SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will head to the East Coast this week for a high-profile trip to promote infrastructure spending, address climate change and mingle with deep-pocketed donors at two New York City fundraisers.
On Thursday, he appears with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as part of the mayor's "card luncheon." The annual event at the Four Seasons Hotel is expected to draw some of New York's biggest power brokers to hear Bloomberg's political wish-list for the coming year.
On Friday, Schwarzenegger will attend a conference on climate change at Yale University that is being hailed as a landmark event in the campaign against global warming.
Bloomberg and Schwarzenegger have appeared together often in recent months, in large part to promote a centrist approach to governing. Last week, the mayor contributed $250,000 to a proposed ballot initiative Schwarzenegger has endorsed to change the way California's legislative districts are drawn.
At the Thursday luncheon, talk show host Charlie Rose will ask Schwarzenegger and Bloomberg to address issues "that affect cities and states nationwide, regardless of partisan politics," Bloomberg spokeswoman Evelyn Erskine said. Those include public works projects, climate change, homeland security funding and immigration.
The two share similar political philosophies and have sought bipartisan compromises on measures related to infrastructure and global warming. They last appeared together in February during a Washington, D.C., event to promote a coalition they formed to increase investment in public works projects. They say the country has $1 trillion in infrastructure needs.
Schwarzenegger coined the term "post-partisanship" to describe his cross-aisle approach to governing.
But he has angered fellow Republicans in California who say he has struck deals with Democrats while ignoring members of his own party, while conservatives have criticized Schwarzenegger for failing to control state spending.
Schwarzenegger also has staked out moderate positions on social issues. Last week, he told the annual meeting of the Log Cabin Republicans, the nation's largest gay Republican group, that he would fight a proposed ballot initiative asking California voters to ban gay marriage.
Bloomberg last summer switched his party affiliation from Republican to unaffiliated, a move seen at the time as a prelude to an independent presidential bid. He has since said that he will not run.
After their panel discussion, Bloomberg will hold a fundraiser for Schwarzenegger's California Dream Team, his ballot initiative campaign committee. The committee has donated $850,000 toward a redistricting initiative that supporters hope to place on the November ballot.
Billionaire Revlon financier Ron Perelman will hold another fundraiser for Schwarzenegger afterward, said Julie Soderlund, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger's ballot committee.
On Friday, Schwarzenegger is scheduled to appear with five other governors and the premiers of two Canadian provinces at a Yale University climate change conference. The event coincides with the centennial of President Theodore Roosevelt's 1908 Conference of Governors, which is credited with launching the conservation movement.
Eighteen states, including California, will sign a joint declaration highlighting the need for partnership between federal and state governments on climate change, according to the university.
Schwarzenegger has been at odds with the Bush administration over a 2002 California law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It would force automakers to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 30 percent in new cars and light trucks by 2016.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency blocked the law from taking effect in California and 16 other states. The agency said global warming is not unique to the state and maintains that emissions goals should be set nationally.
Schwarzenegger and R.K. Pachauri, who won the Nobel Prize for his work on climate change, will deliver the keynote addresses at the Yale conference.
