What's $21 Million Anyway?

The Los Angeles Times has the following lead to a story this morning: In a single afternoon of money transfers, the California Teachers Assn. poured $21 million into the campaign to defeat Republican-backed initiatives on the Nov. 8 ballot, donating nearly as much in one day as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has raised so far this year. That hurts. Gov. Schwarzenegger is getting lambasted for panhandling for corporate and business dollars across California (and the country). His Stones concert fundraiser met tempid reviews. His Sutter Club dinner was protested, as was his recent appearance at a baseball game with big donors. And then along comes the CTA and pours in $21 million in a campaign against him. Yes, Schwarzenegger spokesman Todd Harris can say that the teacher's union is an obstacle to reform. But the reality is that they raised that money in $60 increments from 330,000 teacher members--hardly an easy target to take down. It goes to show the strength of the unions--both financially and politically as less assailable than a Governor who has yet to live down an early campaign proclamation that he didn't need money from special interests.