Capitol Alert: Whitman won't accept salary if elected governor

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Capitol Alert

The latest on California politics and government

November 6, 2009

Whitman won't accept salary if elected governor

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman will follow in the footsteps of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and decline her salary if she's elected governor, press secretary Sarah Pompei said today.

Whitman is worth about a billion dollars and is pouring millions into her gubernatorial campaign.

The current annual salary for governor is $212,179 and will fall to $173,987 assuming an 18 percent salary cut for state officials takes effect as approved by the California Citizens Compensation Commission.

Jon Waldie, chief administrative officer of the Assembly, and Greg Schmidt, chief executive officer of the Senate, have asked Attorney General Jerry Brown to look into whether the pay and benefit cuts were legally approved. Read about that request here.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Campbell, a former congressman, said Friday he would accept a salary if elected. "How else would I eat?" Campbell said in a written statement.

The third Republican candidate Steve Poizner, the state insurance commissioner who also has about a billion dollars in personal wealth, will accept a salary with a possible pay cut, said communications director Jarrod Agen.

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