Arnold '06: Governor cashing in on Rolling Stones
Governor cashing in on Rolling Stones
For $100,000, you can watch concert with Schwarzenegger
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Thursday, August 11, 2005
ยท
Here's the ticket: a private evening rockin' the night away with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during the kickoff of the Rolling Stones' "A Bigger Bang'' U.S. tour on Aug. 21 at Boston's Fenway Park.
Here's the bottom line: $10,000 a pop to get in on a private preconcert reception and front-and-center seats to watch the show -- or $100,000 to sit with the governor in his luxury box.
The eyebrow-raising event is one of a cluster of glitzy fundraisers the star-power governor will headline in the next few weeks as he seeks to arm his campaign fund with $50 million in preparation for the Nov. 8 special election -- which will determine the fate of his political agenda and, observers say, his chances for re-election in 2006.
Marty Wilson, the governor's chief fundraiser, said Wednesday that Schwarzenegger has planned about half a dozen state events and other fundraisers coast to coast this month and next.
"We have a very ambitious finance plan that will go a long way to helping us meet our overall fundraising goals -- and be in a position to fund our television campaign this fall,'' Wilson said Wednesday.
The Rolling Stones benefit, limited to 40 lucky fans, comes thanks to a donation of a rare block of center-stage seats and a luxury box to the group's 2005 tour kickoff -- courtesy of mortgage lender and mega-political donor Ameriquest. The company, based in Orange, is the lead sponsor of the Stones' 2005 tour and has written $1.5 million in checks to Republican Schwarzenegger's campaign coffers to date.
In political circles, where competitive fundraisers are continually inventing new ways to vacuum up cash, the unusual Stones benefit looks like a first.
Aggressive fundraising
While it's not uncommon to have rockers donate their services to politicians -- as Bruce Springsteen did for John Kerry in the last presidential campaign -- or for politicians to greet supporters at big- ticket events such as the Super Bowl, the marriage of a political leader, a must-see concert and what is arguably the world's most famous rock band dramatizes Schwarzenegger's unusual profile. And it highlights the aggressive measures he is taking to generate campaign cash.
"Politicians are always looking for more ways to raise money -- but Schwarzenegger is one of those pushing the envelope and raising money in ways with a vigor that ... we don't often see,'' said Steve Weiss, spokesman for the Washington-based Center for Responsible Politics.
"Schwarzenegger is using his celebrity to his advantage,'' he said, but increasingly it appears at odds with the candidate who "ran a campaign in which he said he would not be beholden to special interests.''
The governor and committees backing his ballot measures had spent more than $23 million during the first six months of the year, according to the most recent disclosure statements released last month. Groups opposing the governor's measures that would change teacher tenure and the state budget process had spent slightly more than $10 million.
Schwarzenegger and first lady Maria Shriver liked the idea of sponsoring a Rolling Stones fundraiser because "he's apparently a big Stones fan,'' Massachusetts GOP activist Melissa Lucas told the Boston Herald.
The event was arranged after Ameriquest offered the governor more than three dozen center stage and luxury box seats for the Stones' first 2005 U.S. concert -- seats currently going for $1,600 each on ticket brokers' Web sites.
"We were offered an opportunity for some tickets we could have for fundraiser purposes,'' Wilson said. "It promised to be a very unique event and something our supporters would respond to.''
No involvement from band
Fran Curtis, the longtime publicist for the Rolling Stones, said by telephone from Toronto -- where they're preparing for the tour's start -- that the band itself had no role in the matter. "We knew he was coming, but nothing else,'' she said.
A spokesman for Ameriquest refused to comment on the arrangement. The company, he said, "has a policy of not commenting on its political contributions.''
The slew of scheduled fundraisers has delivered the governor's opponents ammunition to fire away at what they call an increasingly shameless hat-in- hand routine.
"Sounds like 'Sympathy for the Devil' to me," quipped Gloria Nieto, a Democratic National Committee member and director of the Lyon-Martin Women's Health Services Clinic in San Francisco.
"I'm calling him the Disgrace-inator,'' said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association, which has relentlessly protested Schwarzenegger's campaign events. "He spends all his time fundraising and not governing. It shows the depth of his desperation.''
