The power and limits of money
There’s no denying that money counts in California politics. In the past 12 years, $3.67 billion poured into campaigns from wealthy givers and interest groups. Who are the top contributors and how much power do they hold?
The intriguing and mixed answers are outlined in a review of campaign spending records compiled by California Watch, an investigative journalism outfit. The study found that the top 100 givers accounted for a third of the cash pouring into election races and represented a tiny slice of the hundreds of thousands of donors during that period.
For close watchers of state politics, this river of money trying to influence Sacramento isn’t a major surprise. The names, the special interest groups and their aims are documented and obvious.
But all the dollar signs spell out a depressing truth. For anyone who’s not at the top of the tree, your check doesn’t count unless it features four, five or six figures. Running a campaign or aiming for office is an insider’s game in the nation’s biggest state with the largest economy and the most far-flung TV market.
One example is the state’s top individual giver — Hollywood movie producer Steve Bing — who spent and lost big in his effort to pass an alternative energy tax in 2006. He wrote checks totaling $52 million in a failed effort that drew $156 million in opposing money from oil companies.
In Bing’s case, big money lost out to even bigger money. Others on the top money list included more traditional groups. For unions, donations ensure legislative protections for groups that include state workers and teachers. Businesses and tribes with major gambling operations press for favorable treatment as well.
All of this is flavored by the fact that California politics are dominated by Democrats who dominate the Legislature and hold all major statewide offices. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger learned this hard reality when he collected large sums to pass a foursome of ballot measures — and they all lost.
Big money is essential, but it’s no guarantee of election success. Tuesday’s primary election offers yet another test of the power — and limits — of money in California politics. So-called independent groups have poured $12 million into legislative races. Out-of-state advocates of term limits have helped fund an outrageously deceptive last-minute robo-calling blitz against the Prop. 28 reform measure. Tobacco companies have spent more than $45 million to try to stop Prop. 29, a $1-apack cigarette tax. Will big money and smarmy tactics rule in 2012? You get the last word. Remember to vote.