From the LA Times Blog Political Muscle : 

Currently, a petition campaign is under way asking Schwarzenegger to pardon Hilton for driving with a suspended license and to overturn her jail sentence, set to begin next month at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood. Hilton, writing on her MySpace page, is asking fans "and all (who) are outraged by injustice" to sign the petition.

Now, wonders The Poplar Institute, what is going to happen to the campaign contribution that Hilton's grandfather gave a few months ago to the governor: "So, the question is, will Schwarzenegger move to avoid any appearance of impropriety by returning Barron Hilton's money? Barron has clearly done nothing wrong, yet he clearly has an interest in a very specific decision that Schwarzenegger faces. The donation could cause many people to wonder if Schwarzenegger will consider this situation solely on its merits."

 

And from the San Francisco Chronicle Politics Blog:

Now comes new twist: Derek Cressman, senior fellow with the Sacramento-based Poplar Institute, founded last fall to study government accountability to ordinary citizens, says that there are "questions of impropriety'' which have been raised by Paris' dilemma.

Cressman notes that on Nov. 3, 2006, just before last year's election, Paris Hilton's grandfather, W. Barron Hilton -- not normally a political donor -- gave Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign $22,300. "The donation could cause many people to wonder if Schwarzenegger will consider this situation solely on its merits,''he says.

So far, there's no evidence that the elder Hilton was trying to buy favors or anticipated more headlines from his porn-making, party-loving, underwear-lacking prodigy.

"It's hard to know -- and that is the problem with the current campaign finance laws,'' says Cressman. "It allows big donors to make big contributions and they find themselves with particular concerns in front of the governor…the long-term solution is to change our campaign finance system so this doesn't happen.''