Goliath Gets Bigger: Prop. 1 War Chest Grows to $16.4 Million!

By Dan Bacher | November 1, 2014 | 

The debate over the pros and cons of Proposition 1, Jerry Brown's $7.5 billion water bond, is very important, but an even bigger issue in any environmental battle or process is the money behind the campaign. 

The big corporate money behind the water bond largely determines who the bond will benefit - billionaires, corporate agribusiness, oil companies and the 1 percent, not the people, fish or wildlife of California. 

Contributions to Governor Jerry Brown's Yes on Props 1 and 2 Committee have jumped to $13,880,528.43, according to the latest data posted on the California Secretary of State's website. 

The contributions feature millions of dollars from billionaires, corporate agribusiness, Big Oil and the tobacco industry - corporate interests that all expect a big return for their "investment" in the corrupt "play to pay" politics that rule California today. 

Contributions to the committee from the period from October 1 to October 18 alone amount to $9,537,048.90. (http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1343257&session=2013) 

Expenditures during the period from January 1 through October 18 were $10,728,645.50, with $10,149,477.92 just from the period of October 1 to October 18. 

But this isn’t the only committee funding the Yes on 1 campaign. When you consider the other committees backing Prop.1 listed on the Secretary of State’s website, the total amount of contributions jumps by another $2,541,257.91 to $16,421,785.91! 

The “California Business Political Action Committee,” sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce raised, $550,000 for Yes on 1 and 2 during the period from January 1 to October 18, 2014. 

The “Wetlands Conservation Committee, Yes on Prop. 1,” sponsored by Ducks Unlimited, Audubon California and the Nature Committee, raised $215,000 from January 1 through October 18. 

Other committees backing Prop. 1 include: 

• The “Conservation Action Fund”: $818,623.78 

• The Sac Valley Water & Rice For Prop. 1: $44,499.00 

• Think Long Committee, sponsored by the Nicolas Berggruen Institute Trust, Supporting Propositions 1 and 2: $250,000 

• Western Plant Health Association, Supporting Propositions 1 and 2: $100,000. 

• NRDC Action Fund Ballot Measures Committee - Yes on Prop. 1; $9,514.27 

• Environmental Coalition for Water and Wildlife Protection – Yes on Prop. 1: $102,000, 

• The Southern California District County Laborers PAC: $58,219.02 

• The California Water Association Political Issues Committee – Yes on Prop. 1: $100,000 

• Laborers Pacific Southwest Regional Organizing Coalition Issues PAC – Yes on Props 1 and 2: $293,401.84