Experts Expound

“Gov. Schwarzenegger’s financial disclosure statement shows that his
campaign is nearly half a million dollars in debt as the 2006 election year
gets under way. Is Schwarzenegger politically crippled by this lack of
resources? In his hunt for campaign cash, will he become a puppet of his big
donors, such as William Robinson, Alex Spanos and Jerry Perenchio, et al?”

“WILL become? How about HAS become?”

“Arnold is a fundraising machine. He’ll have no problem competing with the
Dems. But because of his holier-than-thou broomholding, he’ll be under
attack at each of his fundraisers. Putting Kennedy on the payroll was a huge
blunder.”

“The odd thing about puppeteering around the Capitol is that it’s hard to
know whose hand is inside the puppet. The governor has already been doing
the bidding of business groups. He doesn’t need to have strings pulled. He
knows the dance all on his own.”

“Schwarzenegger had enough money to get his message out in the special
(election). He’ll have enough for the upcoming campaign. The real question
is, will he have a better product to sell?”

“Crippled? No. Challenged? Yes. The Governor’s campaign shortfall just
hands a tanker full of gasoline to Harvey Rosenfield, Jamie Court, and Doug
Heller to pour on their ever-growing bonfire of criticism of the governor’s
fundraising activities.”

“This is the biggest non-story of the year so far. It doesn’t matter in the
slightest. He’ll have plenty of money.”

“Schwarzenegger will be able to raise the money he needs. He also has the
advantage of significant personal wealth to serve as a back-up in a time of
political urgency. Schwarzenegger needs to modify his fundraising strategy,
though, and avoid high-profile events that make it into the press in favor
of a more low-key approach like phone calls and small fundraisers (for big
bucks) in homes.”

“All of the special interest groups that will make money from the huge bond
proposals will finance the Governor’s campaign coffers.”

“The governor is nobody’s puppet, I think. He certainly isn’t crippled by
campaign debt, perhaps by his lack of ideological guidance, but not because
he’s out of cash.”

“Last I checked, Arnold was still estimated to have a personal fortune of
several hundred million dollars. He has the resources and the connections to
refill his campaign coffers quickly. His obedience to the political policies
of Wall Street comes from misguided personal conviction, not the need for
campaign cash.”

The people from whom we sought opinions: Andrew Acosta, A.G. Block, Don
Wilcox, Jon Fleischman, Evan Goldberg, Deborah Gonzalez, Dan Schnur, Jason
Kinney, Tom Kise, Karen Hanretty, Kevin Spillane, Michael Houston, Matt
Ross, Sam Delson, Mike Madrid, Morgan Crinklaw, Dave Lesher, Richard Zeiger,
Ralph Simoni, Bob Hertzberg, Scott Baugh, Steve Maviglio, Tony Quinn, Peter
DeMarco, Adam Probolsky, Barbara O’Connor, Jack Pitney.