As Gov. Jerry Brown considers bills, campaign cash pours in
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As Gov. Jerry Brown considers the slew of bills that lawmakers sent him in the final weeks of the legislative session, he will inevitably be making winners and losers out of the donors that have given millions of dollars to his tax initiative.
As detailed in The Times, bill signing season will be an awkward dance between campaigning and governing as Brown ramps up efforts to sell voters on his ballot measure — a proposition crucial to fulfilling the promise he made to repair California’s finances.
Deep-pocketed unions, which spent millions of dollars to help get the tax measure, Proposition 30, on the ballot, are backing bids to expand labor rights for housekeepers and create a state-run retirement plan for private-sector workers. Business interests, which have given millions to Brown’s campaign fund and stand to give more, want a $200-million tax credit for film and television productions to be extended.
In the final month of the legislative session, special interests contributed more than $3.7 million to Brown’s tax campaign, according to records filed with the secretary of state’s office. Among the biggest donors were labor unions, oil companies and the beverage industry.
Brown spokesman Gil Duran has said that neither Proposition 30 nor the money Brown needs to campaign is a consideration for the governor.
‘Each bill is evaluated on its merits,’ Duran said. ‘There is no other factor that enters into it.’
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--Michael J. Mishak in Sacramento