There is no doubt that the New Majority organization has been a major financial supporter to Arnold 
Schwarzenegger — to the tune of millions and millions of dollars. The NM is a Republican fundraising group made up primary of GOPers that are moderate on fiscal and social issues. I’ve gotten to know many of the leaders of this group and found them to be primarily corporate executives with a yearning to give back through their support of pro-business candidates. This website actually got off of the ground, in part, with support from some NM folks.
Anyways, Michael Blood is an ‘ace’ writer for the Associated Press, and he has penned a profile on the group, and its close relationship with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I’ll print the first part below, and a link to the rest at the bottom:
Moderate Republican PAC has forged close ties with Schwarzenegger
Michael Blood, The Associated Press
Los Angeles – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could find a lot of reasons why the Legislature turned away his public works plan to spend billions of dollars on highways, schools and levees, but Paul Folino (pictured to the right) wasn’t one of them.
The wealthy chairman of computer-components maker Emulex Corp. – who also is a personal friend of the governor and one of his most generous financial patrons – was just one of the administration supporters who called legislators in an ultimately futile bid to secure votes for the massive bond issue.
Folino’s participation wasn’t happenstance. His informal lobbying is just one example of the close and beneficial relationship Schwarzenegger shares with Folino and the rapidly expanding political action committee he helped establish, the New Majority. Members of the centrist group have donated or raised more than $10 million for the Republican governor’s political ventures.
"Our view of the world links up very closely with the governor’s – you have to consider the governor is a moderate Republican," Folino said. "We’ve become close friends. I feel like my wife and I are part of the family."
At a time when Schwarzenegger is struggling to shore up support within his own party, his ties to Republican moderates are likely to become an increasingly important financial source for his emerging re-election bid.
And the New Majority is pushing to expand its influence. The group, which has about 250 members and funnels roughly $7.5 million a year into various political campaigns, is planning to open chapters in San Diego and the high-growth Southern California counties of Riverside and San Bernardino. They could become new sources of money and support for the governor.
Its leaders want to expand membership in the San Francisco Bay area and Silicon Valley, and possibly to Arizona and other western states. Supporters of the group say its donations could reach $30 million to $35 million annually within five years.
Potential 2008 presidential contenders such as Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and New York Gov. George Pataki have had contact in recent months with New Majority members.
On Monday, Schwarzenegger and the California Republican Party are holding a major fundraiser in
Beverly Hills, where at least four New Majority members will kick in $100,000 each for a spot at the head table. They include John B. Kilroy Jr., of Kilroy Realty, and Frank Baxter, former chairman of investment bank Jeffries & Co (pictured to the left).
The organization’s Los Angeles chapter also is listed as a $100,000 donor, meaning the group collectively will give the governor and the state party at least $500,000 at the event.
According to state records, Baxter alone has donated more than $175,000 in recent years to the governor’s political projects and more than $300,000 to the state GOP.
Four days later, members of the group’s Orange County chapter will make up most of the crowd at a fundraiser for the governor in Dana Point.
Read the rest of Michael Blood’s story here.