Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday denounced $577,000 in contributions that the state correctional officers union gave to a political committee controlled by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association has donated most of the money in the final month of the legislative session. The cash likely will fuel a Perata effort to defeat Proposition 11, a Schwarzenegger-backed initiative to change the way the state draws its political districts, according to the union.
CCPOA is making a late-session bid in the Capitol for a pay raise after union employees have worked without a contract for more than two years.
"First of all, let me just say that this money exchange is terrible for the people of California," Schwarzenegger said in Los Angeles in response to a Bee story about the contributions.
The Republican governor spoke Wednesday in Los Angeles at a news conference with local government officials to pressure lawmakers into rejecting borrowing options to resolve the state's $15.2 billion budget shortfall.
CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran said "there is absolutely no connection" between the union's fight for a new contract and its donations.
"It's an easy assumption, but it is absolutely ridiculous," Corcoran said. "What we are attempting to do is help leadership lead. This is a state with 36 million people, and campaigns are not cheap."
Perata campaign spokesman Paul Hefner said the senator "makes decisions based on policy, not what happens on the political side."
Perata opposes Proposition 11 and had $2.2 million in his Leadership California account as of June 30, before CCPOA gave him contributions totaling $477,000. The union also donated $100,000 on May 30.
Schwarzenegger has raised and transferred more than $2.4 million to a political committee backing Proposition 11, and he has helped solicit $100,000 donations from friends such as Texas energy giant T. Boone Pickens and Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso. The initiative is also backed by groups such as California Common Cause and AARP.
Both Corcoran and Hefner accused Schwarzenegger of hypocrisy.
"You've got a governor who has raised more special-interest contributions than any politician in California history and is holding five- and six-figure fundraisers across the street from the Capitol, and he's criticizing people who are trying to thwart his political agenda," Hefner said.
Schwarzenegger campaign spokeswoman Julie Soderlund shot back.
"Senator Perata appears to be surreptiously funneling money through his political committee from CCPOA at a time when the union is trying to get a budget deal to boost pay at taxpayer expense," Soderlund said. "Meanwhile the governor is working with a broad and bipartisan coalition of more than 1,400 endorsees to campaign for real redistricting reform."
Call Kevin Yamamura, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5548.
