Money, as the saying goes, is the mother’s milk of American politics, and the same goes for California. It takes lots and lots of gold to successfully run a statewide political campaign in the Golden State, but there are no shortage of powerful individuals, companies and special interests, with very deep pockets, ready to pony up and spend their fortunes to influence the California electorate. Our friends at the investigative news website California Watch have crunched the numbers and come up with the 100 people, companies and special interest groups that have spent the most on state elections over the past dozen years, adding up to $1.25 billion dollars in all.
Beyond the list, there’s lots of other accompanying information about the donors and where they spent their money. It should satisfy the cravings of California political junkies and anyone interested in how dollars and democracy collide.
Given its size and wealth, California automatically sets national records for campaign donations – more money is spent here on politics than in any other state.
Read it here.