Ballot measure spending nears record
Supporters, opponents have raised nearly $390 million so far
SACRAMENTO — Supporters and opponents of California’s 17 November ballot measures have raised nearly $390 million six weeks before the election, putting the state about $85 million shy of record initiative fundraising with some of the heaviest spending yet to come.
Reports filed by political donors with the California secretary of state’s office before a midnight Thursday campaign reporting deadline showed a whopping $389 million in contributions on hot-button issues such as prescription drug pricing and hospital fees.
“If the fundraising records haven’t been broken yet, they’re about to be,” said Dan Schnur, director of the Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California and a former chairman of the state agency that regulates campaign finance. He noted that the pace of fundraising and spending accelerates as Election Day nears.
The National Institute on Money in State Politics data shows California propositions amassed more than $471.5 million in 2008, a state record, when Californians considered 21 measures in three separate elections, including measures on gay marriage and increasing the required size of chicken cages. The next highest spending for statewide ballot measures was $455 million in 2012.
Four initiatives on this year’s ballot regarding taxes, prescription prices and hospital fees account for $300 million of the total so far. That includes more than $100 million into Proposition 61, placed on the ballot by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to limit what the state pays for prescription drugs for people insured on government-subsidized health programs to the same price paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
More than 30 companies that belong to the industry association Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America have contributed most of the $86 million against the initiative.
The state legislative analyst says the state pays nearly $3.8 billion for those prescriptions each year, and Proposition 61 could reduce that by tens of millions of dollars.
The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation has spent $14.4 million in favor of the measure. “Where you have big money impact, you’ll see big money spent,” said Robert Stern, former president of the Center for Governmental Studies. “For many of these interests, it’s a small investment with potentially big results.”
Tobacco companies are the next biggest spenders on initiatives so far, with Altria Group, R.J. Reynolds, ITG Brands LLC and their subsidiaries giving $55 million against the latest effort to increase tobacco taxes via Proposition 56. Beth Miller, spokeswoman for the campaign against the tobacco tax increase, said in an email that opponents are doing what they can “to break through the noise and clutter that comes with a crowded ballot.”
With 17 measures on the ballot, “communicating with nearly 18 million voters is inherently an expensive undertaking,” Miller said.
Another big spender is the California Hospital Association, which has contributed $46 million on three measures that would affect funding for Medi-Cal, the state’s health care program for the poor: supporting the tobacco tax increase, Proposition 55 to extend an increased income tax on the wealthy, and Proposition 52 to protect Medi-Cal funding from legislative budget dealings.
In the 27th Assembly District race, former San Jose Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen raised about $317,000 in the most recent fundraising period, from July 1 to Sept. 24, leaving her with $312,000 in the bank. Her competitor, San Jose Councilman Ash Kalra, also a Democrat, brought in nearly $160,000, leaving him with $241,000 in his campaign account.
State Sen. Jim Beall, DSan Jose, raised $155,000 in his bid to defend his 15th District seat against Assemblywoman Nora Campos. That gave Beall $139,000 to begin the last stretch of the campaign. Campos, DSan Jose, had not filed her statement by late Thursday afternoon.
Farther north on the Peninsula, attorney Vicki Veenker reeled in $154,000, leaving her with $92,000 in the bank in her race against Palo Alto City Council Marc Berman for the Assembly’s 24th District seat. Berman had not filed by late afternoon but said in a news release that he had $249,969 banked.
In the race for state senator in District 11, which straddles San Francisco and San Mateo County, San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener raised $403,000, giving him $364,000 in the bank. His opponent, fellow Democrat and Supervisor Jane Kim, had not filed by late afternoon.
Deep-pocketed individuals are also big spenders this year.
Napster founder Sean Parker has given about $7.3 million to support the effort to legalize and tax recreational marijuana, Proposition 64.
Charles Munger Jr., of Palo Alto, has contributed about $9 million to support Proposition 54, an initiative he introduced to end lawmakers’ practice of lastminute decision-making and to require more transparency at the Legislature in other ways. The wealthy Republican physicist, who also financed ballot measures in 2008 and 2010 crafting California’s independent redistricting commission, said he considers his contributions a form of philanthropy.
“I don’t have to make the government work much better to justify what I’m putting into it,” Munger said.