PG&E and SoCal Edison helped foot the bill.

That's right. The Governator posed in front of the Pacific in our little town last week as he signed anti-greenhouse gas legislation into law. But instead of spending taxpayer money while conducting the public's business, the LA Times reports he let a tax-exempt group set up to create jobs pick up the tab.

Part of the cost is being picked up by the Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth, a nonprofit panel that Schwarzenegger launched in 2004 to lure business to California. The commission is planning to raise about $25,000 to help pay for the events, according to executive director Mark Mosher.

Among the commission's donors are major California companies with business before the state, including PG&E and Southern California Edison.

PG&E gave $100k to the commission in March. Not that the corporation had anything to gain.

In Malibu, Schwarzenegger praised PG&E and other companies for supporting the global warming bill, calling them "farsighted."

Oh. But it's not like there are any guidelines, right?

Watchdog groups said that when the governor takes official actions, taxpayers should foot the bill — not companies with business in Sacramento.

"In my judgment, it violates the spirit of the Political Reform Act for him to privatize a gubernatorial function," said Robert Fellmeth, director of the Center for Public Interest Law at the University of San Diego, referring to the 1974 law promoting ethics in government.

Oh, well, ethics. Never mind.