Arnold's appointees on energy paid junket

http://www.arnoldwatch.org

It's a Junket, Mate
By Douglas Heller

What would you call an all-expenses paid eleven day excursion to Australia and South Korea? Throw in a tour of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Three nights in the Four Seasons Hotel of Sydney. And a yacht trip. If you just happen to be one of the top bureaucrats working for Arnold, you call it a junket. Four top level appointees of the gov -- Cabinet Secretary Marybel Batjer, Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman, CalEPA Secretary Terry Taminen and Deputy Secretary of Energy Joe Desmond -- just returned from this very trip, thanks to the energy industry funded California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy (CFEE). Read their itinerary at Political Pulse online: http://www.politicalpulse.com/memos.htm

The trip, officially to educate attendees about the use of the very
controversial liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an energy source, served as a fantastic summer vacation and 11-day private lobbying meeting for the CFEE board members on the trip, all of whom happen to work for big energy companies: ChevronTexaco, Shell, Calpine, Sempra, So Cal Edison and BHP Billiton International LNG, Inc.

Oh, and they are also big contributors to Arnold. ChevronTexaco, Calpine, Sempra and Edison made more than a quarter million dollars ($256,200) in campaign contributions to the Governor.

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