One actually is what this presidential trip is mostly about -- the old Boeing 707 that flew Ronald Reagan and six other presidents until the current 747 was commissioned. The relic is going on exhibit at the Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley, and Bush will be attending the dedication ceremony Friday.

Schwarzenegger isn’t planning to join Bush at the library because of what the president is doing tonight: holding a fundraiser for the Republican National Committee at a private residence in L.A.

By the standards of presidential fundraisers, this one will be small. It’s expected to yield $1 million, with 100 couples invited to pay a $25,000 door charge. (Some will get in free because they’ve already given big.)

“The notion it’s going to have an impact on the governor’s fundraising is just off the mark,” says one Republican national official, asking not to be identified.

Hardly anybody wants to be quoted on the record, hoping their names won’t be thrust into the middle of an intramural party squabble.

But Karen Hanretty, spokeswoman for the California Republican Party, doesn’t mind.

“What California needs from the Bush administration are more federal dollars, not fundraisers, at a time when we’re just weeks from a crucial statewide election that could have a significant impact on the governor’s administration,” Hanretty says.

“The governor is focused on the special election, and I doubt he’ll be hanging with people who aren’t significantly interested in helping him pass his reform agenda in California. There’s little to be gained by meeting with people who are taking money out of the state.”

Schwarzenegger emissaries asked both the Republican National Committee and the White House weeks ago to postpone the fundraiser until after the Nov. 8 election.

“This is the date that worked for the RNC and the White House,” replies the national party official.

So the Schwarzenegger camp considers the White House a bunch of ingrates, noting that the governor campaigned in Ohio for the president last fall and helped him narrowly carry the state, securing his reelection.

“A little respect and courtesy for what Schwarzenegger is doing out here would be appreciated,” says a gubernatorial aide. Or, to put it another way: a little appreciation for what Schwarzenegger did for the president in Ohio, which included alienating California Democrats and turning himself into a full-fledged partisan.

“This is a president who values loyalty probably to a fault,” says a state GOP official. “But he’s showing absolutely none to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“It’s not like that money wouldn’t still be here after the election.”

Well, it wouldn’t be here if Schwarzenegger had his way. He’d gather it up to spend on a half-week’s worth of TV ads.

Schwarzenegger is the all-time champion California fundraiser, having reaped nearly $80 million since his election. But he’s weary and ready for campaign finance reform, he told me.

“Common Cause and I have talked a lot about that,” the governor said, praising the group’s national president, Chellie Pingree. “She comes in and is not hostile or anything, just says, ‘Look governor, this is something worth looking at.’ ”

What Pingree told Schwarzenegger is that if she was going to endorse his redistricting measure (Proposition 77), he should commit to working with her on campaign finance. He agreed -- and even pledged to consider public financing, a concept most Republicans oppose.

“Absolutely,” the governor said in the interview. “Whenever you open up a can of worms, you’ve got to let everything come in. Every idea. We’ll have those debates and then put an initiative on the ballot if the legislators don’t want to vote for it....

“The way [campaign financing] is going, it has become like a circus. The ones benefiting from it are the television stations. Look at the amount of money they are making right now.”

The biggest need for reform in California -- and American politics -- is campaign finance.

Too much private money is buying too much political influence.

Moreover, incessant fundraising distracts from policymaking.

With all the problems the president and America face, it’s a sad commentary that he’s spending any time at all hitting up rich people for political money. Same for the governor.

*

George Skelton writes Monday and Thursday. Reach him at george.skelton@latimes.com.