And it may also prompt problems with members of the governor's conservative base if they take a dim view of Schwarzenegger's coziness with a band that sings anti-Bush lyrics in new songs like "Sweet Neo-Con." (Sample: "You call yourself a Christian/I call you hypocrite/You call yourself a patriot/Well, I think you're full of s -- .")
Wilson, the governor's fundraiser, emphasized that the concert "shouldn't be construed as an endorsement by the Rolling Stones.''
Schwarzenegger supporters said his Republican base will understand that the event will help him raise money to fight off the attacks of his critics, including the public employee unions that have spent millions on television attack ads.
"In all my work, I've never seen anyone, anyone so enthusiastic and committed,'' said Kristin Heuter, a leading GOP fundraiser for Schwarzenegger. "He loves what he does. ... He wants to finish the job he started for the people of California.''
Effect on voters questioned
But watchdogs say with all this activity, the governor is raising more questions and provoking concern about whose interests he will meet.
"Schwarzenegger ... has appeal in numerous parts of the country, and he's leveraging that to raise money in places far away from California,'' said Weiss of the Center for Responsible Politics. "The interesting question is why are the donors in, say, Boston, contributing to him? What is their interest in policies in California -- and how do those interests serve the voters?''
5 days in August
Some of the governor's scheduled fundraisers:
Aug. 17: A $500-per-person event at the National Orange Show in San Bernardino.
Aug. 18: A "private dinner" at the Sutter Club in Sacramento, where $100, 000 buys six VIP table tickets -- two tickets at the head table with the governor -- and three photos with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Aug. 19: A Lake Tahoe "evening of casual elegance" at Shakespeare Ranch in Glenbrook, Nev., sponsored by Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn and other Nevada politicians. The $25,000-per-couple "Platinum" tickets buy a host reception, cocktail reception, photo with Schwarzenegger and seats at his table.
Aug. 20: A $25,000-per-person fundraising barbecue dinner in New Jersey with GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester.
Aug. 21: An evening at a Rolling Stones concert in Boston.
Chronicle political writer John Wildermuth contributed to this report.E-mail Carla Marinucci at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com.
For $100,000, you can watch concert with Schwarzenegger
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Thursday, August 11, 2005
ยท
View article online-
Here's the ticket: a private evening rockin' the night away with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during the kickoff of the Rolling Stones' "A Bigger Bang'' U.S. tour on Aug. 21 at Boston's Fenway Park.
Here's the bottom line: $10,000 a pop to get in on a private preconcert reception and front-and-center seats to watch the show -- or $100,000 to sit with the governor in his luxury box.
The eyebrow-raising event is one of a cluster of glitzy fundraisers the star-power governor will headline in the next few weeks as he seeks to arm his campaign fund with $50 million in preparation for the Nov. 8 special election -- which will determine the fate of his political agenda and, observers say, his chances for re-election in 2006.
Marty Wilson, the governor's chief fundraiser, said Wednesday that Schwarzenegger has planned about half a dozen state events and other fundraisers coast to coast this month and next.
"We have a very ambitious finance plan that will go a long way to helping us meet our overall fundraising goals -- and be in a position to fund our television campaign this fall,'' Wilson said Wednesday.
The Rolling Stones benefit, limited to 40 lucky fans, comes thanks to a donation of a rare block of center-stage seats and a luxury box to the group's 2005 tour kickoff -- courtesy of mortgage lender and mega-political donor Ameriquest. The company, based in Orange, is the lead sponsor of the Stones' 2005 tour and has written $1.5 million in checks to Republican Schwarzenegger's campaign coffers to date.
In political circles, where competitive fundraisers are continually inventing new ways to vacuum up cash, the unusual Stones benefit looks like a first.
Aggressive fundraising
While it's not uncommon to have rockers donate their services to politicians -- as Bruce Springsteen did for John Kerry in the last presidential campaign -- or for politicians to greet supporters at big- ticket events such as the Super Bowl, the marriage of a political leader, a must-see concert and what is arguably the world's most famous rock band dramatizes Schwarzenegger's unusual profile. And it highlights the aggressive measures he is taking to generate campaign cash.
