Schwarzenegger Donors Get Special Inauguration Perks

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is giving special access to private donors supporting his Jan. 5 inauguration. In 2003, after the turbulent recall, Schwarzenegger held a monumental swearing-in ceremony on the West Steps of the state Capitol, complete with a presidential-sized media platform and celebrity guests. Now, the event has been moved indoors to the gilded Memorial Auditorium, where Schwarzenegger held his first press conference after being sworn in three years ago. More parties are planned as well.

The Governor's 2007 Inaugural Committee — a "California nonprofit corporation" — is selling access to two days of events. (Donations are not tax deductible.) For $50,000, financial supporters receive 10 tickets to a Jan. 4 cocktail reception; four VIP seats at the ceremony, plus six additional seats in the general admission section; a table for 10 people at a 1 p.m. "legislative lunch" in the Capitol rotunda after the ceremony; and 10 tickets to an evening gala in the "ballroom" of the Sacramento Convention Center.

Julie Soderlund, spokeswoman for the inaugural committee, said the names of donors will be publicly disclosed and the events, including the swearing-in ceremony, will be covered by contributions instead of the public coffers. "There will be no cost to the taxpayers," she said.

New Campaign Finance Site Mines the Legislature

On Tuesday, a nonprofit foundation based in Berkeley is launching a new website that brings it all together — 6 million pieces of information about California's lawmakers and the poltical contributions they have received. The Maplight site breaks down thousands of bills according to a list of 400 interest groups — from Indian tribes to the bottled water industry. It then calculates how many times a lawmaker has supported those groups, alongside how much they have received.

California's system of tracking political contributions is better than almost every other state, but it's still not perfect. Political reporters have to create their own databases, download what is available through the Secretary of State's website, then manually enter any cross-matching information. It's a time-consuming process to find out how much money a lawmaker has received from a certain industry, and match those contributions to a lawmaker's votes in the Legislature. Multiply that by 120 lawmakers, and it's a nightmare.

So far, the Maplight database is still catching up to the considerable amount of information available. It's not up to date, and it ends in 2004. But November voters can get some idea, however old, about Assembly members and Senators running for reelection. And in the future it could be a valuable resource for the public — and a constant thorn to lawmakers and lobbyists.

Arnold on Immigration Again

Here are some stories that caught my eye:

• "Being an immigrant is like being a guest in someone's house. Your hosts go about their daily routine. You can sit on the couch and do your own thing, or you can ask, 'What can I do to help? How can I be a part of this household?'" Schwarzenegger today.
• HalPain — Evan Halper and Dan Morain — jump into a complicated but intriguing story about whether start-up companies were asked to give campaign money to controller Steve Westly in exchange for investments from the public pension.
• The Dalai Lama visits the unwashed in Pasadena. He'll be back — to visit Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver Sept. 26. He doesn't endorse.