Big Oil donates big bucks to Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

No sooner did Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger call for a state investigation of price gouging at the pump than his critics jumped in feet first -- noting that the "no special-interest money" governor has taken nearly $2 million in campaign contributions from the very oil companies he wants investigated.

"Arnold's latest slick stunt, pretending to care about soaring costs of gas prices, rings hollower than a Krispy Kreme doughnut,'' said the anti-Arnold labor folks at the Alliance for a Better California.

And indeed, records show that the governor -- who has raised $82.7 million since riding into Sacramento on the promise not to be beholden to special interests -- has accepted nearly two dozen contributions from oil interests since 2002.

In the past year alone, the governor's California Recovery Team collected $500,000 apiece from independent oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens and Vail Drilling Co., plus $250,000 from Chevron Corp. and $50,000 from Shell Oil.