Governor Launches Panel for Business
Standing in front of a California-shaped sign with the word “OPEN” in red neon, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the launching of a not-for-profit corporation to promote California products, advise the government on regulatory obstacles for business and keep employers from leaving the state.
“California is open for business,” he said.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. May 8, 2004 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday May 08, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 79 words Type of Material: Correction
Warren Hellman -- A March 12 article on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s jobs commission and a May 2 article on the governor’s trip to Israel -- both in the California section -- reported that Warren Hellman, a financier from San Francisco, donated to Schwarzenegger’s campaign for governor last year. Hellman endorsed Schwarzenegger in the race and now is co-chairman of a private jobs commission the governor helped establish, but he did not donate to Schwarzenegger’s campaign, according to public records.
The California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth will be a private entity and will receive no government money, Schwarzenegger said in the announcement at the Port of Long Beach. But in many ways, the commission seems to belong to Schwarzenegger.
The governor will be an honorary member. One of the donors to his gubernatorial campaign, San Francisco financier Warren Hellman, will be co-chairman.
Schwarzenegger indicated Thursday that some senior aides had been instrumental in the panel’s formation, and the governor pledged that the commission would respond within 24 hours to reports that any company was thinking of leaving -- or moving into -- California.
The commission has no paid staff yet. The governor, Hellman and the other co-chairman, Los Angeles attorney Ron Olson of the firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson, did not answer a question about where the commission would get funds. (Schwarzenegger joked that Hellman and Olson could be tapped for the money because he felt poor compared with them).
The commission has a volunteer executive director -- Mark Mosher, a San Francisco lobbyist who is close to Hellman -- and an address across the street from the Capitol in Sacramento. It has an 800 number.
But the person answering that number Thursday was in Berkeley and had never heard of Mosher.
In his seven months as a politico, Schwarzenegger has demonstrated an affection for blue-ribbon committees. He has named at least one a month.
The governor had teams of big names to advise him on state debt, economics, education and the environment during his campaign last fall. He also named teams to advise him on his audit of state government and his ongoing performance review of the government.
Two separate teams were named to advise him on the $15-billion general obligation bond authorized by passage of Proposition 57 on March 2.
Twenty-four members of the commission were announced Thursday. Among those from businesses are Gap Inc. Chairman Donald Fisher, Edison International President and Chairman John Bryson, and Fox Entertainment Group Chairman and CEO Peter Chernin. Paul Folino, the chairman and CEO of Emulex and a major donor to Schwarzenegger’s political committees, is a member, as are the leaders of two nonprofits, the president of a hotel and restaurant employees union, and the president of the University of California.
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