Schwarzenegger a Big Fundraiser in 2004

Schwarzenegger a Big Fundraiser in 2004:

"Schwarzenegger said last week he hopes to more than double his 2004 contributions this year to $50 million � to promote ballot propositions he and his allies are preparing for a possible special election. The governor says his donors do not influence his decisions, and often recalls that he returned a $100,000 check after the contributor demanded a meeting with him.

'And since then,' Schwarzenegger said last week, 'I have never heard any one of the people that have contributed money to me ever say, 'I want to have a meeting, and I demand that the governor does this or that because we gave him money.' '

Schwarzenegger's biggest single donor was Orange County billionaire Henry Nicholas, who gave him $1.5 million to help defeat Proposition 66, which would have softened California's three-strikes sentencing law.

The next largest donor, at $1.054 million, was Ameriquest Capital Corp., a mortgage lender with interests in state affairs. Ameriquest spent more than $200,000 on lobbying in Sacramento last year."