An article “Schwarzenegger: Being Governor Cost Me $200M” reports: “Serving as California governor cost Arnold Schwarzenegger at least $200 million, the bodybuilding star turned actor and politician told a newspaper in his native Austria, insisting ‘it was more than worth it.”
“Counting expenses and lost income from acting in Hollywood films, ‘in all it is probably more than $200 million,”‘ he told Krone when asked how much his two terms in Sacramento had cost.
” ‘But I’m not sorry. It was more than worth it,’ he said.” …
Click here to read the full article.
WATCHDOG:
In probably an unguarded moment, Schwarzenegger said what most taxpayers do not understand: Many public officials accept a small fraction and a moderate life style rather than acquiring great wealth in the private sector.
Here’s two examples of such persons: As a U. S. Senator, Arlen Specter was paid $174,000 a year in 2010, the last year of his thirty year time in office. A much sought after attorney prior to being elected, Specter was probably sacrificing at least $2 million a year in today’s dollars over the time of his tenure.
According to a Google article, State Representative Mike Sturla is paid “a little over $60,000 a year.” It is hard to imagine Sturla earning less than a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year in the private sector, perhaps considerably more. (Upon getting together with Sturla after a recent re-election, the Watchdog inquired “Do I congratulate or commiserate with you?”
We have a lot of good, self and family sacrificing people in government at all levels. The problem isn’t so much with the people (though it is with some) but rather with the system, the under regulated financing of political campaigns being the greatest negative influence.
