Shane Goldmacher Sacramento Bee April 13, 2009
California politicians seeking and occupying seats in the Legislature and statewide office have raised more than $1 billion since 2000, despite a voter-imposed cap on campaign contributions, according to a critical new report by the state's campaign watchdog agency.
"The $1,006,638,463 directly raised by officeholders and candidates works out to $344,503 per day or $14,354 per hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year," said Ross Johnson, chairman of the Fair Political Practices Commission, in a statement.
The FPPC's new report, entitled "The Billion Dollar Money Train," criticizes the vast sums of special interest money that has made its way into the hands of politicians despite efforts to limit such funds.
"The mad scramble for special interest dollars continues to create profound concerns for the future of representative democracy," the report says.
In 2000, voters approved Proposition 34, a measure intended to limit the size of contributions a candidate for the Legislature, the governorship or any other statewide offices could collect.
Currently, those limits are $3,900 for individual donations to legislative candidates and up to $25,900 to a candidate for governor.
The largest sum of fundraising money - $721.3 million - went into such limited election accounts since 2000, according to the report.
But hundreds of millions of dollars were funneled into less regulated entities, such as legal defense funds, ballot measure accounts, and charitable donations made at the request of elected officials.
"These methods allow candidates and officeholders to evade the intent of the people of California," said Johnson in his statement.
He said the new report is meant to "help increase awareness about the staggering amount of special interest money raised in California."
The billion-dollar figure, the report notes, does not include funds that interest groups spend directly to influence elections, known in political circles as "independent expenditures."
Such independent spending, which the FPPC has criticized in past reports, has topped $110 million since 2000.
Here's how the political fundraising has broken down since 2000, according to the FPPC:
Reelection and election accounts: $721.3 million Pre-Proposition 34 committees: $36.7 million Committees for other offices: $53.3 million Ballot measure committees: $149.1 million Behested payments: $40 million
Legal defense funds: $4.1 million Officeholder accounts: $1.9 million
Total: $1 billion
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