Schwarzenegger Supporters Funneled Millions for Ad Through National Group

What’s the only thing more annoying than a Christmas ad in July? How about political ads in heavy rotation six months before regular campaigning gets underway.

If you think the barrage of campaign ads that usually starts after Labor Day and escalates until election day is unbearable, then please feel our pain in California. We’ve been assaulted with a feel-good campaign about Gov. Schwarzenegger — whose approval ratings have been down at Bush levels — that ran for months, seemingly on the quarter hour, until last week when they abruptly went dark.

The last of these, titled “Remember?” was designed to soften public sentiment about the governor by comparing him to his predecessor, the inartful Gray Davis. Message: “Arnold may be bad, but at least he’s not as bad as the last guy.”

Because Schwarzenegger’s accomplishments are so few, the ad is short on specifics and long on Reaganesque “Morning in America” symbology. In a key shot, we see him taking the oath of office, projecting pride and reverence for duty. And tellingly, Arnold is seen but not heard throughout.

Sponsored by the U.S. Chamber in Washington, D.C., nominally at least, the ad is categorized as part of an “independent issue advocacy program,” a status which allows the chamber to skirt California election laws that would otherwise require disclosing funding sources and adhering to donation limits.

However, the Los Angeles Times reports today that the funding for the ad allegedly comes from the governor’s closest supporters in California who routed the money through the chamber:

A television ad campaign portrayed as an independent effort to help Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been bankrolled partly by a group with deep ties to his political operation.

An official with the New Majority, a Southern California Republican group at the core of Schwarzenegger’s fundraising apparatus, said its members have given about $1 million to the Washington, D.C., business group that is the public face of the ads: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce…

By pumping the ad money through the chamber, well-heeled New Majority members have bypassed requirements that their donations be publicly disclosed. And they skirted the strict contribution limits — $22,300 each for the June 6 primary and again for the November general election — that would apply if they had donated directly to Schwarzenegger….

The New Majority includes wealthy businesspeople, Schwarzenegger campaign aides and gubernatorial appointees.

The group’s membership director is Renee Croce, who is also finance director of one of Schwarzenegger’s main fundraising committees. She works out of a Santa Monica building that Schwarzenegger owns and where he keeps an office.

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