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Arnold buffet meets rothschilds { August 14 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=54&u_sid=825265http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=54&u_sid=825265
Published Thursday
August 14, 2003
Buffett pumps up Arnold's election bid
BY HENRY J. CORDES AND STEVE JORDON
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS
The Oracle of Omaha and the Terminator are hooking up.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has signed on as the financial and economic adviser to Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign for governor of California, a move political observers say gives the action-movie hero an Arnold-sized shot of credibility.
"I have known Arnold for years and know he'll be a great governor," Buffett said in a statement. "It is critical to the rest of the nation that California's economic crisis be solved, and I think Arnold will get that job done."
It isn't as if Schwarzenegger needed any more star power in his bid to unseat California Gov. Gray Davis in the state's high-profile recall election.
But given that California's gloomy economy has been at the root of Davis' political troubles, the addition of Buffett adds muscle to Schwarzenegger's claim that he is the man who can bring the gold back to the Golden State.
"We can use all the wisdom we can get in the state of California," said Nancy Spillman, president of an economic consulting company in Canoga Park, Calif. "Anyone would want to be associated, any political candidate - left wing, right wing, chicken wing - with Warren Buffett."
Schwarzenegger needs prominent people in the business community to come out for him, said Bruce Cain, a political scientist at the University of California-Berkeley.
The hulking star is not without business credentials of his own, his successful body-building and movie career having transformed the Austrian immigrant into a one-man conglomerate.
But he couldn't have landed a bigger name in business than Buffett, whom Fortune Magazine recently ranked No. 1 on its list of the 25 most powerful people in business.
"The pattern in California is that when times are tough, the electorate tends to like business figures," Cain said. "The idea that a business figure can bring efficiency and restore the economy is a very appealing thing."
Schwarzenegger's campaign said Buffett would be part of a team of prominent business leaders and economists set up to address California's economic problems.
Buffett's decision to team with Schwarzenegger could be indicative of the investment whiz's concern that as the California economy goes, so goes the rest of the country. While he hasn't commented specifically about the California economy recently, he had voiced significant concerns during the California energy crunch in 2001.
Phil Holland of Rowland Heights, Calif., who operates a nonprofit Web site that helps people start their own businesses, said Wednesday that he thinks Buffett is sincerely worried about California's economic problems.
"Speaking as a Republican, I've seen the management of this state really, really go down the tubes," Holland said. "I think the people out here regard him and respect (Buffett) as having very good common sense on what is best for the country overall."
On the surface, they might not seem like the most likely political pair.
Schwarzenegger is a Republican. Buffett, the son of a former Republican congressman from Omaha, switched to the Democratic Party in the 1960s out of concern about GOP indifference to civil rights.
But Schwarzenegger also has described himself as "very liberal" on social issues, including supporting abortion rights, which would make him a pretty good fit for Buffett politically.
Though Buffett has been known to insert himself into national political debates, including speaking out against the recent tax cuts pushed by President Bush, he does not often get directly involved in political races. But there are exceptions. He served as an honorary chairman for then-U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey's re-election bid in 1994.
Buffett was busy on Berkshire Hathaway business and not fielding the storm of media calls his endorsement created Wednesday, a spokeswoman said.
Buffett lives part of the year in California, with a home in Laguna Beach, and his wife makes her home in California year-round. Charlie Munger, his right-hand man at Berkshire, also lives there.
Campaign officials told the Washington Post that Buffett and Schwarzenegger met seven years ago at a lecture the investor was giving in Los Angeles. They connected again when Berkshire Hathaway purchased NetJets Inc., a corporate jet firm in which Schwarzenegger owns a stake. Last year the two attended an economic conference sponsored by NetJets at the British estate of Lord Rothschild.
It is clear that the two have developed a friendship.
When Schwarzenegger filed for the office last week, he was required to disclose all gifts worth more than $50 received during the past year.
Amid the expensive clothing, fine cigars and leather luggage that Schwarzenegger disclosed, the typically frugal Buffett gave one of the cheapest gifts on the list: a $75 coffee-table book.
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