Top Schwarzenegger advisor donates to Jerry Brown
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David Crane, a Democrat and senior adviser to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has donated $5,000 to Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown’s campaign for governor.
Crane, a close friend of Schwarzenegger’s from before his stint in politics, is one of the few confidantes to remain in Sacramento for the governor’s full term in office. Crane has been become the administration’s most outspoken critic of California’s looming pension problems and the influence of public-employee unions. In an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times last month, Crane wrote:
Because legislators are unwilling to raise issues that might offend that constituency, they have effectively turned the peroration of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address on its head: Instead of a government of the people, by the people and for the people, we have become a government of its employees, by its employees and for its employees.
In addition to Crane’s $5,000, his wife, Carla, also donated $5,000 to Brown. So what are Schwarzenegger’s thoughts on the contributions? “The governor encourages his staff to participate in the political process. David’s a Democrat so this is no surprise,” said Aaron McLear, the governor’s press secretary.
The governor has not endorsed a successor.
-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento