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July 14, 2005
Not Illegal but Perhaps a New Kind of Special Interest
According to this morning's Los Angeles Times,
Two days before he was sworn into office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger accepted a consulting job paying an estimated $8 million over five years to "further the business objectives" of a national publisher of health and bodybuilding magazines.
And what exactly does California's Governor do to "further the business objectives" of Muscle & Fitness and Flex (outlets for the Weider publishing group American Media) magazines?
He writes monthly columns for both, dictating them to the editorial staff of the magazines.
But there is a little more to it than that. The following are actual words from the agreement,
. . . helping in various ways to further the business objectives of the Weider Business by either (i) performing services suggested by Mr. S and consented to by Weider or (ii) being responsive to the reasonable requests of Weider.And maybe, just maybe, he uses his office to help out the magazines' advertisers.
Last year, the governor vetoed legislation that would have imposed government regulations on the supplement industry.
And the special interest group fighting Governor, gets 1% of the magazines' advertising dollar under the deal. I don't know if Governor Schwarzenegger would have vetoed the legislation anyway. Who could know other than the Governor? I do know that this appears to be a major conflict of interest. If this agreement is not one of the most blatant conflict of interest I have ever heard of, it is one of the stupidest things any governor elect has done two days before his inauguration. And if the Governor didn't know what he was doing, the owners of the magazines sure did.
And it all seems to be legal,
The law allows governors and other elected officials to keep outside jobs. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) has been paid $35,000 a year by the Voter Improvement Program in Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization created by the former president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
But there is a great distance between getting $35K a year to promote voter participation and over $1.5M a year to help "in various ways to further the business objectives of the Weider business."
A few other choice bits,
The governor used his regular column in the June issue of Muscle & Fitness to defend the supplement industry. He vowed to oppose any effort to restrict sales of the products in California, writing that he is "so energized to fight any attempt to limit the availability of nutritional supplements."An article in the August issue of Muscle & Fitness said Schwarzenegger had "lent his support" to a new lobbying group that would work to promote nutritional supplements. "The governor also made it clear that he will remain a phone call away as the coalition progresses," the magazine said.
Update: July 16, 2005
Governor Schwarzenegger announced last night that he would cancel the contract with the magazines.
"When I became governor, I pledged to put the people of California front and center," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "I don't want there to be any question or doubt that the people have my full devotion."Therefore, effective today I will relinquish my title as executive editor and forgo any compensation from the magazines. I will continue to promote weight resistance training, health and fitness for all through any avenue that is available to me, as I have done my entire life." [Los Angeles Times]
He will continue to write his monthly column and will not return any money he has received. While it was a significant error in judgment to enter into the agreement in the first place, his decision to cancel the agreement is the correct response to the appearance of a significant conflict of interest.
Posted by Duane Smith at July 14, 2005 9:38 AM | Read more on Current Events |
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