Schwarzenegger, GOP Raise $2.5M at Fundraiser

By Michael R. Blood
Associated Press
March 20, 2006

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state GOP collected an estimated $2.5 million Monday at a fundraiser headlined by Sen. John McCain, as scores of union members protested outside the event calling for the governor's ouster in November.

A man wearing an Arnold Schwarzenegger mask is wheeled in a bathtub with a bubble-making machine during a protest outside a gala fundraiser for the California governor at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., Monday, March 20, 2006. One organizer explained the visual metaphor as meaning the governor should 'come clean' about his special-interest financial support. Scores of union members protested, calling for his ouster in November.
(AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

For Schwarzenegger, the closed-door dinner begins to replenish a political fund drained last year by his costly and losing campaign to enact ballot proposals to slow state spending and curb public union power in Sacramento. Top donors kicked in as much as $100,000 to attend the dinner and reception.

But the event was reminiscent of 2005, when union activists angered by the governor's agenda hounded his public appearances and ran millions of dollars of TV ads to help defeat the proposals. At one point, about two dozen members of the California Nurses Association tried to march into the reception shouting, "Shame on Arnold." They were turned away by security guards and police.

Members of the California Nurses Association, some wearing hazardous infection protection gear, blow soap bubbles as they walk outside after being escorted out by hotel security at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., Monday, March 20, 2006. The nurses wanted to hand over a large soap bar to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger who at the hotel holding a fundraiser with Sen. John McCain. (AP Photo/Ann Johansson)

"This fundraiser is the prime example of what is wrong with our system," said Jill Furillo, Southern California director of the nurses association. "They write their $100,000 checks because they hope to get a favor in return."

Schwarzenegger angered nurses when he sided with the hospital industry in a dispute over staffing ratios.

Monday's event was headlined by McCain, R-Ariz., who was enlisted by Schwarzenegger last year to help campaign for the governor's ballot proposals. The measures were defeated by voters in November.

"He's a good friend of the governor's, and a big supporter of him," McCain spokesman Craig Goldman said.

Members of the California Nurses Association push what looks like a gurney with a giant soap bar down a hallway as they try to see California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a fundraiser attendeded by U.S. Sen. John McCain, in Beverly Hills, Calif., Monday, March 20, 2006. The nurses are wearing protective gear and want to hand the symbolic soap bar to Schwarzenegger to clean up corporate corruption. (AP Photo/Ann Johansson)

The event, conducted under heavy security at the Beverly Hilton, was hosted by donors from the entertainment and business elite, including "The Terminator" director James Cameron, Interscope Records chief Jimmy Iovine, Yahoo Inc. Chairman Terry Semel and Univision Communications Inc. Chairman A. Jerrold Perenchio.

State GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim said the event would raise at least $2.5 million.

Outside the hotel, union members berated the governor for pursuing corporate donations and accused him of selling out working families.

Schwarzenegger was elected in 2003 after promising to upend politics as usual in Sacramento. He's now recognized as one of the most prolific political fundraisers in state history.