"Politicians are always looking for more ways to raise money -- but Schwarzenegger is one of those pushing the envelope and raising money in ways with a vigor that ... we don't often see,'' said Steve Weiss, spokesman for the Washington-based Center for Responsible Politics.
"Schwarzenegger is using his celebrity to his advantage,'' he said, but increasingly it appears at odds with the candidate who "ran a campaign in which he said he would not be beholden to special interests.''
The governor and committees backing his ballot measures had spent more than $23 million during the first six months of the year, according to the most recent disclosure statements released last month. Groups opposing the governor's measures that would change teacher tenure and the state budget process had spent slightly more than $10 million.
Schwarzenegger and first lady Maria Shriver liked the idea of sponsoring a Rolling Stones fundraiser because "he's apparently a big Stones fan,'' Massachusetts GOP activist Melissa Lucas told the Boston Herald.
The event was arranged after Ameriquest offered the governor more than three dozen center stage and luxury box seats for the Stones' first 2005 U.S. concert -- seats currently going for $1,600 each on ticket brokers' Web sites.
"We were offered an opportunity for some tickets we could have for fundraiser purposes,'' Wilson said. "It promised to be a very unique event and something our supporters would respond to.''
No involvement from band
Fran Curtis, the longtime publicist for the Rolling Stones, said by telephone from Toronto -- where they're preparing for the tour's start -- that the band itself had no role in the matter. "We knew he was coming, but nothing else,'' she said.
A spokesman for Ameriquest refused to comment on the arrangement. The company, he said, "has a policy of not commenting on its political contributions.''
The slew of scheduled fundraisers has delivered the governor's opponents ammunition to fire away at what they call an increasingly shameless hat-in- hand routine.
"Sounds like 'Sympathy for the Devil' to me," quipped Gloria Nieto, a Democratic National Committee member and director of the Lyon-Martin Women's Health Services Clinic in San Francisco.
"I'm calling him the Disgrace-inator,'' said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association, which has relentlessly protested Schwarzenegger's campaign events. "He spends all his time fundraising and not governing. It shows the depth of his desperation.''
And it may also prompt problems with members of the governor's conservative base if they take a dim view of Schwarzenegger's coziness with a band that sings anti-Bush lyrics in new songs like "Sweet Neo-Con." (Sample: "You call yourself a Christian/I call you hypocrite/You call yourself a patriot/Well, I think you're full of s -- .")
Wilson, the governor's fundraiser, emphasized that the concert "shouldn't be construed as an endorsement by the Rolling Stones.''
Schwarzenegger supporters said his Republican base will understand that the event will help him raise money to fight off the attacks of his critics, including the public employee unions that have spent millions on television attack ads.
"In all my work, I've never seen anyone, anyone so enthusiastic and committed,'' said Kristin Heuter, a leading GOP fundraiser for Schwarzenegger. "He loves what he does. ... He wants to finish the job he started for the people of California.''
Effect on voters questioned
But watchdogs say with all this activity, the governor is raising more questions and provoking concern about whose interests he will meet.
"Schwarzenegger ... has appeal in numerous parts of the country, and he's leveraging that to raise money in places far away from California,'' said Weiss of the Center for Responsible Politics. "The interesting question is why are the donors in, say, Boston, contributing to him? What is their interest in policies in California -- and how do those interests serve the voters?''
5 days in August
Some of the governor's scheduled fundraisers:
Aug. 17: A $500-per-person event at the National Orange Show in San Bernardino.
Aug. 18: A "private dinner" at the Sutter Club in Sacramento, where $100, 000 buys six VIP table tickets -- two tickets at the head table with the governor -- and three photos with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Aug. 19: A Lake Tahoe "evening of casual elegance" at Shakespeare Ranch in Glenbrook, Nev., sponsored by Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn and other Nevada politicians. The $25,000-per-couple "Platinum" tickets buy a host reception, cocktail reception, photo with Schwarzenegger and seats at his table.
Aug. 20: A $25,000-per-person fundraising barbecue dinner in New Jersey with GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester.
Aug. 21: An evening at a Rolling Stones concert in Boston.
Chronicle political writer John Wildermuth contributed to this report.E-mail Carla Marinucci at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com.
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