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During the recall campaign, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger slammed his opponents for taking Indian gaming money -- but according to state filing reports, a new campaign committee set up to help cover the governor's living and travel expenses just took $21,200 from a company with ties to a number of California Indian casinos.

"You know, people talk about how bad it is in California. It's not that bad," said Bustamante, who nevertheless tailored his message for an audience in a county where more than one in five workers are unemployed. To companies that would prefer to move overseas to pay "50 cents an hour or $10 a day," Bustamante said, "Leave! We want good jobs in California. We want decent paying jobs in California."

<p>This is a partial transcript from Hannity & Colmes, September, 12 2003 that has been edited for clarity.</p> <p>SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: California gubernatorial candidate Cruz Bustamante's past affiliation with a controversial group, MECHA (search), is drawing a lot of attention from his political opponents. Will his past involvement with this group destroy his chances at becoming governor?</p>

p>The Recall: It isn't every day that someone of Arnold Schwarzenegger's caliber gives up a highly successful career to run for public office. Californians should take advantage of the opportunity. If they don't, we fear the worst. The state is being driven off a cliff by a one-party government led by second-rate hacks. Next month's recall election may be the only chance to turn things around.No need to go through the problems — the cavernous deficit, the porous border, the business exodus and so on and so forth. But you have to be here (and IBD is headquartered in Los...

CRUZ CONTROLApparently Gov. Gray Davis knew he couldn't trust his so called "trusty sidekick", Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. According to a Davis aide in Sacramento, Davis's campaign staff has been keeping an opposition file on the state's No. 2 Democrat, who is now challenging Davis in the recall election. Bustamante, a long-time state political hack in the mold of Davis himself, has made a point of not criticizing his leader out of concern that Davis will go "nuclear," according to the staffer. "Cruz has to be careful," says the staffer. "Davis has enough pride that if Cruz were to step...

Gray Davis is exempt from fundraising limits because he is not actually a candidate in California's recall election - he is the defendant, so to speak. However, his second-in-command, Cruz Bustamante, is not exempt. He cannot take more than $21,200 from any single donor. No problem for Cruz, though. He's going to be accepting big money, special interest donations in large chunks anyway, to the tune of about $4M of his $12M fundraising goal. How can he do that? He can just accept donations into his 2002 reelection coffer, and spread the money out amongst the people who donated (even...

Taco Bell® Poll Shows Californians Are Hungry For Schwarzenegger, Bustamante Irvine, Calif., August 26, 2003 -Taco Bell Corp. announces the first installment of its Taco Poll results with former frontrunner Arnold Schwarzenegger leading with 54 percent of votes with his crunchy beef taco. The Grilled Stuft Burrito holds a strong second on the menu with 43 percent of votes for Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante and the remaining 133 candidates; followed by Governor Gray Davis, represented by a chicken soft taco, with three percent. After overwhelming response from consumers to include Cruz in the Company’s in-store gubernatorial Taco Poll and strong...

Tribes Lavish Cruz With Bustawampum August 25, 2003 The largest political contributor of dollars to campaigns in California isn't labor, trial lawyers, the environmentalist wackos or Hollywood pseudo-intellectuals. No, Native-American tribes are California's biggest players. The Associated Press: "California's politically powerful Indian [sic] tribes are poised to play a key role in the campaign to recall Democratic Gov. Davis, and they have much to gain from the outcome. "Whoever occupies the governor's office after the Oct. 7 vote will largely determine how much gambling expands in California in future years, as well as whether tribal casinos will be asked to...

FEW THOUGHTS: As the risk of running afoul of Susan Pinkus, the Los Angeles Times' pollster, her survey raises lots of questions. (It's worth noting, by the way, that the results are based on a sampling of a wider pool of registered voters, not just likely voters. The PPIC and Field polls stick to likely voters.) Oddity #1: Schwarzenegger has a positive press conference, runs an upbeat bio spot on statewide TV, and yet the Times reports that only a late surge in the poll brings him back to the same level as the Field and PPIC polls. One would...

The Schwarzenegger campaign has made a significant blunder - a miscalculation that has caused considerable consternation among the ranks of the GOP. Choosing financier Warren Buffett to head-up Schwarzenegger's economic team has sent precisely the wrong message to Republican voters. Not surprisingly, Republican challenger Bill Simon is initiating radio commercials that will capitalize on Arnold's misstep. Buffett suggested that property taxes be raised in California, which is considered anathema to the conservative GOP crowd that holds the Reaganesque dictum, "Thou shall raise no taxes" as sacred and inviolate. This is hardly hyperbole. We all know that breaking his "no new...

MEChA If Arnold Schwarzenegger can be hounded by Tim Noah for his social support of Kurt Waldheim, then surely it's fair to query Cruz Bustamante about his collegiate affiliation with the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, or MEChA. ....Bustamante attended Fresno State University, where he served in the student senate and began dabbling in community politics, learning about partisan politics first-hand. "I wasn't the most radical Mechista [M.E.Ch.A, which stands for Movimiento Estudiantil de Aztlan, is a Chicano student organization known for its ethnocentric views]. At the same time, there were a lot Vietnam veteranos attending school. They were like...

<p>SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- The historic -- and often murky -- recall race for California governor appeared to be taking shape Monday, with poll figures showing Arnold Schwarzenegger the strongman to beat, and both embattled Gov. Gray Davis and the only prominent Democrat running to replace him offering hints of their campaign strategies.</p>

<p>LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger has the attention of Californians who, according to a poll released Sunday, think he should be taken seriously as a candidate for California's governor.</p> <p>He leads the long list of hopefuls with 42 percent of poll respondents saying there is a good chance they would vote for him. To win -- if voters agree to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis -- a candidate needs only a simple plurality of votes.</p>

Well, despite the cynical prophecies of doomsayers, doubters and darlings of political punditry, the “little recall movement that could” has placed the Golden State, once again, on the threshold of making political history. After thirty previous attempts to do so, a frustrated California body electorate recently gathered enough petition signatures to qualify a recall measure that was initially adopted as state law at the outset of the twentieth century. Between now and Tuesday, Oct. 6, Gov. Joseph “Gray” Davis will be fighting for his political life and, appropriately so--with all the splendor of a Hollywood suspense thriller--all eyes of a...

The national media swarmed into town Wednesday to see when -- not if -- Secretary of State Kevin Shelley would certify a recall election of Gov. Gray Davis for the ballot. But Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante was the talk of the town, after spokeswoman Deborah Pacyna told the Sacramento Bee, "Article 5, Sect. 10 of the (California) Constitution states the lieutenant governor becomes governor in the event of a vacancy." Translation: Voters can kick Davis out, but they can't choose who replaces him. So, after Dems complained bitterly that the recall was a GOP attempt to overturn an election, a...