Schwarzenegger awards campaign bonuses to top aides

By: DON THOMPSON - Associated Press | Saturday, January 20, 2007 7:12 PM PST ∞

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his campaign fund to reward four top government aides with $273,000 in bonuses after he won re-election, a spokeswoman said Saturday.

The money came from Californians for Schwarzenegger, which collects the bulk of its contributions from business groups and corporations that lobby at the Capitol and routinely have business before the administration.

Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, criticized the practice.

"What it does is provide contributors with even more access to the governor," Stern said. "It's a terrible precedent, I think, and really needs to be stopped."

The bonuses were paid in December, a month after Schwarzenegger won a second term by defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, said Julie Soderlund, a spokeswoman for the governor's office who previously worked for the governor's re-election campaign.

Chief of staff Susan Kennedy was given a $100,000 bonus. She was also paid $7,500 a month as a campaign consultant, bringing her an additional $92,500 in campaign wages. The $192,500 she received from the campaign eclipses the $131,000 state salary she was paid in her first year on the job.

Communications Director Adam Mendelsohn, who is paid $123,000 by taxpayers, was given a $75,000 bonus from campaign funds on top of the $13,000 he earned last year by working for the campaign.

First Lady Maria Shriver's chief of staff, Daniel Zingale, was given a $50,000 campaign bonus on top of his state salary of $123,000. Zingale also is a special adviser to the governor.

The governor's personal assistant, Clay Russell, was given a $48,000 campaign bonus on top of the $20,000 he earned from the campaign.

"Adam, Susan, Clay and Daniel all worked an extraordinary number of hours outside of their regular work day on the campaign, and this is compensation for their time," Soderlund said. "They worked in the mornings, in the evenings, and on the weekend."

Stern at the Center for Government Studies said the four shouldn't be dividing their duties. He said lawmakers should make it illegal to accept campaign money while working full-time for the government.

"It's distracting from what they're doing," Stern said. "They should be devoting 24-seven to the state, not the campaign."

Soderland said Schwarzenegger also gave $25,000 bonuses to his campaign treasurer and deputy campaign manager last month. In addition, campaign fundraisers were given bonuses if they met certain fundraising goals.

The campaign's communications director and her deputy were previously each given $5,000 in campaign funds to cover the costs of their moves to California, and campaign manager Steve Schmidt was previously given a $75,000 "signing bonus" when he was hired, she said.

The bonuses were first reported in Saturday's Los Angeles Times. No campaign bonuses will be given this year because there is no active campaign, Soderlund said.

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