Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger apparently hasn’t shied away from a practice that drew criticism earlier this year: paying consulting fees to staffers whose full-time job is funded by the taxpayers.

Today’s campaign finance reports, which cover the final months of 2005, show pretty hefty checks being written from the governor’s campaign checkbook to both his former and current chiefs of staff, his former communications director, and his current legislative affairs secretary.

Former chief of staff Pat Clarey was paid $75,590 in campaign consulting fees. Current chief of staff Susan Kennedy was paid $25,000 (her first day on the state payroll, according to a news release, was January 1). Former communications director Rob Stutzman was paid $60,028 in campaign funds. And legislative secretary Richard Costigan was paid $20,000 from the campaign accounts.

Two important footnotes: first, in some cases these payments were made out of both the 2006 re-election campaign and the governor’s California Recovery Team. And second, these figures reflect only recent payments… they do not presumably include the payments to Clarey, Stutzman, and Costigan that drew media attention several months ago.