Governator flying below public disclosure radar

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has failed to fully disclose payments by nonprofit funds for private jets and luxury accomodations on his overseas trips, according to a revealing piece in the Los Angeles Times today. 

The governor, who once campaigned under the slogan,  "There’s no such thing as democracy in the dark," stopped reporting travel expenses on state disclosure forms three years ago, the Times reports.  Instead the governor’s staff tracks the expenses "orally" and documents some of the travel through self-generated memos filed in the legal affairs office.

Schwarzenegger’s office insists there’s no wrong-doing here, and that expenses paid by the nonprofit California State Protocol Foundation, including a $10,000 per hour Gulfstream jet lease, are legitimate gifts to the office (rather than to the governor personally), and therefore are not required to be disclosed under normal reporting requirements.