Davis postpones tech-sponsored fundraiser
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO - Three days after abruptly canceling a Silicon Valley fundraiser, Gov. Gray Davis on Monday postponed a second high-priced campaign event amid a swirling controversy over raising money from special interests.Davis had been slated to take part in a town hall forum in Palo Alto this evening before heading off to attend a small, $10,000-a-person fundraiser organized by his high-tech allies at an upscale restaurant.
Late Monday afternoon, Davis delayed both events, with the campaign citing the governor's appearance today at a women's conference in Long Beach and his need to weigh the fate of hundreds of bills he must sign or veto by midnight Monday.
``With all of the work that the governor has before him, the best thing to do was to work with the sponsors and see if we couldn't move the events to a date in October,'' said campaign spokesman Roger Salazar.
The tech fundraiser, co-sponsored by venture capitalist John Doerr, was organized at the same time that the industry has been aggressively lobbying Davis to veto so-called e-waste legislation. A bill that passed the legislature in late August would impose new fees on companies to pay for recycling environmentally hazardous computer parts that sometimes end up in trash dumps.
The decision to delay the fundraiser came three days after Davis canceled another Silicon Valley campaign event organized by Rod Diridon, a former Santa Clara County supervisor and Davis appointee to chair the state's High-Speed Rail Authority.
The $1,000-a-person event at Diridon's home was set to take place one day after the governor signed a $10 billion bond measure that, if approved by voters, would jump-start California's high-speed rail system. In an e-mail, Diridon had solicited donors ``who will build, operate and maintain'' the state's fledgling high-speed rail system to attend.
Davis canceled the fundraiser after Diridon's e-mails became public.
But that didn't stop the governor's GOP challenger, Los Angeles investor Bill Simon, from joining protesters outside Diridon's Santa Clara house and accusing Davis of selling state policy to special interests.
Monday afternoon, Davis called a co-sponsor of the TechNet event, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, and asked him if they could postpone the event because he is pressed for time.
Hastings said he asked Davis if his decision was at all related to the latest controversy and the governor said no. Hastings also dismissed suggestions that Davis makes policy decisions based on who gives him money.
``The governor has been unafraid to take on core constituencies that typically contribute a lot of money if he felt like that wasn't the right policy,'' said Hastings, whom Davis appointed to the state school board.
Contact Dion Nissenbaum at dnissenbaum@sjmercury.com or (916) 441-4603.