AT&T today announced a $500,000 contribution to be paid over the next two years to the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation (MAOF), a community-based organization providing a wide range of family services to low-income residents throughout California. The contribution will fund a pilot program called “BeSchoolReady”, an Internet-based educational tool that introduces young children to computer technology through Internet-delivered learning modules designed to develop learning, language and cognitive skills. The purpose of the program is to prepare preschool students to begin their formal education and increase their chances of kindergarten success.

AT&T’s contribution will provide over 1,300 preschool students from low-income families within the next two years with the opportunity to use the BeSchoolReady program. For many children, and their parents, it will be a first-time experience with computers, so the project also helps to encourage technology literacy in the Latino community. MAOF preschool children are already using the BeSchoolReady web program at several Los Angeles County MAOF Centers.

“We are thrilled to partner with AT&T to help encourage technology literacy in the Latino community,” explained Martin Castro, MAOF President & CEO. “The launch of the BeSchoolReady program will help ensure our preschoolers are comfortable with computers and can be better prepared to succeed in the public school system when they enter kindergarten.”

Google Inc. said Thursday it will sponsor a $30 million robot race to the moon. Mountain View-based Google said the race is being organized by Santa Monica-based X Prize Foundation, which is known for its multimillion-dollar scientific challenges. The grand prize of $20 million will go to the first team to get a privately funded spacecraft on the moon. Some specific tasks are also included in the challenge. Second prize is $5 million and a bonus of $5 million will go to the team that carries out other specific challenges, such as locating ice on the lunar surface. In a statement, Peter Diamandis, X Prize CEO, said the use of space “has dramatically enhanced the quality of life and may ultimately lead to solutions to some of the most pressing environmental problems that we face on earth – energy independence and climate change.”

By giving to this foundation, donors can avoid having their identities made public, because these charities are not governed by the disclosure rules that apply to campaign contributions. And they can donate unlimited amounts to the nonprofit, which is not subject to contribution ceilings the way campaign accounts are, the Times reported. In addition, The protocol organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, also known as a public charity and donations to these groups are tax deductible- which may technically be legal but is a clear abuse of the purpose of non-profit organizations.

Governor Schwarzenegger stays in luxury hotels and flies in top-of-the-line private jets when he travels overseas. “That jet for those international jaunts is extremely expensive,” a source told the LA Times, “China was probably well north of $100,000.” The protocol foundation’s expenditures have exploded since Schwarzenegger began using it — from $55,000 in 2003 to $1.8 million in 2005 and $1.3 million last year. Nonprofit monitors say it is almost impossible to justify routine spending of charitable dollars on aircraft that can cost $6,000 to $10,000 an hour to lease.

A foundation spokesman told the Times that the returns are “sufficient to demonstrate how the foundation pursues its mission of relieving the taxpayers of the cost burden of certain government activities, especially those related to international trade and diplomacy.” That’s all well and good, but aren’t these trade missions supposed to be for the benefit of all California business- not just Schwarzenegger’s business associates and campaign contributors? Remember the guy who was going to be “the Governor for all the people” and who would “shun special interest money”. He now resides over a State government that has grown increasingly hostile to small business interests, and an administration that is almost completely closed to all ideas and input from ordinary citizens.

The times said that “most of Schwarzenegger’s foreign sojourns have been trade missions, though his critics say the trips really are little more than junkets designed to boost his international profile.” Count us now to be among them. While we were ecstatic when Schwarzenegger got elected, in the area of international business development his administration has become more and more corrupt. In fact, this abuse of non-profits to fund junkets is strikingly similar to the corruption scandal of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now serving time in a Federal Penitentiary for his actions.

The California Governor’s economic development and international trade activities were not supposed to be focused on making Arnold Schwarzenegger the most successful and internationally known person in the world, they were supposed to be for all of us- and in that regard, he is failing miserably. Someone close to him needs to tell him he is on the wrong road- a very dangerous road.

Last November, AT&T gave $25,000 to the Governor’s campaign, and just four days later Susan Kennedy, now his Chief of Staff voted as Public Utilities Commission member to approve AT&T’s merger with SBC Communications. Less then a month later, Governor Schwarzenegger paid that exact amount to Susan Kennedy leading many to suspect that AT&T had paid this money as a bribe in order to secure this favorable decision by the PUC.