Posted on 04/07/2002 12:32:57 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan
Many top givers have business ties with state
SACRAMENTO - Gov. Gray Davis has tapped labor unions, developers, and the financial and entertainment industries over the past three years to raise a record-breaking $42 million for his re-election bid.
He has appointed many of his largest donors to seats on key advisory boards; other contributors have received major state contracts. No evidence shows a direct relationship between Davis' political decisions and his hunger for contributions. But a massive campaign treasury inevitably brings, at a minimum, the perception of conflicts of interest.
And with the national lens on campaign finance reform, he has emerged as a poster child for eye-popping fund-raising.
"It takes your breath away," said Paul Taylor, founder of the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Better Campaigns.
A "who's who" of wealthy, influential donors from a spectrum of industries, Davis' list is led by screenwriter Stephen Bing - who has given more than $450,000 - and Spanish language television magnate Jerry Perenchio, with $375,000. Billionaire venture capitalist John Doerr has chipped in more than $100,000.
Many of Davis' donors do business with the state in some way, such as Delta Wetlands Properties of LaFayette, which gave Davis $115,000 in 2000 and 2001 and won state approval in early 2001 to operate a controversial reservoir project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
He received more than $75,000 from Santa Monica-based Cadiz Inc., which wants to build a vast water-banking system for Southern California.
Cadiz CEO Keith Brackpool is a close adviser to Davis on water policy issues and was appointed by Davis to the resources committee of the state Commission on Building for the 21st Century. The commission includes a handful of other Davis donors, including developer Eli Broad and investor Ron Burkle.
Davis has appointed major contributors to state advisory and policy-shaping boards, from the Little Hoover Commission, a panel billed as an independent state oversight commission, to the University of California Board of Regents.
UC Regents Norman Pattiz, George M. Marcus and major Democratic contributor Haim Saban - all appointed by Davis - gave Davis a combined $388,000 in 2000-01 for his re-election. Another regent, Padres owner John Moores, contributed $125,000 in 2000. In 1998, he contributed $125,000, plus $10,000 for the inaugural, $27,633 through use of his plane on four occasions, and $3,662.24 for catering. Moores recently became the chairman of the UC Board of Regents.
In November, Davis will face Republican Bill Simon, a wealthy Los Angeles investor and political newcomer who used about $5 million of his personal fortune for his primary campaign.
In the first two years after he took office in January 1999, Davis raised an average of more than $1 million a month. By the end of 2000, with nearly two full years until his re-election campaign, Davis' campaign treasury brimmed with $26 million. At one point, experts say, Davis' campaign treasury was larger than those of presidential contenders George W. Bush and Al Gore.
Last year, as Republicans began to jump into the race to challenge him, Davis raised more than each of the two previous years: $14.6 million. He then began to spend liberally, using $10 million to air television ads attacking former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who was beaten by Simon in the Republican primary.
In 2000 and 2001, Davis' largest contributors were labor unions, who gave him more than $4 million, followed by more than $2 million from the entertainment industry, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Finance, health care and lawyers round out the top five industries that contribute to Davis.
The amount Davis had raked in by February had sailed past the record set by former Republican Rep. Rick Lazio, who raised $39.9 million in his failed 2000 Senate bid against Hillary Clinton in New York.
The governor's trademark fund-raising prowess has three reasons, colleagues said. First, Davis has experience. He started his political career raising money for Tom Bradley's successful 1973 race for mayor of Los Angeles. He is relentless, appearing at dozens of fund-raisers even as the state faced consecutive crises involving energy and the budget.
And his politics appeal to a wide array of donors.
"He's positioned himself as a moderate which allows him to leverage money from all sides, and that's what he does," said Jim Knox, executive director of California Common Cause.
While some political observers marvel at Davis' ability to raise money, his opponents often use it to attack him.
Riordan, for example, accused him frequently of "dialing for dollars" instead of attacking the energy crisis and budget shortfall. Arizona Sen. John McCain, one of the nation's leading campaign finance reform proponents, called Davis' fund-raising pace "reprehensible."
But supporters say Davis is doing what anyone running in the nation's most expensive state must do, particularly someone facing a wealthy opponent willing to spend millions of his own money.
"Until we change the system, he as much as anybody is a victim of it," said Tony Miller, a Democrat and former acting secretary of state who supports campaign finance reform.
Davis and his aides say he never makes decisions based on campaign contributions, and while he may be secretive about how he raises money, he's never apologetic about it.
"He spends very little time, if any at all, calling people up and personally raising money," said Davis campaign spokesman Roger Salazar.
Davis says his legislative maneuvers often conflict with the desires of his donors. One of the most high profile examples is Enron Corp., now in bankruptcy, which has given Davis $119,500, including $42,500 since he became governor.
But last year, as California was hit by a wave of rolling blackouts, Davis repeatedly accused Enron of gouging the state and contributing to its crippling energy crisis.
And Davis vetoed workers' compensation increases for his first three years in office, a move that angered the unions that make up his biggest contribution base but pleased his insurance industry donors. Davis signed legislation boosting the benefit this year.
Paul Maslin, Davis' campaign pollster, said voters "don't see any problem at all" with Davis' fund-raising. "This is politics, it's the biggest state in the country and it's not frankly a big story with them."
Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Institute that conducts independent statewide polls, agreed.
"I suspect that . . . a relatively small proportion of California voters is even aware of the extent of fund-raising that the governor has at his disposal," DiCamillo said.
Still, large donations can sway politicians' decisions, said Larry Makinson, senior fellow with the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group.
"It means he's always looking over his shoulder wondering how this is going to go down, not just with the people of California, but with the legions of investors who laid their money down," Makinson said.
Plus, a staggering campaign fund discourages elective competition and shuts out those without personal fortunes, reformers say. Others wonder how Davis can govern fairly when he has received millions from scores of industries with something to gain from the state's top elected official.
"It's a fair question that people ask," said Taylor of the Alliance for Better Campaigns. "What is that money buying? Is it good government or is it some level of access or influence?"
Yes, it DOES take your breath away... His policies have DAMAGED every single one of the workers in these industries, yet they vote for him. Like lemmings, like automatons. Mind boggling.
I don't think he's damaged unionized teachers or other government workers. Remember, a large percentage of union employees these days are government employees.
The private sector unions support the Dems no matter what too, not because it has anything to do with their workers' welfare, but because the Dems will look the other way or even assist them when the union heads engage in corrupt activities. Klintoon protected a number of crooks in the Teamsters union like former head Carey and engaged in illegal funds transfers between the Teamsters and the DNC. In return, the unions fill their bird-brained rank and file's heads with BS about how the Dems are on their side etc.
Remember the UPS strike? UPS wanted to switch from the Teamster's multiemployer pension plan, i.e., one in which the Teamsters control the pension fund, to a single employer plan which would have paid MORE benefits to their workers. The Teamsters called a strike and wouldn't allow their workers to vote on it. I don't think half the rank and file ever understood what the hell the strike was about anyway.
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