He actually gave some back!
Under pressure from his political opponent and critics who call his fund- raising tactics inappropriate, Gov. Gray Davis Friday abruptly canceled a $50, 000 fund-raiser scheduled with high-speed-rail executives the day after he signed a $9.95 billion bond measure approving the first bullet train system for California.Joseph Graham Davis Jr. (Grayout to his pals) is even more compulsive than Bubba when it comes to milking the donors. And he doesn't bother with the small venues like sleepovers and coffees.
Davis campaign officials, acknowledging that the solicitation for the event "crossed the line" of impropriety, canceled the gathering just hours before it was to begin at the Santa Clara home of Rod Diridon, chairman of the California High Speed Rail Authority. Davis aides said all campaign contributions from the event would be returned to donors.
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Davis, who has raised a record $55 million for his re-election effort, has been criticized repeatedly for his aggressive fund-raising tactics. Opponents charge that there is a pay-to-play atmosphere in which those who do business with the state believe they must contribute to the governor's campaign to compete for the work.
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Diridon, in the days leading up to Thursday's bill-signing ceremony, which he attended with Davis at the California Railway Museum in Sacramento, sent an e-mail addressed to "high speed ground transportation advocates," offering "a special opportunity to communicate with and help Gov. Gray Davis."
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"If these people (at the fund-raiser) are potential vendors who will be getting contracts with the administration, it is unseemly -- and exactly fits the pay-for-play problem," said UC Berkeley political science Professor Bruce Cain.
